Cheap speakers for PS3

sham69

Hi,
I have a dvd player speaker system thingy with 2 aux inputs (which are being used for my sat box and 360) there is an optical but it seems to be optical out only.
I have a ps3 and need to get the sound sorted as it's only coming through the TV at the moment (have it through HDMI)
To cut a long story short I need a good set of cheap speakers to hook up to the PS3.
I thought I could get some adapter thingy to extend the inputs I have...
Confused...
Me too...
Any suggestions for a good (cheap) speaker setup for the ps3 would be most grateful.
Thanks.
Sham.

sham69

can anybody tell me if these will work on a ps3?
Nice and cheap.
I don't see an optical in.
Thanks


http://http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=304431

L31mr0d

they don't support either HDMI or Optical so no, they won't work with your PS3.

What is your maximum budget for these speakers?

sham69

About 100 euro or so at the moment.
I am thinking of waiting till the end of the month and getting the Logitech z-5500. The problem is I have a dvd system thingy with 2 speakers and have my sat box and 360 plugged in using audio leads or RGB , the red and white cables. So that leaves me nowhere for the PS3 or my Wii (not overly concerned about the Wii but may aswell allow for it If I am spending money)
There is only an optical out on the system which I presume is for the DVD out. Sorry for the long answer , just thought it would be better to explain my setup. The PS3 is connected to a philips 42" LCD via HDMI and I have the sound going through the TV only at the moment.
Thanks for the reply.

dazftw

Are those logitech z5500 still on adverts? Were you selling them L31mr0d? They'd be top notch if you could get them for a 100 best speakers ever!

L31mr0d

there was an issue with the center speaker which is why I was selling them so cheap. Plus I'm investing in an actual HT Amp and speaker set to give me true 5.1 surround sound. The audio you get out over the optical connection on the PS3 is not true 5.1 surround sound and usually has some compression applied to it.

The best is to use the HDMI audio but getting an AV receiver that supports HDMI can be pretty expensive.

Also, while the z5500 set is very good you really do get what you paid for. Before investing in them have a read of the Logitech forums for all the problems people have had with them.

The sub woofer, while huge, has no midrange, gunshots tend to sound more like booms if you have the subs volume up past 4 notches.

sham69

Are they still for sale?
I will take them off you if they are.
If not can you recommend any alternative?
Thanks.

cabrwab

Iam sorry but cheap speakers? why bother.
You've all the toys! Get a good surround sound, spend money, cheap speakers tend to be a false economy.
Another thing to look at is, does you're TV have an audio out, a seperate Red and White Phono connectors.
Most Modern TV's have an audio out too. This way you may be able to plug the TV into the Surround sound you have and therefore have whatever is on the screen will run through the surround sound.
Its the set-up i have. The sound quality is mediocore, but your probably only gettting virtual surround anyway through a DVD player system on everything else.
Just trying to help!

Kintarō Hattori

I have to agree with cabrwb. You've got an amazing machine in the PS3 and it's hooked up to a good television so you really shouldn't skimp on the speakers. Audio can and often is the most immersive part of the gaming experience so it deserves a little better.

As pointed out by another poster, you get what you pay for. Computer speakers tend to lack mid to high range and so make up for it with lots of bass making you miss out on the incredible audio detail that most games have.

Save a little harder and for longer. Buy a reasonable home theatre amp from adverts. You can pick them up for as little as a E100, and gradually buy your speakers for it. It'll completely improve your gaming and movie experience and they are good for music too. Get a decent one and you won't need to upgrade for several years.

311

You can pick up RCA splitters in peats ,that would work with your current system. give you an extra connection at the back.



Use the av-multi lead.

Dman001

Couldn't you just buy a cheap pair like these and connect it to the headphones socket in your TV?
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=304431&view=detailed#ProductTabs

sham69

Cheers for all the replies.
I never thought of the audio out on the TV, I think I will set that up and maybe buy a decent set of speakers at the end of the month.
Thanks again.

ravydavygravy

I messed around with my setup today, and now I have some decent sound. I used the AV lead to connect the PS3 to the Red/White audio in sockets on my dvd system, which has all the speakers attached (its a cheap philips all-in-one home cinema pack from a few years ago). The ps3 video still goes to the TV over HDMI. Also the TV talks to the DVD player through the scart lead that connects the two. This setup gives me some kind of pseudo-surround sound, just have to switch the audio input source on the DVD player, which is good enough for me... :-)

sham69

Doesnt seem to be an audio out on the TV?
Might try do something with the AV lead.
Can I use the AV lead to use the audio and still use the HDMI for the video.

thewheel2.0

Can anyone give me the lowdown on optical cables? im due to buy a logitech z-5500 soon and im just wondering should i pay big money or are they all the same like HDMI cables?? (have this posted in seperate forum but no one replyed....)

cabrwab

@sham69, surprised there aint an audio out, most stereo enabled TV's have a stereo out. Oh well there goes my idea out the window sorry. I not sure if you can, you'd have to go into the setup menu on the PS3 to find out. Its trial and error now.
By anychance could one of the inputs, eg scart2, also act as an out? this somtimes is the case you'd have to check the manual.

@the wheel, all cables are the same its only over long distances, 20m that quality really becomes an issue. Id never spend a savage amount of money on a cable that will only be used over 2m or so. With an opticial cable its light travelling through it so in theory there is zero resistance anyway. Save your money, buy a cheaper cable.

sham69

thanks for the repl cabrwab, you could be right there are 2 scart, 2 hdmi, a component, an audio in and an RGB thing on the side. I am going to do some messing around when I get home, will keep you posted.
Cheers.

thewheel2.0

cabrwab wrote: »

@the wheel, all cables are the same its only over long distances, 20m that quality really becomes an issue. Id never spend a savage amount of money on a cable that will only be used over 2m or so. With an opticial cable its light travelling through it so in theory there is zero resistance anyway. Save your money, buy a cheaper cable.

Thanks man....damn I shudda remembered my fifth year physics... it makes so much sense now...

ravydavygravy

sham69 wrote: »

Can I use the AV lead to use the audio and still use the HDMI for the video.

Yes - thats what I did - you just have to use the audio settings on the ps3 to send audio over the av cable instead of the hdmi one...

sham69

Thanks for the reply Ravy.
I will try that when I get home.

sham69

setup the sound from the PS3 through the AV cable and connected to the RCA's on the back of my dvd system thingy, the sound is ok, nothing special but better than it was.
Thanks for all the replies.

sham69

Just an update.
I ordered a set of logitech x540 from ebay.
80 euro including shipping, hopefully these will improve things.
Thanks again for all the suggestions.

butts

Off the top of my head, the x540 are 5.1 analogue set of speakers that cannot decode surround sound from the PS3. You should still be able to use them as stereo speakers.

sham69

Cheers for the reply.
I just saw a post somewhere that people were using these to hook up to their Xbox and PS3's so decided to try them.
Can be any worse than the setup I have at the moment.

Dman001

What would be the benefit of buying speakers with optical output rather than buying speakers with 3.5mm output?

Kintarō Hattori

Dman001 wrote: »

What would be the benefit of buying speakers with optical output rather than buying speakers with 3.5mm output?

The PS3 outputs stereo through analogue RCA connections and surround sound through optical and HDMI.

ravydavygravy

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

The PS3 outputs stereo through analogue RCA connections and surround sound through optical and HDMI.

Are you sure its pure stereo - I have my home cinema connected via RCA, and i definitly get some (pseudo?) surround sound effects - for example, if I watch some divx videos, I get different sounds coming out of my rear and front speakers in certain scenes...

Maybe its just the home cinema?

311

Pro logic is a pseudo surround ,a decent system will make an attempt at splitting the sound.

Kintarō Hattori

ravydavygravy wrote: »

Are you sure its pure stereo - I have my home cinema connected via RCA, and i definitly get some (pseudo?) surround sound effects - for example, if I watch some divx videos, I get different sounds coming out of my rear and front speakers in certain scenes...

Maybe its just the home cinema?

It is indeed just stereo. As mentioned by the other poster it is pseudo surround sound in that it takes the stereo sound and splits it but it is still essentially a stereo signal.

sham69

Set the logitech x540's up and am very happy with them.
The only gripe I have is you have to plug every device that you want to use in seperately. I had an idea to get them all working together (was something that one of the previous posters said about an rca splitter). I bought a 3.5mm to 2 phone adapter in maplins, plugged it into the tv's headphone jack and a white and red rca back to the logitech's via the game adapter thingy.
I get sound through the front 2 speakers and the subwoofer but not the rear speakers. Would this be because the adapter is phono?
Is phono the same as rca?
Anyone any ideas.
thanks

sorry if this was answered in a previous reply but I am still trying to figure a way around all this.
Cheers.

Kintarō Hattori

It's because your PS3 is outputting through stereo connections and rca (same as phono) is a stereo connection. In order to hear sound from the rear speakers you would need some sort of psuedo DD option on the speakers, which I believe they don't have.


People - If you want surround sound for your PS3 save and buy a system that has an OPTICAL input. A sound system with rca/phono inputs will NOT give you proper surround sound from your PS3.



Stop being tight asses and save some money.

sham69

So thats the same for all the other device I have going through the TV?
I have an NTL box, Xbox 360 (Component) and the ps3. I figured that if I use the headphone jack and plug back to the logitech's I would get the sound for all devices through the logitech's. While this did work, it only worked for the front and woofer speakers (as I said)
So bottom line is the TV only outputs 2 channels?
And I would need something to decode to 5?
Is that correct.
Apologies as it seems everyone is asking the same sort of question here, u must be sick answering it.
Cheers.

cabrwab

Just to say if you look around you maybe surprised as to what type of amp you could get for min €200, while fake surround sound is ok it aint nothing compared to the orginal.
Here is an alright amp for the job 2 optical inputs. as well as HDMI inputs
eg: http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/1036275/art/yamaha/htr-6040-audio-video-ampl.html?type=i


Then the speakers, if you already have a home cinema you can use the same speakers until you save up again to buy good ones, but the effect would be better then buying cheap systems, that don't really do the job properly

cabrwab

Sham your taking from the headphone socket of the tv right? this is then going into on phono adaptor so for example your going onto the left channel of the system you have, this maybe the problem as it needs to go into 2channels.

I think this maybe what you've said.
so recap:

TV (headphone socket)>>3.5mm jack lead to Phono adaptor> 1 single phono socket>Logitch system, this in turn giving you stereo on the front not rear etc!

sham69

yeah that sounds about right (excuse the pun)
The logitech has a cable coming from the woofer like a 3.5mm cable (green) that splits into an RCA female type cable. This is used for the ps3 or 360 ( I just plug the audio rca's into this and works on all speakers).
But as you said when I plug the 3.5mm to phone adapter into the headphone jack and then run an rca lead (red and white) back to the logitech's I get front and woofer only?
Is there anything I can do or is this as much as I will get.
I would be happy enough (for the moment) if I could get the 4 satellits and the woofer working from the TV and therefore have all my devices going to the Logi's rather than having to plug one thing out and another in etc.
Sorry hope I didnt confuse things with this reply.

ongarite

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

It's because your PS3 is outputting through stereo connections and rca (same as phono) is a stereo connection. In order to hear sound from the rear speakers you would need some sort of psuedo DD option on the speakers, which I believe they don't have.


People - If you want surround sound for your PS3 save and buy a system that has an OPTICAL input. A sound system with rca/phono inputs will NOT give you proper surround sound from your PS3.



Stop being tight asses and save some money.

You have me really confused since you changed your username. Nice post BTW!

I would advise people to check the Electronics Section on Adverts.ie. There are many users of boards.ie selling off great AV gear that will give you REAL surround sound for your PS3, 360.

cabrwab

Yeah sounds like the mono adaptor is the problem

sham69

So is there another adapter I can buy?
Sorry to be a pain.

Kintarō Hattori

ongarite wrote: »

You have me really confused since you changed your username. Nice post BTW!

I would advise people to check the Electronics Section on Adverts.ie. There are many users of boards.ie selling off great AV gear that will give you REAL surround sound for your PS3, 360.

Thanks ongarite- I really hated that old username! Just to agree with you there are some terrific bargains to be had on adverts in the electronics section.

sham69

another update.
Was messing around yesterday and noticed that all the speakers are working off the 3.5mm jack to the logitech's. Only work when I have the volume on the TV really high. The weird thing is even though the headphone jack is being used I can still hear sound coming for the TV's speakers.
I am happy enough with this for the moment, I will get a decent set of speakers in the coming months.
Thanks for all the help and advice.
Sham.