Home Theater PC...
 

My old Sony 5-disc DVD changer, home theater in a box is getting pretty tired. There's a loose connection on the front right speaker internally that sometimes causes it to cut out... Sometimes when you adjust the volume the AV source randomly changes...

Plus, I'm thinking about simplifying my home theater setup... dropping 800w dinosaur in exchange for one of two options:

1) A nice sound card and some killer PC surround sound speakers.

2) Another HTIB setup... though probably sans any sort of video player as I use my PC for everything anyway.

I am just not sure of the sound quality (depth, volume, clarity) that I can get out of say, something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836121120

Especially when I know I can get a decent 1000-watt HTIB for about the same money.

Any thoughts and/or experiences to share?

If you don't my scratch and dent specials, Amazon Warehouse has some pretty nice deals where you could pick up some good 5.1 speaker setups for your PC at a good price. Something like this, for example.

I've got several friends who have the Logi's....


And they're fucking insane.

One had a bass test going and rattled shit off his walls, course it was a smaller-ish room... but more than enough power to handle what you are looking for (unless you'r elooking for a scene out of the remake of Itallian Job w/ Seth Green).


btw go w/ a X-FI Soundblaster sound card. Cheaper option out of them is the XtremeGamer (they don't do the Xtreme Music anymore) and it'll run you about 1 benjamin... Unless you're wanting something w/ optical out, then you'll probably need to bump up to one of the Fatal1ty or platinum sets of that series. The X-Fi chips are pretty rock solid and you can find them in PCI and PCIx.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Fi

That's along the lines of what I was thinking... I don't care about the retarded super-loud... I never do the full volume thing anymore, and don't see myself doing it anytime soon... I was just concerned about the volume and sound balance. I may do loud, but I want it to sound good at the same time.

Every review I see strokes the Logitech cock, so I'll probably stick with those... However, that website looks to be a good resource.

For the HTIB option, I would stick with Panasonic

They had a killer 1200w setup at Wal*Mart for like $350 the other day when I was in there... I really like it, but I can't help thinking I'm spending money on shit I don't need and won't use.

<~~~ just bought the XFI Xtreme Gamer.


it'll be in and the system built in a week. I'll give you some info on how it performs unless you can't fucking wait and have to buy it now.....

Is there a way to find out what's wrong with it, making it so inexpensive for?

When you click on the items, it'll typically show you what options they have and what condition they're in. It'll describe what's wrong with it. For example, there are the cosmetic stuff where there's a scratch or a cosmetic dent that doesn't affect the performance of the item and the condition will be listed as very good. Then there's the shit that is listed as mint and the only flaw is in the packaging itself. I've picked up a few things through that site and what's been listed has been true to the description. There's a satisfaction guarantee on their products that helps with piece of mind (for me at least) should something not work right.