Looking for advice on surround speakers

[abravo01]

I am looking for a set of surround speakers for my PC. I have a Creative Live 5.1 sound card and am mostly into fps games.

Have been looking at Creative's 6.1 6700 as they seem to be quite innovative and for a very good price but found out that at their site there is a big discussion going on about a problem with these (power supply, magnetic shielding?).

Anyone out there who could advise on:
- what this problem might be;
- best surround speakers for games (5.1 or 6.1, no decoder required) on the market?
- a site with an updated comparison of surround speaker sets on the market?

Cheers,

[rangeral]

Welcome to Sysopt!

If you keep your speakers far enough away from the case or monitor you shouldn't have any problem with shielding.

My 3pc altec's have enough oomph for me, sure others can comment on 6pc sets.

[abravo01]

Hi rangeral,

thanks for advice but if you have a look at creative's forums you might realise it's not so simple: there seems to be an actual problem with the speakers.

i have a 3pc set myself but planning to move on to 6.1 or 5.1, at least.

no one able to advise?

[Strawbs]

I can recommend the cambridge soundworks 5.1, they have a thumping bass (totally controlable) and I very rarely need my HiFi anymore. 6.1 seems a little excessive when 5.1 totally surrounds you anyway and still has the centre speaker for pro-logic moooveees. and I have the same soundcard as you also!

:t

[abravo01]

Hi strawbs,

are you talking about the megaworks? these cost about 3 times as much!

[Strawbs]

Like These (http://www.hifi.com/store/category.cgi?category=ht_package&item=c1e45snx&type=store).

[Bizkitkid2001]

Logitech Z680's! Nuf said!:p

[Woodcycl]

Any of the logitech Z series speakers !!! ALL of the reviews are good. I have the Z560's (400w 4.1 system) on my main PC and the Z340's on my backup system (40w). The $$ are coming WAY down on all of the logitech models except for the latest and greatest Z680's which are OUT of this world !!:D

[abravo01]

Strawbs,

the soundworks look good but for the same price i wonder how they might compare with creative's 6.1 6700's? i could not find power specs in the link you supplied.


Bizkitkid2001 & Woodcycl,

thanks for the tips on logitech's. the 680's do look fantastic: i can only imagine how they sound! but very expensive too. the z640 are in the same price range as the soundworks strawbs mentioned and the 6.1 6700's.


any idea on where i can find a comparison between these (and other) systems?

[Woodcycl]

Here are a few specific places:

Epinions.com (http://www.epinions.com/cmhd-Speakers-All) PCScoop.com (http://www.pcscoop.com/hardware/audio/Logitech/Z560/page2.asp)
Tom's Hardware (http://tomshardware.bizrate.com/,mpr__cat_id--463,prod_id--6385831,rec_type--2,rf--wgg.html)
PCReviewSpot (http://www.pcreviewspot.com/index.php?id=reviews/audio)


Other Review Places:
Tweaknews (http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/index.php)
Tom's Hardware (http://www4.tomshardware.com/video/20020325/index.html)

I'm sure there are many more -- I know that PC World and Maximum PC has reviewed nearly all of them over the past year or so. :t

[abravo01]

Woodcycl,

thanks for tips.

tom's hardware is from march so it's not covering creatives 6.1 6700's. will check the other sites.

[stix_kua]

I have a cheap pair of speakers. 3 pc with a 4 inch subwoofer and two satellite speakrs but heck I get a lot of sound from this small bundle. Enough to make the floor rumble as i play my music and play games.

but if you got thew money (at least $70) then go with THX speakers. they've got a pretty sweet 5.1 speaker set.

[stix_kua]

my set cost me only $30 . They are a CompUSA modified set of Cyber Acoustic speakers or some other big company :)
:cool:

[stix_kua]

but then I added the speakers from my stereo system. These speakers put out 80 watts a piece. my 3pc system puts out 30 watts max so 80+80+30= wow190 WATTS yay!:) :cool: :t

[sknyer]

Artis S880 no comparison at all

if it is available in your area, go for it:p

sk nyer/ind