Diff bewteen home theater speakers and PC speakers system?

me · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 67

Dumb question here.... but what keeps me form using a
home theater system and speakers hooked up to a good
PC?

Or PC speaker system hooked up to a home theater
system?

Archived from group: alt>home-theater>misc

mykey · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 58

On Jan 29, 10:53 am, m...@privacy.net wrote:
> Dumb question here.... but what keeps me form using a
> home theater system and speakers hooked up to a good
> PC?
>
> Or PC speaker system hooked up to a home theater
> system?

pc speakers with built in amplifiers (powered) would
make fine small theater speakers. you need adapters
to change mini 1/8" plug to RCA. look for one with
a subwoofer such as the 5.1 system. you can set up
one of those puppies for less that $250 and it's not
bad on a budget. you don't really need to spend much
to get good sound in a small area, using the pc audio
video.
But it won't work well in a room over 8X10. it's a low
volume device without appreciable headroom. can't
crank it up, all you will get is distortion.

Gandalf · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 28

me@privacy.net wrote:
> Dumb question here.... but what keeps me form using a
> home theater system and speakers hooked up to a good
> PC?
>
> Or PC speaker system hooked up to a home theater
> system?

Technically nothing.
But in my experience, even so-called top-of-the-line pc speakers fall
short of the average home theater speaker in quality.

Unless you like the sound of Bose.

-G

me · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 67

Gandalf wrote:

>me@privacy.net wrote:
>> Dumb question here.... but what keeps me form using a
>> home theater system and speakers hooked up to a good
>> PC?
>>
>> Or PC speaker system hooked up to a home theater
>> system?
>
>Technically nothing.
>But in my experience, even so-called top-of-the-line pc speakers fall
>short of the average home theater speaker in quality.
>
>Unless you like the sound of Bose.
>
>-G

No... I'm not partial to Bose or any thing for that
matter

I was just thinking of hooking up a desktop computer to
my TV and using it as a DVR..... but didn't know
whether to use PC speakers for the audio or home
theater speakers

me · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 67

mykey wrote:

>pc speakers with built in amplifiers (powered) would
>make fine small theater speakers. you need adapters
>to change mini 1/8" plug to RCA. look for one with
>a subwoofer such as the 5.1 system. you can set up
>one of those puppies for less that $250 and it's not
>bad on a budget. you don't really need to spend much
>to get good sound in a small area, using the pc audio
>video.
>But it won't work well in a room over 8X10. it's a low
>volume device without appreciable headroom. can't
>crank it up, all you will get is distortion.

Ok thanks

See my other post abt hooking up a OC to the TV

rdclark · Joined: 15 Nov 2007 Posts: 14

On Jan 29, 1:53 pm, m...@privacy.net wrote:
> Dumb question here.... but what keeps me form using a
> home theater system and speakers hooked up to a good
> PC?
>
> Or PC speaker system hooked up to a home theater
> system?

It's just a matter of dealing with I/O.

The home theater system (an AV receiver driving a multichannel.1
speaker array) will want an HDMI input, or a coaxial or oprical audio
input. Make sure your HTPC's sound card can provide this (usually
it'll be S/PDIF, aka TOSLINK or optical audio); most can.

The PC speakers will vary. 5.1 systems often have some sort of
controller box which can accept S/PDIF. But there are many different
designs for integrated 5.1 speaker/amplifier systems, and I hesitate
to suggest ways of connect one that might actually cause damage with a
different one.

Another issue of course is that the usual HT setup relies on the
receiver to do all of the multichannel processing which, with so many
different encoding schemes in use today and so many possible speaker
configurations, would pose a challenge to a PC not specificaaly
equipped for it.

But the overarching issue here is sound quality. It's not unheard-of
for low-end 5.1 HT speaker systems (selling in the $300-500 range
without a receiver) to be competitive with the very best 5.1 PC
speaker systems, but that's where computer speakers stop competing.
Better speakers, designed by companies that do nothing else but design
speakers, sound so superior to any of the mass-market self-powered
systems available that they are really entirely different product
categories. The companies that make packaged 5.1 PC speakers aimed
mostly at gamers don't even try to compete with the real hi fi
manufacturers.

rdclark · Joined: 15 Nov 2007 Posts: 14

In my previous message I inadvertantly inferred that TOSlink was the
same as S/PDIF, rather than a subset of it.

RichC (nits picked, 3 for a penny)

me · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 67

rdclark wrote:

>It's just a matter of dealing with I/O.
>
>The home theater system (an AV receiver driving a multichannel.1
>speaker array) will want an HDMI input, or a coaxial or oprical audio
>input. Make sure your HTPC's sound card can provide this (usually
>it'll be S/PDIF, aka TOSLINK or optical audio); most can.
>
>The PC speakers will vary. 5.1 systems often have some sort of
>controller box which can accept S/PDIF. But there are many different
>designs for integrated 5.1 speaker/amplifier systems, and I hesitate
>to suggest ways of connect one that might actually cause damage with a
>different one.
>
>Another issue of course is that the usual HT setup relies on the
>receiver to do all of the multichannel processing which, with so many
>different encoding schemes in use today and so many possible speaker
>configurations, would pose a challenge to a PC not specificaaly
>equipped for it.
>
>But the overarching issue here is sound quality. It's not unheard-of
>for low-end 5.1 HT speaker systems (selling in the $300-500 range
>without a receiver) to be competitive with the very best 5.1 PC
>speaker systems, but that's where computer speakers stop competing.
>Better speakers, designed by companies that do nothing else but design
>speakers, sound so superior to any of the mass-market self-powered
>systems available that they are really entirely different product
>categories. The companies that make packaged 5.1 PC speakers aimed
>mostly at gamers don't even try to compete with the real hi fi
>manufacturers.

OK thanks for that!!

Sounds like I may want to stay with a PC speaker system
then..... especially if the box is being used as a PVR
for TV and such.