Need New Gaming Speakers

[dethsloth]

The built-in amp on my Creative Labs Inspire 6600 6.1 that I have been using since 2003 seems to have bit the dust and I'm looking for a replacement. The speakers primary use would be to play games ~80%, followed by listening to music ~15% and the very occasional watching of movies ~<5%. I have only set up my speakers correctly for surround sound a few times so I would be fine with going with 2.1 speakers. I'm pretty much a nub when it comes to sound but Ive been reading around the forums for a couple of hrs and what Ive concluded is:

PC speakers suck, at least for music/movies, though might be OK for games?

If I do go with PC speakers then the ones to get are the Promedia 2.1 or the Logitech Z5500

Both of those speaker sets are ancient at this point and I would prefer to not by something that old and have to pay a premium for it. This is led me to think I should just get a receiver, a couple of bookshelf's and a sub.

Maybe this is a silly question but would the bookshelfs/sub still sound better than the PC speakers when playing games, being that I will be very close to them and the kinds of sounds (bass heavy) they will be playing?

How are home theater packages vs buying everything separately? They seem to be cheaper, though I don't know if they are as good.

Lastly, but most importantly, my budget is around $300 but most of the receivers people recommend are $400+ are there any decent receivers in the <$200 catagorie?


I have an been using the integrated sound on my mobo (XFX nForce 680i) but I will probably replace it in a year or so. My video card (Ati 6950 2GB) has plenty of free HDMI ports. I'm not interested in headphones, as I already own some of those for gaming but I prefer to play games without most of the time. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated Thanks in advance!

 

[Theocnoob]

HT package <<< buying seperate
bookshelf speakers >> PC speakers and better value also.
The promedia 2.1 isn't terrible if you can find it cheap. They last a long time and sound decent.

You will get better sound, even at close range, out of a pair of $150 speakers and a 150 receiver/amp although 200/200 would be better.

If you do get a receiver, get one with HDMI, and run the HDMI audio out from your video card. Sounds really good. You'd be surprised. You can then use another HDMI cable from the receiver to your monitor or if your monitor is DVI use an HDMI to DVI cable instead. The signals are the same minus the audio.

Check out Newegg's deals on Klipsch speakers. They sound very clean and tight which is what you want for such a close distance. See what sets they have for 200 bucks. Worry about the sub later you don't have the budget now. Remember that seperate components don't include the speaker cable so remember to pick up a few ft of decent 16 gauge wire. Also go to radioshack and get a $2 wire stripper it makes life easier.

 

[dethsloth]

Thanks for the reply!
Ouch! the Klipsch speakers are not cheap, the cheapest ones newegg has at the moment are $280. I guess you get what you pay for. How much of a difference would there be between them and something like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290202 ?
I'm also gonna assume this is no good
http://www.abt.com/product/40233/Klipsch-HDT300B.html

 

[Theocnoob]

The home theater in a box systems never sound good. Not for under 1000 at which point you make a better one yourself . Yes you get what you pay for. IMO the Klipsch sound a lot better than the polks, and particularly the tweeters, which are a metal horn are much tighter sounding than on the polk where it is a soft dome. That'll matter for you sitting right against them- but by no means do those Polks sound bad. They're quite nice sounding for that price.