Best 5.1 Speaker Setup For $500 Max?

[Raptor_Eye]

okay well I’ve been thinking about it for a while and have decided its time to upgrade my shite Z-640's to something not so shit, I don't expect anything wonderful for $500 but I do want some decent gains in sound quality, as for bass I’m rather happy with my z-640's when it comes to the loudness of the bass (I would like something a little more loud though) but the smoothness is well shite, just boom boom no clarity to it. Though for the price and when I bought them it was not so bad.

Anyway to the point I would like some new speakers with a bit more bass "loudness" then my z-640's but I’d like it smoother, and more clarity to voice's etc would be good.

I play games watch a lot of TV and shows on my computer and listen to rock mostly, all kinds of rock.

And my budget is $500, I have of course been looking at the Z-5500's but I was just inquiring if there are any better options out there.

Thanks in advance

[FuRyZ]

In that price range the Z-5500's are pretty much the only thing that is available. Only proper home theatre systems will get you the clarity and sound quality you want but at $500 you wont get home theatre speakers that come anywhere near the Z-5500s in power output. The Z-5500s do their job when it comes to games and most movies but are not recommended for music without alot of tweaking on the control console to get rid of the huge amounts of boomy bass.

[Raptor_Eye]

hmm okay fair enough, maybe i will just get the z-5500's for $363 and get a new sound card with them.

[SnooP-WiggleS]

$100 overbudget for DSE 5.1 set, i like the speakers, dunno about the sub though i haven't used it (got my own custom build sub).

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.st...t/View/AE8100P

I got everything except the sub for < $300 a while back on sale

for practical sized speakers try kliptsch 5.1 set. they're usually pretty good. eg.

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article....=88&CIID=22969
not easy to buy and that model has only digital inputs of use.

[Raptor_Eye]

thanks for the reply

yeah have had no luck finding the Klipsch ProMedia's and i'd have to get a new sound card for 5.1 if it is only digital(audigy 2 zs here which is of course shite for digital)

and the DSE's would not fit, speakers cant be much bigger then the ones on the z-5500's, so bookshelf speakers.

well then the choice is obvious, the z-5500's, now to decide on a sound card, save $$$ and get a auzentech x-plosion or spend a little more for EAX support and get a xtremegamer pro or go all out on a auzen x-fi prelude, lol and i thought deciding on motherboards was hard.

if only auzen still made the meridan i would of grabbed that... chip that's used on it is EOL supposedly.

[trickma]

Could anyone tell me what a 2.1 equivalent to the z5500 would be? Something with just as good clarity and sound.

[Raptor_Eye]

well i was looking at 2.1 setups for a while my self and from what i have read in this forum and others your options are well a lot.

For the best clarity and a reasonable amount of bass would be the Altec Lansing FX6021 set http://www.alteclansing.com/index.ph...iproduct_id=24

Know for more bass but less clarity(and cheaper cost) from the same company the MX5021's are a good option, though i cant find them on there site so they may be EOL

Logitech you have the Z-2300 THX Set which offer by fair the most amount of bass out of any other 2.1 pc set. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/sp...s/231&cl=au,en

and last but not least would be the Klipsch ProMedia GMX A-2.1 set which from what I've read are basically a mix of the Z-2300's and the FX6021's, but they are ugly IMO, but looks are to the eye of the beholder.
http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod3445.htm

[trickma]

thanks dude