# Need Pc Speakers With Optical Input



## berwick53 (May 8, 2008)

Hi I Need Some 5.1 Pc Speakers With Optical Input
As Cheap !!! As Possible 

Many Thanks Berwick53


----------



## rampage (May 8, 2008)

are you after cheap quality speakers, or cheap chaep 5.1 speakers that just make a bit of noise ???


----------



## berwick53 (May 8, 2008)

not bothered aslong as they work with a 360 and have an optical for 5.1 souuround sound


----------



## berwick53 (May 8, 2008)

Any Body


----------



## twicksisted (May 8, 2008)

not cheap i know, but have optical (one of my rerasons for getting them) *Logitech Z5500*
Perhaps you can find a pair 2nd hand for cheap 
I swear by them


----------



## berwick53 (May 8, 2008)

Thanks But NEED IT CHEAP


----------



## Snake05 (May 8, 2008)

Again, not super cheap, but if you got a Creative DDTS-100 decoder (what I use for 360/pc/etc) you can hook up any cheap speaker system to it, and it works like a charm.  Has 3 optical inputs, 3 analog, and a coaxial input.  Just something else to think about.


----------



## suraswami (May 8, 2008)

sent pm


----------



## jonmcc33 (May 8, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> not cheap i know, but have optical (one of my rerasons for getting them) *Logitech Z5500*
> Perhaps you can find a pair 2nd hand for cheap
> I swear by them



Doesn't matter if you run optical to them when the sound quality is bad. Single driver satellites don't cut it IMO.


----------



## twicksisted (May 8, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> Doesn't matter if you run optical to them when the sound quality is bad. Single driver satellites don't cut it IMO.



Z5500's arent single driver... its a woofer surrounding a bullet shaped tweeter... so its a 2-way speaker setup... also, as far as pc speakers go, they are in the top... unless you want to fork out on a HTIB or seperates.


----------



## jonmcc33 (May 9, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> Z5500's arent single driver... its a woofer surrounding a bullet shaped tweeter... so its a 2-way speaker setup... also, as far as pc speakers go, they are in the top... unless you want to fork out on a HTIB or seperates.



Er, that's not a tweeter, that's an extension of the pole yoke...also called a *phase plug*. It's not a moving piece and cannot produce any frequency. It can merely help improve midrange octaves at best but that means the highs aren't there. A 3-inch driver cannot produce upper octaves very well, that's why there are separate tweeters on better satellites, anywhere from 1-inch to 0.5-inch in diameter. 

http://www.preference-audio.com/phaseplug.htm

I had a pair of Z-560s back in the day. Decent for bass but that was about it. In regards to PC speakers (aka multimedia) Z-5500 speakers are by far from the best. They are the most feature loaded but probably the worst sounding.

Klipsch ProMedia Ultra and Creative Labs GigaWorks are superior sounding due to their actual 2-way satellites. They just lack features like optical. 

Then again, this Onkyo HT-SR800 home theater would really destroy them all for sound quality and features. I've never seen a better value for the price. Everyone I have recommended these to has been completely satisfied.

If you want speakers with an actual tweeter built into the woofer then look at the KEF speakers: http://www.kef.com/products.asp 

They are going to be considerably more expensive though.


----------



## AsRock (May 9, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> Then again, this Onkyo HT-SR800 home theater would really destroy them all for sound quality and features. I've never seen a better value for the price. Everyone I have recommended these to has been completely satisfied.
> 
> They are going to be considerably more expensive though.




I have the older model and it's bee good for the $220 it cost me.  Not the best but HELL  look what ya getting.  BTW mines 3 year old now.


----------



## twicksisted (May 10, 2008)

jonmcc33 said:


> Er, that's not a tweeter, that's an extension of the pole yoke...also called a *phase plug*. It's not a moving piece and cannot produce any frequency. It can merely help improve midrange octaves at best but that means the highs aren't there. A 3-inch driver cannot produce upper octaves very well, that's why there are separate tweeters on better satellites, anywhere from 1-inch to 0.5-inch in diameter.
> 
> http://www.preference-audio.com/phaseplug.htm
> 
> ...



My mistake then on the tweeters then  I assumed that they were mounted within the woofer as the high / tops coming out of the speakers sounded like it could only come from a 2way setup (and they look just like bullet tweeters). I wont open mine up though just to find out hehe.

Personally I read reviews on the gigaworks vs Z5500's and tried out both before settling on the Z5500... the gigaworks to me were louder but diddnt sound, in my ears, better. The lack of features and the fact that it was 7.1 put me off them.

I havent tried the klipsch 5.1, and to be honest dont think I will. I will keep these Z5500's for my multimedia setup as I am more than happy with them for what they are.
as the only competition for these are the klipsch & the Gigaworks 7.1, I think I can safely say that they are in the top of PC audio speakers.

The Onkyo is not PC multimedia, its "home theatre equipment" and to compare them isnt really fair  We could start saying that a Hafler studio amp's and genelec control room studio speakers are better than onkyo then


----------



## AsRock (May 10, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> The Onkyo is not PC multimedia, its "home theatre equipment" and to compare them isnt really fair  We could start saying that a Hafler studio amp's and genelec control room studio speakers are better than onkyo then




Nothing to do with being fair. It's more about the dam price lol...

For tweeter i prefer cloth ones.  Metal tweeter have always sound to harsh and are not as open sounded than.


----------



## twicksisted (May 10, 2008)

AsRock said:


> Nothing to do with being fair. It's more about the dam price lol...
> 
> For tweeter i prefer cloth ones.  Metal tweeter have always sound to harsh and are not as open sounded than.



yeah I guess... its what you want it for and what you are willing to pay at the ned of the day...

For me, it was about getting a good all in one solution with minimal fuss and maximum punch.
and as someone who works in the music industry as both a producer (of electronic music... admittedly not on these speakers of course) and for a music label & MP3 download store... 
I think for what they are, they are very good value computer speakers for gaming and watching movies on your PC. 2 way, bullet tweeters or not, they sound great and this is comparing them to some pretty top end studio quality active production speakers on the same soundcard. but then again, everyoners ears are different (I know mine have taken a hammering since i got involved in the music industry back in 1996   )


----------



## jonmcc33 (May 10, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> My mistake then on the tweeters then  I assumed that they were mounted within the woofer as the high / tops coming out of the speakers sounded like it could only come from a 2way setup (and they look just like bullet tweeters). I wont open mine up though just to find out hehe.



No need to open anything up. You can clearly see the phase plug. Logitech isn't good enough of a speaker manufacturer to come up with something like tweeters in the center of the cone like that. The only reason they can make speakers was after acquiring Labtec. Before that it was just mice, keyboards and controllers. 

I had the Z-560s and although they were the first to really be cheaply priced and feature booming bass I could tell that the highs weren't there. I got a set of Klipsch ProMedia Ulltra 5.1's and was blown away by the differences. 



twicksisted said:


> Personally I read reviews on the gigaworks vs Z5500's and tried out both before settling on the Z5500... the gigaworks to me were louder but diddnt sound, in my ears, better. The lack of features and the fact that it was 7.1 put me off them.



You don't have to use all 7 speakers in a 7.1 setup. 

If they didn't sound better to your ears it was because the Gigaworks speakers weren't at your house to where you could really compare. You probably listened to a source that had emphasis on mids and not highs. 



twicksisted said:


> I havent tried the klipsch 5.1, and to be honest dont think I will. I will keep these Z5500's for my multimedia setup as I am more than happy with them for what they are.
> as the only competition for these are the klipsch & the Gigaworks 7.1, I think I can safely say that they are in the top of PC audio speakers.



Don't bother, Klipsch doesn't make them anymore. They have been discontinued. 



twicksisted said:


> The Onkyo is not PC multimedia, its "home theatre equipment" and to compare them isnt really fair  We could start saying that a Hafler studio amp's and genelec control room studio speakers are better than onkyo then



Yes, it's an HTIB but it's in the price range of PC multimedia speakers. That was my point. Bringing some high end studio quality components into the picture is not the idea. 

I spent $399 on my Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 at the time. For about the same price I could have the Onkyo HTIB. Seeing the picture yet? I have recommended these to people wanting the best computer speakers and at first they were all confused at the recommendation of a HTIB but Onkyo is rarely questioned in regards to quality. You cannot beat that for the price.


----------



## twicksisted (May 10, 2008)

I am not familiar with Onkyo receivers personally...and im sure that they are great... even better still is the fact that you can get them fior the same price as the Z5500's.

I wont be having a look at them though as I think I am sorted with my Z5500's for a very long time to come 

I did hook my celestion HTIB up to my soundcard, but found them to be very boosted and heavy... and also all the cables and connections to use and having to power down the amp / speakers before switching off the pc to avoid the spike proved tedious.

for an easy all in one solution... i personally found the z5500's to be the best bet personally, but then again everyone has their own opinions on things and sound is not different


----------



## jonmcc33 (May 10, 2008)

twicksisted said:


> I am not familiar with Onkyo receivers personally...and im sure that they are great... even better still is the fact that you can get them fior the same price as the Z5500's.
> 
> I wont be having a look at them though as I think I am sorted with my Z5500's for a very long time to come
> 
> ...



You can always switch out the satellites and have something much better although the amp powering the Z-5500 is just crap as well. Rated at 10% THD? No thanks!

The Klipsch amp is rated at <1% THD and the Gigaworks rated at 0.1% THD.


----------

