Cheap Surround Sound?

[at0m]

I know cheap shouldn't be in the same sentence as anything audio-related, but I'm in the market for a cheapish surround sound solution for my HDTV. I'd think that one of those all-in-one home theater upconverting DVD players would be a good bet (Home Theater in a Box, I think is what they're called), but they don't have line in to get my Wii or PS2 sound to come out of the nice speakers. Anyone faced this problem and have any suggestions?

[copulatingduck]

Why do you need a separate channel for your Wii or PS2? The speakers usually hook straight into the TV's audio output, and then anything you pipe into the TV is played through the surround sound instead. Or am I misunderstanding your predicament?

Either way, you could go with a nice 2.1 system (I hear that the virtual surround sound is very nice these days, but I've never actually listened to a system before so idk) or you can wait for woot to eventually have another 'Surround Sound' day.

I'd imagine Mission would probably have the best advice since he's like a professional audiophile or something

[Mission Difficult]

Depends on what you mean by cheap. How much do you have to spend? Aperion Audio has some great sounding speakers and are reasonably priced. You can get a full set of their Intimus 4 line for about $1000 ($680 without the sub if you live in an apartment.) They have stands as well. If you don't like them they have a 30 day guarantee and pay for return shipping. They used to sell receivers but I think they gave that up. You can get by with an inexpensive one from Onkyo.

Typically you would have all of your devices hooked up to your receiver and then one HDMI or whatever going to your TV. This way you ensure any decoding is done by your receiver and is also a cleaner solution for both wiring and analog signals.

[Didzo]

Get surround sound built into the ceiling, and have all of the wires strung through the wall and out directly into the back of your wall mounted flatscreen TV. That way, you can have kidney-shattering sound WITHOUT all of the messy wires!

Oh wait...

Cheap surround sound?

Erm....

Get like 4 speakers from Wal-Mart and see what plugs you can stick them into.

>_>

[HeK]

What I did, and this is really cheap, is take my older Logitech Z560 surround gaming speakers, which lack a digital input, and purchased from ebay a Creative labs extigy.
The Extigy, when disconnected from a PC, acts as a volume control and Dolby 5.1 decoder.

Added volume controls my my Harmony remote, win.

[Professor Funbucks]

I bought these logitech 5.1 speakers that had a subwoofer for about 120$
They've worked great with my computer so far.

[at0m]

I bought these logitech 5.1 speakers that had a subwoofer for about 120$
They've worked great with my computer so far.

Yeah but I want them for my HDTV D:

[HeK]

Most decent Logitech 5.1 kits accept SPDIF (in both fibre and coax flavors), and sound damn decent with your tv.

[at0m]

Most decent Logitech 5.1 kits accept SPDIF (in both fibre and coax flavors), and sound damn decent with your tv.

Still need a SPDIF switch then to use multiple devices (cable, dvd player, htpc, wii, ps2), no?

[Darklink]

oops

[at0m]

I may be wrong, but most surround sound headphones are "fake". Mission could go into more detail I guess.

You may also be in the wrong thread. :/

[Darklink]

[quote author=airmax link=topic=4111.msg147197#msg147197 date=1271373969]
I may be wrong, but most surround sound headphones are "fake". Mission could go into more detail I guess.

You may also be in the wrong thread. :/
[/quote]my bad :p

[HeK]

[quote author=HeK link=topic=4111.msg147189#msg147189 date=1271368959]
Most decent Logitech 5.1 kits accept SPDIF (in both fibre and coax flavors), and sound damn decent with your tv.

Still need a SPDIF switch then to use multiple devices (cable, dvd player, htpc, wii, ps2), no?
[/quote]

Make one. You are an engineer, right?

Mine even has a remote, and I have no idea what I really doing.

[copulatingduck]

I have no idea what I really doing.