Please help finalizing Amps-speakers with PC as my source !!

[mav]

Hello folks !

I had posted a thread in the forum a while back in which I had asked for help regarding speaker for my PC. Earlier on i was leaning towards Onkyo 3300 but now thanks to the valuable suggestions from the members and my search on this forum I have shortlisted the following amps-

Denon AVR-1911

Yamaha RX-V667

Pioneer VSX-1020-K

Now I am going to attach the amps to my PC as I want to make my PC the source of my music and movies. My usage wd be 50-50 for the Bluray print movies (downloaded ) and music.

I wanted to know if I can attach the PC to these amps with ease. I am planning to use the onboard sound. The motherboard is Gigabyte G41MT-S2P with on board built in analog sound.It has the usual three slots for jacks- one mike and two speaker ones.. It claims to give Hi-def 108dB signal to noise ratio BluRay audio playback. Do you think it would be possible to achieve that or would I have to invest some more in a sound card... Phew.. !! hate to see money evaporate

Also i had shortlisted the following speakers-

1. Energy Take Classic 5.1
2. Mirage Nanosat 5.1
3. Klipsch HD Theater 500
4. Wharfedale Movie star 70
5. Polk Audio RM85 5-Channel Home Theater System

Do you think it wd be a good enough system? I guess I wd be able to pull the system off within 30-35 k if I buy the components from Alfa, Mumbai.

Guys your suggestions wd be a big help in pointing me in the right direction. Thanks !!

 

[spirovious]

If you want to use analoge out for music,theny any of AVR will do.But thinking of 5.1 out from PC,you can only connect to Yam667.

If you add a graphic card with HDMI out,all can be good option.

Now you have to take Demo & decide which AVR & speaker combo sounds better to you.

Klipsh & Wharfedale goes well with Yamaha.Polk,Energy Take Classic 5.1
with Denon.

 

[baijuxavior]

Since your pc mobo has only 3 jacks for output (it is 5.1), you will need to invest in a sound card with optical or coaxial output for connecting to the denon and pioneer AVRs. I thiunk yamaha 667 has analog surround inputs. In that case you can connect the pc output to the avr and no need for a sound card. If you want to bitstream hd audio as well then a grphics card with hdmi is recommended. Also pls note that sound quality from the onboard analog otputs is not so good for music listening. A dedicated dac or sound card will be much better.

 

[Kittu]

Go for Denon with ETC combo .

 

[mav]

Thanks for the suggestions folks... however it kinda added to my confusion

Okay so the thing is that I wd ideally need to go in for a sound card to get better sound? I though an AVR wd automatically upgrade the sound from the PC and create a 5.1 effect?

So its only the Yamaha that I can connect without a sound card and the other two wd need a sound-card... and I guess a reasonable card wd come for at least 5 k?

Guys I am bit of a novice so it wd be great if you cd take me through this process. I know i sound quite ignorant but then I guess its a learning curve.

Thanks for your patience ..

 

[gobble]

Please take a look at the Yamaha AS-500 group buy thread. Its a great deal!!

Rated the best amp under $500.

HTH
--G

 

[baijuxavior]

Thanks for the suggestions folks... however it kinda added to my confusion

Okay so the thing is that I wd ideally need to go in for a sound card to get better sound? I though an AVR wd automatically upgrade the sound from the PC and create a 5.1 effect?

So its only the Yamaha that I can connect without a sound card and the other two wd need a sound-card... and I guess a reasonable card wd come for at least 5 k?

Guys I am bit of a novice so it wd be great if you cd take me through this process. I know i sound quite ignorant but then I guess its a learning curve.

Thanks for your patience ..

Let me explain this in simple words. Your pc onboard sound has 3 audio jacks. They are speaker out, mic in and line in. You can set the speaker configuration to stereo, 5.1, quadraphonic etc. using the audio control panel applet . When the speaker configuration is stereo, audio will be heard only through the speaker out jack. When you set it in 5.1 mode, the mic in and line in will become surround speaker out and center and subwoofer out. You can connect these 3 jacks to a 5.1 amp to get surround sound. When playing a video with 5.1 audio, you will get true surround sound this way. However when you play a stereo track, either the player or the sound driver will convert the stereo track to a pseudo 5.1 sound - this is not a true 5.1. So it is clear that your amp should also need 5.1 analog inputs if you want to connect the 3 jacks. Only the yamaha 667 you selected has this analog inputs. If you choose denon or pioneer then you can connect only the front speaker out or headphone out of your sound card to one of the stereo inputs of the AVR and the avr will create a pseudo surround effect for you which is not true surround. Here comes the role of a separate sound card with optical or coaxial outputs. You can connect the coaxial/optical output from the sound card to the coax/optical input of the avr (which all avrs have) and the processing will be done by the avr.

In other words, if you choose yamaha 667, you won't need an additional sound card for true surround effect. But with denon and pioneer models you will need a sound card with coaxial or optical output for true surround. Instead of a sound card you can also buy a graphics card (GPU) with hdmi output for audio connection. Some gpu supports HD audio pass through as well. Please also note that the sound quality of on-board sound card is inferior to that of dedicated sound cards or dacs.

 

[jatinmalhotra]

+1 to what baijuxavior said

Are you planning to use the PC monitor for Display ?

Go for a Good sound card that can out put Co axial or HDMI out and then connect to AVR.

Denon with ETC is a good choice.

Analoge from Motherboard are quite bad and will not do justice to AVR you are buying.

This is a alternative

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-USB-S-PDIF...236?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ca13101b4

 

[mav]

Thanks for the pointers folks ! You have been a big help. Owe you a beer

spirovious : yeah audition is what I am looking forward to now. Heading to the shop tomorrow for the shootout wd update the progress here.

@ baijuxavior : cant thank you enough m,ate for the patient explanation. You cleared everything out and now I can take an informed decision. Just a clarification- with the Yamaha I wd be able to get true surround sound even when I play mp3 from my PC but with the other two AVRs it wont be true surround sound.. also even though the Yamaha wd be able to play the true surround the sound quality wd be better if I have a dedicated card(sound/graphics) rather than play it off the motherboard ?

Wd there be a difference in sound quality if I go in for a Graphics card with HDMI rather than a dedicated sound card or wd it be better if I have a separate sound card and Graphics card? Also cd you please tell me which card wd you recommend?

@ jatinmalhotra : Thanks Mate. as of now I wd be using my 22inch lcd monitor as the display but I plan to buy a 40 " LED soon and connect it to my PC to serve as the monitor and also TV ! wd i be able to pull it off?

 

[baijuxavior]

@ baijuxavior : cant thank you enough m,ate for the patient explanation. You cleared everything out and now I can take an informed decision. Just a clarification- with the Yamaha I wd be able to get true surround sound even when I play mp3 from my PC but with the other two AVRs it wont be true surround sound..

Happy to know that my post helped you. Coming to your questions, whether you use yamaha or any other avrs, you won't get true surround sound from two channel audios like mp3. What the avrs do is that they will distribute the sound to all the speakers according to some algorithm like dolby prologic etc to produce surround effect which is not a true surround. For true surround sound the source video or audio files should also have separate 5.1 channel audio. For example, most BRRIP movie files (downloaded using the so called 'illegal torrents') with a file size of around 2GB contain 5.1 channels, while movies with file size around 700 MB mostly have only stereo channels.

also even though the Yamaha wd be able to play the true surround the sound quality wd be better if I have a dedicated card(sound/graphics) rather than play it off the motherboard ?

Not only yamaha but all avrs can produce true surround sound, provided the input audio is also in true surround format.

If you intend to use only the 5.1 analog output of your pc mobo, then the sound quality won't be much good. For better sound quality from the analog outputs, you will need a good dedicated sound card. However if your mother board has digital optical or co-axial outputs, you can connect them to the avr and the avr will handle the sound decoding and the quality will be much better. Since your mobo has no optical/coaxial outs, it is better to buy a sound card or graphics card with hdmi. Also with optical/coaxial/HDMI you need to connect only one cable from the mobo to AVR. But if you use analog 5.1 jacks, then you will need 3 pair of cables which will result in cable clutter.

Wd there be a difference in sound quality if I go in for a Graphics card with HDMI rather than a dedicated sound card or wd it be better if I have a separate sound card and Graphics card? Also cd you please tell me which card wd you recommend?

Certain graphic cards support HD audio bit streaming which even dedicated sound cards won't do. You will also need hdmi for connecting the pc to your future LED TV. Also with a dedicated graphics card you can use your pc for gaming as well:licklips:. So my suggestion is that you invest in a good graphics card that supports HD audio. This way you will need only one cable from your pc for audio and video.

To conclude, if you buy a graphics card or a sound card with digital audio outputs (optical or coaxial), you can consider denon and pioneer avrs as well. However, if you want to use only the on board 5.1 analog outputs then Yamaha 667 is the only way to go.

 

[mav]

baijuxavior: Dude you rock !! ) U have managed to educate me !! Yeah i agree i wd go in for a high end graphic card and let it take care of all my AV needs.

Btw I have more or less finalized Yamaha RX-V667 from a source in Mumbai. He has offered me a price of 29,500 if I manage to get 10 more orders. This sounds like a kickass deal to me coz I think this AVR is available for more than 40 at other places in India. Even at Alfa Mumbai its for 35k. Oh and this price that this guy has offered is inclusive of warranty. Do u think its a good offer?

 

[baijuxavior]

Rs. 29.5k for Yamaha 667 is a very good offer. However you need to find 9 others also. How much was quoted for a single piece?

 

[mav]

baijuxavior : for a single one i was quoted 35k ! I guess even that's better than the other offers here in India.. especially when the dealer is providing warranty from his end. what do you recommend?

 

[baijuxavior]

If you can't find 9 others, then 35K is also a good price. Try to bargain again.