Audio 2.1 Vs 5.1 - Computer Speakers/Home Theater ?

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Praks

Skilled
Hello all,

I have seen lots of posts asking for speakers, but here I am also mentioning few of the best speakers in market.

I am looking for Computer Speakers/Home Theater.

Major Usage:

Play Mp3 songs from iPOD -

Play movies rips (avi/mkv formats) using DVD player that may come with Home Theater

I am going to play music & movies (No games) so I please suggest me speakers.

After going through various forums, I came to following conclusion

Music - 2.1 Speaker & Movies / Games - 5.1 speakers

I have shortlisted few below

Computer Speakers (Less then 10,000 Rs)

Creative Inspire T6060 - (5.1)

I didnt find anything good in creative 2.1 series

Logitech X540 - 5.1

Logitech Z2300 - 2.1 THX certified

Logitech Z4

Not considering Z-5500 or Z5300 due to its cost.

Altec Lansing VS4121

Altec Lansing MX5021 - 2.1 THX Certified

Altec Lansing FX 5051

Not considering ATP3 as its No more available

Home Theaters (Till 15000 including DVD player)

SONY DAV-DZ150K - 5.1 home theatre

SONY DAV-DZ270 -

SONY DAV-DZ370

Samsung HT-X20

Samsung HT-X30

Philips HTS3000

Philips HTS3152

-->> Can we connect 5.1 speakers to iPOD as it has single 3.5 mm output ?

Please suggest which should be best one to purchase. if you own any model mentioned above then give comments.
 
Altec Lansing MX5021 - 2.1 THX Certified

or

Logitech X540 in 5.1

yes you can connect but i don't think u will get 5.1 sound just 2 ch stereo
 
if you want better sound quality, get 2.1

if you want surround effects, choose 5.1

I have a 7.1 setup. I end up running it in stereo mode most of the time :p
 
Thanks greenhorn

But most mkv rips are 5.1 Dolby Digital. Will 5021 gives better effect as its 2.1

How about X540

Use will be music & movies (NO GAMES)
 
For any given amount, surround will mean more , but lesser quality speakers.

Choose which do you value more, sound quality of surround effects. I choose the former

what do you ? You might need listen to a few such setups before deciding :)
 
We both are in same boat, I posted the similar requirement few days ago & have been doing my home work & testingfew things with my home theater only speakers are left.

Few things to clear the doubts.

For any given amount, surround will mean more , but lesser quality speakers.
Click to expand...
this is not true actually, on board crappy sound card to be blamed which do not have the ability to separate 2.1-5.1 sound hence its sounds crappy.

I have a 7.1 setup. I end up running it in stereo mode most of the time
Click to expand...
May be bcoz you have not properly set up the 7.1 sound, are you using onboard or using a 7.1 dedicated sound card, a sound card will blow away the on board in comparison.

yes you can connect but i don't think u will get 5.1 sound just 2 ch stereo
Click to expand...
If you have a dedicated sound card you definitely will get upto 5.1 / 7.1 conversion with good sound separation.

Logitech x540 has a matrix mode (they call hardware drivers) which does excellent 2.1 to 5.1 conversion.

Reviews should help you.

Logitech X-540 Speakers hardware review - Page 1 of 3 - Gameworld Network

Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker System - Overclockers Club

Most users give advice here with intentions to help but often that advice is half baked information & I am not blaming anyone here but tell me if 2.1 is good or the best then why the hell do we have 4.1/5.1/7.1...........nobody discuss or answers that.

Last 9 years I have creative sound works Live 4.1 speakers along with a dedicated sound card & I am so accustom to surround that any 2.1 sound puts me off giving a feeling of artificial noise.

To get good 5.1 output you would need sound card, I am presently testing Audigy Value costing 1700/- another one I will test is asus Xonar which is around 4500/-

In my view & as per my testing you can go for audigy value 7.1 card+X540 speakers & they would make a good combination & rest of the money can be used for DVD player. X540 can do the 2.1-5.1 conversion on its own too but I am yet to test this setup.

or buy

asus xonar+logitech X540 (4500+5500= 10000/-)

The audigy software has some good options which u wont ever get on onboard sound. That is what makes the difference in 2.1-5.1 conversion & its output.
 

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ranjan2001 said:
May be bcoz you have not properly set up the 7.1 sound, are you using onboard or using a 7.1 dedicated sound card, a sound card will blow away the on board in comparison.
Click to expand...

Will there be a distinct improvement in sound quality in mp3s if I get the audigy value over the onboard SoundMax Integrated Digital HD Audio? What about the 5.1 sound quality in games? Speakers: Altec Lansing 251 & Altec Lansing VS4121.
 
I don't game much so cant comment about the sound in gaming but YES there will be a huge difference in sound distribution over 7.1 with audigy value card.

You will hear the difference in certain frequency, even at low volumes the sound will be crystal clear. If you play some flac encoded instrumentals you would feel the difference best when playing with dedicated sound card.
 
Thank you ranjan2001

You have taken gr8 effort to research.

my main use will not be connecting to computer. It will be mp3 from iPOD (320 Kbps stuff) as well ripped movies in mkv/mp4 formats mostly played from WD TV player (yet to purchase)

What do you say ?

MX 5021 or X540 ?
 
umm just to muddle things more up...

try

Klipsch Pro Media GMX A 2.1 too

I have it and is beautiful...

I took only for music though... same time as mentioned if purpose is Gaming .. then you get real effects .

Otherwise most of the music is encoded in stero not a surround. And same is the case of movies that are mostly available or that we get ;).

Music thus i prefer lossless aac . they are heavy files but they are worth it.

Listen to Led zep in a higher recoded mp3 and in a lossless .... its way way way different....
 
on board crappy sound card to be blamed which do not have the ability to separate 2.1-5.1 sound hence its sounds crappy.
Click to expand...

any speaker when played through onboard and then through a dedicated sound card will give heaven and hell difference(not talking abt intex or similar stuff here).

The reason everyone recommends a good 2.1 over a budget 5.1 is the component quality which translates into sound quality. when there is a 2.1 system and a 5.1 system costing almost the same, the quality of the components in the latter is always going to be lower, they are not giving the extra three satellites away for free. :p

also when any high quality studio recording is made in stereo, seperating the channels out into three more channels is never going to improve the sound quality... at least they are not going to sound the way they are supposed to sound. heck.. that means the professional sound engineers doing the recording dont know their job. :)

bottom line:
if you listen more to music/have preference to music/prefer listenig to music the way it is supposed to be heard, go for a high quality 2.1.
if you are more into movies with 5.1 sound and want to get full benefit of the 5.1 sound/are willing to sacrifice a little bit of sound quality to hear music coming to you from all around you :)P), go for a basic 5.1

i am not saying that speakers like x-540 are bad for music, what i mean to say that they are not as good for music as quality 2.1s. they are made with a little bit of compromise in mind, and so it is up to the buyer to decide if he/she wnats to make the compromise.

and i have listened to both mx-5021 and x-540 on a xonar dx, and as far as i am concerned, 320 kbps and flacs sounded a hell lot better on the former.
 
ranjan2001 said:
Few things to clear the doubts.

this is not true actually, on board crappy sound card to be blamed which do not have the ability to separate 2.1-5.1 sound hence its sounds crappy.
Click to expand...

Not quite. What i meant to say was, even if you have the best soundcard, giving perfectly decoded 5.1 dts audio, from a really good DVD, the sound quality of the playback will be much better from a 2.1 system than a 5.1 system. Simple mathematics :p . If you want the same quality from a 5.1 setup, plan to spend 2~3x more.
 
Good write up tirthankar.

Guys, I will stay away from Klipsch Pro Media GMX & Harmon Kardon as I am not a 500 % music buff, Dont have idea also where to get these items & costs of it.

Purchase & repair becomes tough when I have no idea of Klipsch & Harmon,

Will choose from MX 5021 & X 540 only.

Any ideas where can I get DEMO of both in Bangalore ?
 
desiibond said:
you can get demo of MX-5021 at Ankit Computers, SP Road. Ask the same guy to give demo of X-540.
Click to expand...

When you have the demo carry some sound TEST files in a usb disk & do post results & ur opinion here so we can benefit from the demo too.
 
^^if you are asking me to take a demo, there is no need. I already own one and I recommend it to anyone who is ready to spend 6-7k for 2.1 speakers.
 
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