In the market for new surround sound speakers

Serephucus

Hi all,

So, currently I'm using the X-540s from Logitech, paired with an Auzentech X-Fi Forte. It sounds great, but I'm wondering if it could sound better. My Forte comes with Dolby Digital Live and DTS encoders, which my X-540s can't use because the encoded audio needs to be sent out over SPDIF. (540s only have analogue). Also, because of the speakers placement in my apartment, the rear speakers are quite far away, meaning I have to up the volume quite a lot. Because of how X-Fi cards handle volume leveling though, certain base frequencies are tied to the rear channels, meaning sound sounds... wrong a lot of the time.

A speaker system I had been looking into was the Z906 from Logitech. They are DTS (and THX) certified, and the control hub offers volume control for individual channels. My concern however is that the Z906 (and the Z-5500) might be quite bass-heavy, and not do so well with highs, owing to using phase plugs rather than tweeters in the satellites.

I was also looking at the Mirage Nanosat 5.1 - a very funky looking system, but I can't find anywhere that would sell it here.

Does anyone have any comments about all this, or can someone recommend something better? I'll be focusing mainly on music with these, but also movies, TV, and games. I also don't have room for a full home theatre setup, so cabinet speakers are a no-no. Budget of around €300.

Thanks all!


tl;dr - Need new 5.1 setup. Thinking of Z906/Z-5500, or Mirage Nanosat 5.1. Budget of €300, music-focused.

sokeeffe10

I'm in the same boat . Been researching for ages and the z906's seem to be the only feasible ones around without going quite a bit more expensive.

Harvey Norman have a sale at the moment and have the Z906's for €299, and I was offered €279 so try haggle a bit.

Anyway if I do end up buying them I let ya know how I get on

Serephucus

Not sure what Boards' rules are on thread necromancy, but this is a very old post. I'm running Z906s now and they're great. If you've got a sound card that can encode DTS or DDL bitstreams, I'd go for them.

WillyFXP

Serephucus wrote: »

Not sure what Boards' rules are on thread necromancy, but this is a very old post. I'm running Z906s now and they're great. If you've got a sound card that can encode DTS or DDL bitstreams, I'd go for them.

I believe you meant necroposting, necromancy is a totally different hobby

Serephucus

Thread necromancy, i.e. raising of dead threads. I'm well aware of what necromancy is.

sokeeffe10

I bought the Z906's , so good so far , I have a query though, not sure if this is right place to ask or not.

I'm using a digital optical lead to connect from pc and I'm trying to get KmPlayer to output proper surround sound, as in let the Z906's decode the signal themselves . Any help on doing this ?? I've used a Windows test to check if it will receive DTS and DD and both times it worked and decode light was on on Z906. Can't get this when playing movies though . Please help or point me in right direction

WillyFXP

sokeeffe10 wrote: »

I bought the Z906's , so good so far , I have a query though, not sure if this is right place to ask or not.

I'm using a digital optical lead to connect from pc and I'm trying to get KmPlayer to output proper surround sound, as in let the Z906's decode the signal themselves . Any help on doing this ?? I've used a Windows test to check if it will receive DTS and DD and both times it worked and decode light was on on Z906. Can't get this when playing movies though . Please help or point me in right direction

You may not have the correct codecs installed to decode the soundtrack from the movie container properly. Install K-lite codec pack and you should be good to go.

sokeeffe10

am i right in saying I want Kmplayer to not decode the audio, and let speakers do it?

WillyFXP

What movie format are you using? Did you rip the movies yourself or did you download them (from a legitimate source)? A lot of the movies available online have been compressed to a high ratio to keep size to a minimum, and a lot of them have only 2 channel audio, have you checked the sound tracks are actually 6 channel?

Stevo105

WillyFXP wrote: »

What movie format are you using? Did you rip the movies yourself or did you download them (from a legitimate source)? A lot of the movies available online have been compressed to a high ratio to keep size to a minimum, and a lot of them have only 2 channel audio, have you checked the sound tracks are actually 6 channel?

install XBMC media centre (free download) 40MB -ish

It will scan your movie files and display sound and picture detail on the movie. It has its own codecs. It's plays everything for me

EDIT:

sokeeffe10

most of my files are mkv . I used mediainfo and its says the audio is DTS 1510kbps, 48 Khz , 24 bits, 6 channels.

I've been playing around with settings but can't get decode light on speakers to light. Please help

p.s i downloaded k-lite too

Serephucus

Have you got them hooked up to a DTS compatible sound card? Your hardware needs to be capable of sending a DTS signal to your decoder (speakers) for any of this to work.

sokeeffe10

its ok , I don't have a sound card , just on board and a sapphire radeon gfx card, I messed around with the setting in k-lite and saw it was outputting everything in stereo , works fine now for movies , don't thing i've any games that support dts so i'l have to wait and see for that,

Thanks for help anyway