[Advice needed] 7.1 PC Speakers (500€ ~ 600$)

[Cliff Burton]

Hi.

First of all, let's admit I'm totally a newbie in audio products. I'm searching a good 500€ ~ 600$ 7.1 PC system for my upcoming i7 rig. I've not decided the soundcard but It's very likely to be the ASUS Xonar Essence STX, as I will be using it mainly with headphones (Sennheiser HD650).

Then, I'd like to throw in a question: Why in ALL online shops there's only Logitech Z-5500 (5.1) and Gigaworks S-750 (7.1) as high-end PC audio systems? Isn't there more good brands, such as Klipsch iFi, Altec Lansing, Monsoon...etc? What does differ a PC audio system from a Home Theater audio system?

Many thanks.
Cheers.

[EniGmA1987]

There really isnt much difference if you really get down to it, but a home theater system is often a bit more powerful. And home theater systems also can get a lot higher quality parts so it would sound better.

As for me, I dont consider any of those things "high-end". High end for me consists of either custom made speakers, or speakers that you buy one at a time and you connect it all yourself with power amplifiers. Pro grade stuff. What works really well if you want high end, but without taking up a bunch of space for power amps (and no this doesnt fit your budget) are these Mackie speakers:
http://www.mackie.com/products/sr1530z/index.html
http://www.mackie.com/products/swa1801z/index.html

You just send an optical cable to a home theater receiver, and go pre-out of the receiver for each channel into each of the speakers. Dont confuse the speaker above with the newer "super active" series. The super actives sound like sh*t compared to the older models.


But as to why the shops only sell the Gigaworks and Logitech, those ones sell the most and are the most well known. So they can make the easiest profit on them. Why sell other stuff when 90% of people will buy one of those two?

[Cliff Burton]

Thanks Enigma for clarifying :)

That sounds more similar to my Onkyo HT-S9100THX system which is in the living room than to what I had in mind for the PC. I'd like something more simple, with no need of a home theater receiver, just to get a good sound quality from music and games. A hypothetical Logitech Z-7500 for around 400€ would be perfect, 7.1 THX with DTS at a nice cost.

Thanks.