I currently have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card connected to a set of Altec Lansing ADA885 4.1 speakers. I'm looking to upgrade to some real audio hardware and have around $500 to spend. What soundcard, amplifier and speaker setup would you recommend?

My computer will be the primary source with MP3's (>=192kbps) and I'm not terribly bothered about 7.1 or whatever crazy surround sound is available unless they are going to start releasing music in that format. Stereo x2 is nice because I like my music to really fill the room.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Onkyo's low-mid-priced amp (mid $200s), pair of Infinity shelfs ($150ish online?), Chaintech's 24-bit 7.1 soundcard ($27) and start saving for a sub, then center?

that's what i would do, but then again i'm inexperienced

i listened to some Sonys, Polks and Infinity speakers at Circuit City on a higher end Onkyo and I liked the Infinity the best ($130 each ). the polks sounded good, with a $100 clearance (usually $200) 2-way tower sounding the best, but they needed room, it felt like to me, but i'm thinking of moving into an apartment, and i'm not sure what kind of room there would be there...

OTOH, i really like my friend's JBL shelves (no idea what price) with her (low end, but brand new) Pioneer ($160 at Circuit City), but, that's just my (in)experience. just listen around. those salesmen don't get paid minimum wage for nothing . then look online. look at pawnshops.

i'd avoid ANY of those "computer/multimedia speakers," even the Klipsch ones. a good shelfspeaker can roar damn well.

You might browse through this thread and perhaps this one for some general recommendations.

I don't really think you need to replace the Santa Cruz. Buy a decent receiver/amp and some good bookshelf's or floor speakers. Let Ebay be your friend.

I agree. The Santa Cruz rocks. I think Turtle Beach just came out with a souped up version though.

I had read a recent review that said the Catalina, successor to the Santa Cruz, was a disppointment. The Santa Cruz is an excellent card though, I think it was the highest rated consumer level card for recording. I use it convert my old collection of vinyl records to CD and I get excellent results. If you just want stereo output, than you probably can't beat it's quality and you are better off investing the extra cash into a good external amp and/or speakers.

Does anyone know if the Dell OEM version of the Santa Cruz is different to the one sold in stores?

I know that Turtle Beach redirects people to the Dell site in order to get drivers for the OEM version - is this just for increased compatibility with Dell systems or is the card somehow different?

The card no longer resides in the Dell computer so I don't see why I need Dell drivers if the card is the same.

I settled for an Onkyo SR-502 and a pair of Infinity Primus 250s (in addition to a pair of Grado SR-60s).

Next addition will most likely be a subwoofer and a pair of Primus 150s for surround.

Thanks for the tips.