I'm confused, 4.1 5.1 6.1 sound systems?

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:12 pm

Ok, I got all this neat stuff, now what do I do with it???

I need a set of speakers, Been using the standard two speaker set up till now with a sound blaster 16 or better.

NOW I am perplexed (confused) about speaker systems.

I've got the Shuttle AK35 (not used yet) and an IWILL XP333 (this system). The on board sound systems are supposed to be 5.1 and 6.1 I'm pretty sure, unless they were both 6.1

Can someone explain this set up simply and whats the best speakers for about $70 or less?

I know it has to do with satalite speakers to the front, side, and or rear for surround sound (I think I know that, couldbe wrong).

I would think 4.1 would be two front, two rear and one BOX the .1
6.1 I think would be the same but two extra on the sides.

What would be a 5.1? What do you do with the 1 extra in 5? where does it go?

I'm not all that much into sound, but I am planning to use the system for movies and would like the bombs bursting all around and such. Also I do like music too, although I seldom crank it up all that loud, surround would be nice.

Been looking at speakers. Is altec lansing the best way to go? I had some good Kinyo's awhile back I gave away with a system. Either seem cheap enough for what I was looking at.

Sometimes the speaker sets do not actually say 6.1, but have 6small and one base, does it need to be listed as a 6.1 to be a true 6.1 set?

thanks for any help on this one, wanting to buy a set soon, but have know idea what I want to buy.

canton_kid

Schwartz · Post by **Schwartz** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:24 pm

Read this, it should help.

Schwartz · Post by **Schwartz** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 10:37 pm

So in 4.1 and 5.1 you have front left and right, plus rear left and right speakers, plus a subwoofer. 5.1 adds a center channel for dialouge and sounds that should be anchored to the screen (a lot of stuff).

Depending on what you want to do there are many choices to make.

If you have a soundcard with front and rear stereo outputs you could get a PC centric 4.1 speakers system. Then get DVD playback software that supports 4 speaker playback on your hardware.

I'm not getting the feeling that you want to spend a lot of money here so I will stop with that.

I don't believe that the PC is the best place to be watching movies. I use a set of Klipsch 4.1s on my PC and have a Yamaha A/V receiver and a Aperion Audio 5.1 speaker setup for the DVDs and Xbox on the TV.

Hipnotic_Tranz · Post by **Hipnotic_Tranz** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 12:07 am

With a $70 budget, I don't thikn you'll be lookin' into much more than a 2.1 setup

If all you do is game then anything more than 4.1 on the PC is rather pointless, IMO. Only if you are going to watch movies will you want 5.1 (front left/right, rear left/right, center + sub -- as schwartz pointed out)

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 12:12 am

I've heard 4.1 systems and 5.1 and to be honest can anyone tell much of a difference? I couldn't... But i'm about 30% deaf so.... lol I've got a set of Z560's and they sound plenty good to me. And now the 6.1 stuff is coming out that adds a rear center channel... I think the Logitech Z540's are 4.1 and only around 50-60 bucks i could be wrong though. They are the little brother to the Z560's. They sound decent for what they are but they won't have the thunderous bass that the Z560's have. Gotta love 400 Watts of power at your desktop... lol More power sitti'n here than on my bookshelf system in the living room.

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 12:35 am

and the ".1" is supposed to be a discrete low-frequency effects channel for the subwoofer. Most simple setups just send a summed L + R signal to the woofer, which is then low-pass filtered. AFAIK most of these "2.1" and "4.1" systems do this, so technically the ".1" is a misnomer.

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 1:38 am

I geuss we all hit the boards same time of night ehh, depending on time zone.

I'm not really into gaming at all, at least not now. I will go on a binge for a day or so at times where I play warcraft for 16 hrs straight, just against the computer, not into battlenet at all. That for me is all I game. If not to expensive as a new game, I will be getting Warcraft 3 soon I think, if expensive I'll buy more hardware and wait for the price to drop next year. Just not that serious a gamer!

What I want to do with the sound system is mostly play old music like 50's and 60's stuff tht isn't set up for suround anyway, but should sound good on it long as all the speakers play it!
Really want the bombs and gun fire comming from everywhere when watching
the shootem up bang bang movies. Theatre effect sound for the 19" tv!

Mostly even the movies, the sound will just be routed though the pc from the dvd or vhs player while the video goes to the TV. Instead of buying a stand alone DVD player I will most likely use the PC DVD player and use the tv out function on the Vid card, though I haven't tried that yet!
Unless I am capturing something I don't watch tv on the pc much either. I geuss I am not really into much of anything in particular!! Cepting maybe Pc's!

Same with the wife and kid, we do alot, but not all one thing or enough to buy a high priced system for it other than the PC's which do nearly everything. I think we are about the only family in the USA now that does not watch TV, no cable, no dish, just buy movies. No Xbox, nintendo, atari, sega or anything else for game boxes. Although I do have a working Atari 1200, we never use it. Once in awhile we hook it up and play a couple games on it, then put it away again for months. No kiding, for real!

I listen to music some, mostly old stuff and country, Watch a few tapes and DVDS but not all that much, and play warcraft for a game. Geuss that is one reason I don't just pop for all the stuff to build everything independantly, we don't do any one thing enough to be worth the investment in dedicated equipment! One major computer center can cover it all!

I was looking at stuff like, Altec Lansing ACS56 5pc 4.1 Retail us $ 80.00

and Kinyo TW-527 5.1 6pc Black US$ 69.00 750Watt* 5.1 Surround Sound,
POWER OUTPUT
Satellites - 3W x 5 (RMS)
Subwoofer - 20W (RMS)
P.M.P.O. - 750W

I don't know what p.m.p.o. is supposed to mean, somekind of confusing way to over rate the actuall watts I suppose? 3wx5=15w +20w=35w, so how does that total out to 750watts?? Even with the little * reffering to P.M.P.O., whats 750 watts?

I saw those two sets at TCWO a few minutes ago.

While in Texas the other day I saw an Altec Lansing set for $69 at Sams Club. Was going to buy them, but forgot to go back before we came home yesterday!! Don't rember what they were now, at least 4.1's though I'm sure. At least there were a good bit of speakers, so unless they were just all playing off 2 channels I would say 4.1 or more. Don't recall the total number of speakers in the set. at least 5 couting the subwoofer

canton_kid

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 2:10 am

I never understood that PMPO junk that system has a RMS rating of 35W combines... Where as my logitech Z560's the Satelites are 50w eachand teh sub is 200W... I think that is a RMS rating but i can't remember it might be peak... If any of you other Z560 users can clarify this then thanks!

Schwartz · Post by **Schwartz** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 3:04 am

Originally posted by Jim Z
and the ".1" is supposed to be a discrete low-frequency effects channel for the subwoofer. Most simple setups just send a summed L + R signal to the woofer, which is then low-pass filtered. AFAIK most of these "2.1" and "4.1" systems do this, so technically the ".1" is a misnomer.

Yup!

Xevuhtess7 · Post by **Xevuhtess7** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 8:44 am

predator, the z560's power rating is a sustained power rating, not burst like the klipsch are. by the way since you own a set of them, have you replaced the cables on them, cause im planning on it and i dont really know how to go about doing so. (i have another post called logitech z-560 cables, please reply to that for me).

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 5:34 pm

PMPO is the single most bullshit power rating i've ever seen, bar none. It's only there so these cheapo speaker makers can have a big number to advertise. I love seeing these ads for these dinky speakers that have under them:

<font size=10>180 Watts</font><font size=1>PMPO, 5 watts RMS</font>

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 10:37 pm

OK, so for us speaker newbies here, what an RMS or a PMPO?
How many watts is pretty good RMS for a home stero type system that might be turned up a bit loud at times, but not enough to blow out the windows or bounce the trailer off the blocks??

I know watts, and even amps x volts = watts

Actually, I never delved off into the speaker power much, just as long as it has a nice sound at reasonable volume and drownds out that thump thump thump comming from the mini truck 6 cars back I am normally happy with the speakers!

Course now I want something a little better for the computer since I will be listening to "Wake Up Little Suzie" in surround sound and might want to crank that up a bit

Also we like those movies with the great sound effects like guns, bombs, tornados, space ships blowing up and so forth.... Maybe toss in an old Elvis Presley movie too.

canton_kid

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Sun Jul 07, 2002 10:52 pm

I'm using the wire that came with mine... They are only powering the satelites so i seen no real need to change them... Only reason u might get new wire is if yo uwant to run these a little further away than the 8ft i think they give you for the rear speakers.

Busby · Post by **Busby** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 11:08 am

RMS power is the continuous power that is given to the speakers/subs. I have no clue what PMPO is. My Logitech Z-340 speakers have a RMS of 6.5 watts and 20 watts for sub and they can get loud. 3 watts will get semi-loud but not really loud.

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 11:40 am

A lot of it depends on the sensitivity of your speakers. Figure that the SPL output goes up 3 dB for each doubling of input power. So, if your speakers' sensitivity is say 90 dB at 1 watt/1 meter, it'll be 93 dB at 2 watts/1 meter, and 96 dB at 4 watts/1 meter, and so on. If your speakers only have a sensitivity of 84 dB 1w/1m, then it'll take 8 watts just to get as loud as the first pair I taked about (all other things being equal).

PMPO is Peak Momentary Power Output. This is the maximum power that the amp can put out for a very short interval (less than half a second). That's why I say it's a BS rating, it has no bearing on real-world performance.