PC speakers replacement

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glenwilson

glenwilson

NRU Heed
NRU Member
15 Mar 2012
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Falkirk, United Kingdom
The volume/on/off dial on my 2.1 Creative speakers is starting to play up after many years of service. It has probably seen about four or five PC rebuilds so it has lasted OK and is probably good value. Sound quality is obviously not Hifi but for PC and gaming it has proved to be adequate and I haven't found it to be irritating or unlistenable. I have a full surround system for the TV in the living room and suspect that sound is probably as important as video quality if not more important. And I still get asked why we need that big black box in the corner of the room! The answer is of course the vibrations from the sub save having to stir the coffee/tea.

My question is that if I was going to replace them is it worth getting a 5.1 system for the PC for playing games?

I have some spare hifi speakers which I could partner with a small amp that could replace the current Creative speakers (albeit with a rather larger desktop footprint than the two small speakers and sub under the desk). So would going 5.1 make a difference when playing BF3/4? An amp would cost about £150 so that would probably be the budget for the speakers.

I sometimes use headphones/earphones when playing (only to drown out the noise of the PS3 controller being thrown or the swearing that generally occurs when the wife is playing one of her PS3 games and gets killed) but I find speakers better for me.

Any comments or suggestions welcome (preferably about speakers :) ).
 
For playing i suggest headphones, good ones are almost like legal hack. ;) You can hear better what happens around you and where enemy guys are. Hearing of gunshots, foot steps, noises of vehicles etc and knowing direction is very big help. :) I use speakers only for watching not dirty movies. :welsh:
 
yeap same here i dont even have speakers anymore at my computer ;)

movies need speakers but gaming is headphone only time ;)

as old CSS player it is duty to play with headphones cause there you can hear steps not like in bf4 where enemy steps are more silent than teammatesteps !!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats just the worest idea with sound i ever heard why should i want to hear my m8s louder ^^ i hope they fix that in the future
 
never used headphones before for gaming, i've been told that "surround" sound headphones are a gimmick and not worth the investment. i can locate the area of someone's footsteps or vehicle through the setup i use which is;

logitech z5500 speakers, digital input, this is the updated model apparently http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/8642?crid=47
auzentech x-fi prelude digital output.

the quality of these speakers are great but obviously are pretty darn expensive, if you've aleady got a 5.1 setup for movies/tv i'd go with the headphones unless you have money to burn and space to put it in!
 
I own this set for a while now: http://www.engadget.com/products/logitech/speaker-system/z623/

It's the best 2.1 set logitech has to offer and is only 135 euros. It is a seriously powerful set and the sound is extremely clear. When setup correctly they are just as good for gaming as headphones. So I have to disagree with a few fellas here :D

I'm a CSS player too but the trick with 2.1 sets is to set the speakers as widely apart as possible. Most people place the speakers right next to their screen on the desktop itself. this makes it hard to distuingish left from right!!! I placed them 1,5 meter away from my screen to the left and right whichs results is extremely clear stereo sound.

Especially with EAX and/or THX enabled ( which this set supports ) combined with CMS3D function of the creative X-Fi audio soundblaster I think it's even better than headphones. I can even hear the differrence between events happening in front of me or behind me.

If you really want to scare your neightbours this set is also available in 5.1 ( 500watts!! ) for 250 euros. They compare this beast to Bose's 5.1 set when doing hardware reviews. It's in the same league for only a fraction of the money. Just google it and find out :)
 
Last edited:
Nimma said:
I own this set for a while now: http://www.engadget.com/products/logitech/speaker-system/z623/

It's the best 2.1 set logitech has to offer and is only 135 euros. It is a seriously powerful set and the sound is extremely clear. When setup correctly they are just as good for gaming as headphones. So I have to disagree with a few fellas here :D

I'm a CSS player too but the trick with 2.1 sets is to set the speakers as widely apart as possible. Most people place the speakers right next to their screen on the desktop itself. this makes it hard to distuingish left from right!!! I placed them 1,5 meter away from my screen to the left and right whichs results is extremely clear stereo sound.

Especially with EAX and/or THX enabled ( which this set supports ) combined with CMS3D function of the creative X-Fi audio soundblaster I think it's even better than headphones. I can even hear the differrence between events happening in front of me or behind me.

If you really want to scare your neightbours this set is also available in 5.1 ( 500watts!! ) for 250 euros. They compare this beast to Bose's 5.1 set when doing hardware reviews. It's in the same league for only a fraction of the money. Just google it and find out :)
Click to expand...

yeap exactly :D thats the point with speakers such as 5.1 you only have a REALLY small area where you really have the sorround effect as you want it... with stereo it is easier ;)

Just one last upside of the headphones i want to say ^^ You dont have this problem with headphones ;) they always have the same position on the hand and its always perfect ^^

No its what you prefer ;) some guys hate headphones on their head - too heavy or uncomfortable :D

and other guys just love their headphones like me;)

edit: oh and the mainreason why i use headphones is of course TS ;) and voicechat echo sucks ;)
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I have tried headphones (hifi and some for gaming) and whilst they are fine I probably prefer speakers. As my current ones are still working I'll research what you guys are using and see if I can try some out. If my current set do break I may dig an old amp from the loft and use the hifi speakers as a test. My main fear of using a gaming headset would be the fact that they have microphones and that would mean talking to folk too!
 
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