Soundcard - Speakers

SeantheMan

This is probably one of the more overlooked component's I think when upgrading. So am looking for some help or advice.

Currently I have an XFI-Xtreme audio card, and some Logitech 5.1 speakers..(x-530 going by google)

Anyways, I can't be dealing with wires everywhere and going up the walls, and as I'll be moving soon to a new place, I can't be dealing with drilling through ceilings etc either.

Can anyone reccommend some good 5.1 - 7.1 wireless alternatives , that have good sound and are a good price ?

I usually use my G35 headset which is "apparently" 7.1 , but you know during the day when you want to blare music out you need more, or for films etc.

Serephucus

I recently upgraded from an XtremeGamer and X-540 setup to an Auzentech X-Fi Forte and Z906 one.

First off, the Z906s are a very nice set. I'm not sure if they're worth three times the price, but there is a very noticeable difference.

The biggest difference however (and one of the reasons I upgraded the speakers) was to be able to use the Dolby digital encoders from my soundcard, and this made a huge difference, especially when combined with CMSS-3D. The one and only negative I've found is that you loose software volume control, as the volume is controlled by the decoder - in this case built into the Z06s.

Any idea what you budget is for this stuff?

SeantheMan

Your setup sound quite complicated with regards to encoding etc.
I'd basically be blasting songs and movies through normal winamp/wmp/itunes/vlc etc

I don't do any audio work (musically / encoding / video etc)

All I do is play games (BF3 etc and watch and listen to a few tunes)
This is what I built the PC for.

So it's mainly more from an astethic POV rather than the quality on offer...though some kind of decent sound would be nice.

I was thinking around the region of 200 or so, I'm not really sure what they go for these days. It's just putting up the rear speakers with cables going up the walls etc is awful looking

Serephucus

It's actually not that complicated. You know CMSS-3D in the X-Fi control panel? The thing that makes everything sound "surround-like"? Well the Dolby ones are just different types, but they're way better. Sound is encoded on the sound card, sent to the speakers, and decoded. Simple.

I'd say if you have €200, look at a nice sound card, but the one you have is already pretty good, so you wouldn't do much better there as you'd be limited by speakers, so maybe look at a new speaker set. I'm not too sure what's available in the €200 bracket though, so I'll leave that to someone else.

SeantheMan

The speaker is the main component I'm looking for yeah. Not so much the soundcard.
Thanks anyways