Speakers; 7.1 vs. 5.1

[mk5652]

I'm about to upgrade my speakers, and am on a tight budget. I'm looking at two alternatives, one is 5.1 and the other is 7.1, specifically:

Logitech X-540 5.1 and Creative Labs Inspire T7900 7.1. The latter will be OEM.

They are ~£50 and ~£63 respectively

($100 vs. $125 - although it will be significantly less in the US, without our UK taxes)

I am in a relatively small room, so the 7.1 system is almost certainly overkill, however, as the price difference is minimal, I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile going for the extra two speakers.

What happens if the system is outputting 5.1 sound as is (i.e. without any matrix effects), will two speakers be silent or will they mirror the sound coming out of the other two rear speakers?

I'd appreciate some advice, as to which I should go for :D

[Donnie27]

I'm about to upgrade my speakers, and am on a tight budget. I'm looking at two alternatives, one is 5.1 and the other is 7.1, specifically:

Logitech X-540 5.1 and Creative Labs Inspire T7900 7.1. The latter will be OEM.

They are ~£50 and ~£63 respectively

($100 vs. $125 - although it will be significantly less in the US, without our UK taxes)

I am in a relatively small room, so the 7.1 system is almost certainly overkill, however, as the price difference is minimal, I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile going for the extra two speakers.

What happens if the system is outputting 5.1 sound as is (i.e. without any matrix effects), will two speakers be silent or will they mirror the sound coming out of the other two rear speakers?

I'd appreciate some advice, as to which I should go for :D

What sound you'll hear depends on how you set the speakers. You can have them Matrix the sound or play nothing if you desire.

[ROBSCIX]

I would easily suggest Logitech over Creative Labs for speakers. 5.1 is hard enough to position in a PC environment. Most guys I see just go with 5.1's Of course it is up to you. I still caution you against Creative Labs speakers.
Only good speakers distributed by them are the "Works" speakers and they are NOT made by Creative Labs. There are reviews out there for you to check out prior to purchase. I have never owned any CL speakers but I have gotten BAD reviews from alot of people I know that have tried them. Especially the low to mid priced models.. I would say read reviews for both models and compare and decide...enjoy your new speaker system.

[Donnie27]

Yeah, take the 5.1 Logitechs over those Creative 7.1 speakers.

[koc]

I have Creative 4.1 speakers , and i upgrade to Inspire T7900 7.1

with 4.1 speakers the sound was very clear and not loud . but the sound become higher and louder with 7.1 speakers and not clear

in fact The sound hurt my ears , so i return back my 4.1 speakers

[Donnie27]

I have Creative 4.1 speakers , and i upgrade to Inspire T7900 7.1

with 4.1 speakers the sound was very clear and not loud . but the sound become higher and louder with 7.1 speakers and not clear

in fact The sound hurt my ears , so i return back my 4.1 speakers

I have two broke sets. My opinion based on other computer multimedia speakers.

1. Megaworks 650 6.1
Lows = 10
Mid bass= 9
Mid = 8
Mid Highs = 6
Highs = 5
Great for games, sucked for music. I got comments like; Too bad the Sats suck. Where's the highs? and etc.........

2. Logitech 560Z 4.1
Lows = 8
Mid Bass = 9
Mid = 9
Mid High = 10
Highs = 10
Really just needed a Center Channel.

Megaworks seemed about 33% louder but couldn't come close to the overall sound of the 560's sats IMHO. Creative's sub was wayyyy underrated. I keep intending to sell these as is on Ebay. The first time I didn't get my minimum price on either set. A bud tried to sell them for me.

[lee143]

OVerall, the quality of logitech speakers have been much better than creative's so far that i've experienced.