2.1 5.1 or 7.1 for gaming and movies.?

[slair76116]

Which of the above mentioned would you say is worthwile for gameing and movies on your PC.

consider you already have a 5.1 home therter.

and if you could please make recomendations for each catergory.
here i will go first

1. 2.1 ??

2. 5.1 ??

3. 7.1 Creative Labs Gigaworks S750 (hands down the best!)

like that

[Hammerstein]

Anyone who reads this -- please keep in mind that these recommendations are movies and games only. Not going to get much into music here.

2.1 - Klipsch Promedia 2.1. For all it's weaknesses, I believe this set goes for $100 now and it offers more controlled bass and better satellites than its (primarily Logitech) competitors. While Altec Lansing makes some nice stuff, I don't think that the subwoofers on their current sets are as strong, and the Klipschs are seriously designed to by surprisingly dynamic for their size (as they should be, given their heritage in the Quintet II series).

5.1 - Klipsch Promedia 5.1 ULTRA - I don't think there is any competition at this level. The Ultra sub is about as good as a Klipsch RW-10, which is a $500 subwoofer that I personally know is good (I have one). The satellites and the center channel are great, and you probably won't get a more dynamic system with strong bass performance in this category for multimedia speakers.

If you want an upgrade on these, I believe the BASH amp supports higher end satellites. From what I've heard, you can replace the default ultra sats with Klipsch RSX Reference sats or the Klipsch Quintets III for a boost in performance. You theoretically could replace them with other systems, but more Klipsch is probably the best choice for tonal matching, and because the higher efficiency on most Klipsch equipment makes them a good choice.

7.1 - I think the Gigaworks are the only 7.1 system that is commonly available. So I don't think there's any real competition here.

Non-multimedia options - you could always build a real home theater system or use a Home Theatre-in-a-box setup as your speaker setup for games and music. These can easily be 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1. Onkyo makes one that is highly regarded for around $500 or so, I believe. In my case, I'm tweaking a setup that consists of Klipsch Quintet IIs and a Klipsch RW-10 subwoofer, and it's clearly the highest quality way to go.

[ToMo]

I assume you're asking because you are looking into purchasing a home or pc theater system? If you are, there are lots of questions to ask before you get a good answer. First things first (if you are indeed looking to buy), what is your budget?

I settled on 5.1 for my home theater because of the room it went in. I didn't really have a place to mount the extra 2 speakers for 7.1 and 5.1 still sounds great to me.

[mikeysg]

Anyone who reads this -- please keep in mind that these recommendations are movies and games only. Not going to get much into music here.

2.1 - Klipsch Promedia 2.1. For all it's weaknesses, I believe this set goes for $100 now and it offers more controlled bass and better satellites than its (primarily Logitech) competitors. While Altec Lansing makes some nice stuff, I don't think that the subwoofers on their current sets are as strong, and the Klipschs are seriously designed to by surprisingly dynamic for their size (as they should be, given their heritage in the Quintet II series).

Totally agree with you on this, for 5.1 gaming, I have the excellent MW 550 + X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS. For my surfing, productivity/word processing and MP3/CD music, I have a P4 3.0C/875P mobo/1GB DDR400 + Auzentech X-Mystique Gold + Klipsch PM 2.1 (which I'd just bought from a local forum garage section....seriously, took it just about 3 hours ago). I'm putting it thru a series of different types of music - 80's disco, techno, rock, audiophile (like Amanda McBroom) - and I must say the PM 2.1 handles them with conviction and aplomb. This is my first taste of what the Klipsch PM series are capable of and I really like what I hear.

Edit -
For gaming, 5.1's the ticket since very few games support 7.1.....same goes for movies (bluray and HD DVDs are the exception). For my HTPC, I wanted to meld gaming and movies capabilities, so I build a reasonably powerful rig - AM2 X2 4200+/2GB DDR2 667/7950 GX2/X-Fi XM

- but since SPDIF is quite 'iffy' with VISTA, I decided to pony up for a Creative DTS-610 :

What the DTS-610 does is that it converts analog 5.1 (via orange/green/black cable from soundcard) to digital DTS 5.1 and outputs it via digital coaxial or optical to a digital receiver/amp or HTIB with coaxial/optical input(s). Below is a pic of my TV and the LG HTIB which punch out the 5.1 DTS sound from DTS-610/soundcard. Works great, and I do detect the discrete channels when I play Bioshock in 5.1

Sorry to ramble on, but I hope this helps...

[eon]

for online competitive FPS gaming, theres no replacement to headphones

[EonX]

for online competitive FPS gaming, theres no replacement to headphones

second that one.