HTPC Audio Advice

[Pete1989]

Im think about putting together a HTPC to play through a 32+" LCD. Graphics will be my 4870.

I have very little knowledge about sounds systems and I was wondering about surround sound and what sort of system i should be looking for. I know the 4870 supports sound throughput of some sort but what system thats needs i dont know.

What sort of speaker system should i looking for? Do i need a amp/receiver thingy or not?

Thanks.

I have very little knowledge about sounds systems and I was wondering about surround sound and what sort of system i should be looking for.

What sort of speaker system should i looking for? Do i need a amp/receiver thingy or not?

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Pete, before buying anything you need to take in consideration two things:

1- What your looking for, average, good or high audio quality
2- The size of your listening area

I know the 4870 supports sound throughput of some sort but what system thats needs i dont know.

I'm not sure that ATi 4870 can process audio by itself, I think you need to buy a soundcard an then use the 4870's HDMI output.

If I were you, I'll buy a soundcard with X-Fi chipset preferably, to my taste they're the best non professional cards in the market right now and you can find a few cheap models and also a few more expensive, but once again that depends the audio quality you're looking for. I've also heard that Asus XONAR are very impresive, but, since I haven't test them I can't give any opinion.

[Pete1989]

Originally Posted by jmhc

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Pete, before buying anything you need to take in consideration two things:

1- What your looking for, average, good or high audio quality
2- The size of your listening area

I want decent quality, nothing too fantastic. Il be playing blu-ray discs and have standard tv through them.
Area is probably 7x7m, viewing distance 5m.

Thanks.

viewing distance 5m.[/

For a 32" tv I consider that distance excesive, the recommended will be at the most 2 meters, look in the web the tv viewing distance charts.


[QUOTE]Area is probably 7x7m QUOTE]

Well before giving you any sugestion I'll have to say that picking up a sound system is one of the most subjective things and what I'm going to recommend you is based on my taste and the idea that the whole area will be used for home theater purpouse, so I suggest that after reading this you get a few more opinions before spending your money.

First of all 7x7m (22.75 x 22.75 feet) is a considerably size area specially if your ceiling design is not conventional, but I'll assume that the distance between it and the floor is the standard 8 feet, that gives us an area of about 4140.5 cubic feet.

Here are my suggestions:

1- Buy a receiver with HDMI inputs (at least 3 of them in case in the future you have to connect more equipment), since there are no 5.1 receivers with HDMI inputs, at least that I know about, it would have to be a 7.1 receiver.

2-The receiver must have at least 120w per channel

3- Center channel with 6.5 inch woofers

4-Front speakers preferably floorstandings and with 6.5 inch woofers, there are some who prefers them with 8 inch woofers but to my taste 6.5 inch is better for media.

5- I preffer bipolar desing for side surrounds and normal design for rear surrounds.

6-Powered subwoofer with 10 or 12 inch woofer size and around 300 and 400 watts of power

7- Buy all the speakers the same brand and the same model, so they all are timbre matched.

I also suggest that take in consideration your room acoustics, this is as important as the quality of the equipment you buy and in some cases it is more important because no matter how good the equipment is if your room has bad acoustics the sound will be a mess. I'm not an acoustic professional so I can give you any suggestions in this matter.

Which brand and model will depend on the size iof you pocket, in my case I'm pretty happy with what I could affort, Onkyo tx-sr805 receiver and Klipsch Reference speakers.

This is what I consider the basics in order to get decent sound.

Good luck.

[Pete1989]

Fantastic, thanks alot.

I havnt bought any components/tv yet so the tv will probably end up some where around 40/42" depends how much money i can raise.

I havnt bought any components/tv yet so the tv will probably end up some where around 40/42" depends how much money i can raise.

In that case the recommended viewing distance would be at the most 2.7 meters

[Pete1989]

What do you think about this?

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...ss=Systems&p=i

all in one system for £600, reveiws seem to say its a good system to start with.

What do you think about this?

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...ss=Systems&p=i

all in one system for £600, reveiws seem to say its a good system to start with.

.

Looks good to me, Onkyo gives very good quality for the price.

Good luck.

P.S.: Don't forget about room acoustics.

[-[HC]-AceCombat]

Yamaha has some very nice receivers available with 3 hdmi and only 5.1.
I have a 50inch HP Plasma and I view it from about 9 feet which works fine for me. Yamaha Receiver and JBL Speakers with a total output of 1100 watts. I use this in a room about 15 by 20 feet and it fills my room with ease. I went a little ovrboard on the sub as it shakes the house during large explosions. I'm not in my home theater right now so I can't give you the actual part numbers. I spent about 1500 on my sound system and another 300 on wiring. Your Ati card will do a good job of putting sound out until you can decide if you want a dedicated card. My HDMI out on the video card runs to my my TV where the sound is sent to the receiver by optical and played through the receiver. It was the first build that worked right out of the box for me.
Antec Fusion Black
Asus Micro atx motherboard VM something
Intel Dual Core 8600 running at 3ghz
2 Gigs OCZ gold pc 6400
2 500 gig WD
LG Blu Ray
Ati 3870 HD
Harmony 520 remote
Vista Ultimate

Yamaha has some very nice receivers available with 3 hdmi and only 5.1.

.

-[HC]-AceCombat, those receivers has HDMI 1.3?

[-[HC]-AceCombat]

HDMI versions make no difference to end users. There is no differenc in sound so if a salesman is trying to get you to buy a receiver with HDMI 1.3b or c he doesn't know his product. Go somewhere else. It's the same with the salesman who tells you that monster cable is the best and you need the 200 dollar HDMI cable. It's a digital signal it's either going to work or it's not. The signal will not screwed up or any less clear with a 5 dollar cable you bought off ebay. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a fool for having gotten sucked in themselves.

For consumers, there is no difference between HDMI version 1.3 and 1.3a or 1.3b. These minor revisions to the specification typically relate to manufacturing or testing issues and do not impact features or functionality. In addition, HDMI Licensing, LLC is actively working with manufacturers to reduce confusion for consumers by de-emphasizing version numbers and focusing instead on product features and functionality

It's the same with the salesman who tells you that monster cable is the best and you need the 200 dollar HDMI cable

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I'm totaly agree, it is crazy to spend the 1/4 part of what your receiver cost in just one cable.