What do I need??

[finlay666]

Well to put it simply I have a LOT connected to my monitor, and unfortunately only one set of speakers.

I would like to go for a surround sound set soon of decent quality, and to this I will need to connect:

A PC
A Nintendo Wii
An Xbox 360
(Possibly) a laptop
An iPod (again at a push)

And to be able to select the sound source I want for that, my 360 is connected by HDMI and this does carry the sound.

Other than that I have no idea what I will need speakerwise/device inbetweenwise

Budget will be negotiable, depends on how much I can pick up a car and get it insured for at a later date, so not OTT

[SiM]

If your budget can fit in a proper AV receiver, then that's is the best solution.
e.g. Onkyo TX-SR605 is quite cheap and does the job quite well. It does sound over HDMI and will pass the video out to your TV. It has other sound/video inputs that will easily meet your needs.

You will need proper speakers though and not ones with an inbuilt amp...

[finlay666]

ok less £400 more £1-200

[SiM]

I don't think you will be able to use HDMI sound with that budget... can you output with something else on the 360?

[finlay666]

Not without cutting it down to 1080i instead of p on my 24" screen

Can cut it down to optical or phono at a push I guess

[SiM]

Can you do HDMI to screen and optical out to amp at the same time with your 360?

Also how are your speakers powered at the moment?

[pauldarkside]

Originally Posted by SiM

Can you do HDMI to screen and optical out to amp at the same time with your 360?

That's how I have mine set up. I use a 4-way HDMI and Optical switching unit as I've no need for HDMI audio with my current speaker/amp kit.

[finlay666]

I can do SiM but would cost ~ £30, a small price to save a lot lol

Speakers are currently Logitech 2.1 ones, just £30 jobbies from PC World *spit*, connect in by a 3.5mm to my monitor (Hyundai W240D)

[SiM]

Originally Posted by finlay666

I can do SiM but would cost ~ £30, a small price to save a lot lol

Speakers are currently Logitech 2.1 ones, just £30 jobbies from PC World *spit*, connect in by a 3.5mm to my monitor (Hyundai W240D)

What will cost £30? Optical cable? They are cheaper than that! You don't really need optical if you have stereo speakers.

TBH, its not really worth spending much for those speakers. I would go for a switch like this
You can get switches with more connectors if you want more than 3 sources... Not sure where else to buy them other than ebay, but it might be worth googling around a bit first.

Edit: might be worth looking in maplin and you will need a couple of converters to get it to output to a 3.5mm

[finlay666]

I am looking to replace the speakers for a new setup, hence asking what I needed

Was looking at some decent logitech surround ones or another set of hi fi ones, but in the latter I have no idea what is good

£30 is for the HDMI cable with optical connection, I just use a standard HDMI cable now, need the official one for optical too

[dave87]

Finlay - How about the Joytech 540C?

I doesn't do HDMI but is an optical/component switch which will do 2 channel audio too, so might be worth looking at?

[SiM]

Oh... sorry I missed that line in you OP...

So you need speakers and an amp for £200!

Well I suggest that you go for something second hand. You can get something much better second hand than you can get new. Look at the avforums forsale section. Its probably best to stick to stereo with this budget. So ~£120 on the amp and ~£80 on a pair of speakers should be a good split.

I don't think it is a good idea to get PC speakers with inbuilt amps, they usually have poor sound quality and are not very flexible.

[finlay666]

OK this is back on now

After suggestions as I need a full setup, I was looking at a Bose Cinemate from work, but for £350 I really want something more suited to me

Am I right in thinking I need the following:
Receiver/amp (built into one?)
Speakers
Decent speaker wire
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude (for the pc audio )
now I'm not sure if I hugely need it but the choice of 2 or a 5 speaker setup doesnt hugely interest me, as I would prefer 2 decent speakers, so would phono be ok over optical?

Probable budget is going to be about £3-400, so say £2-300 ex soundcard, really want something long lasting, I don't know brands to go for (aside from stuff at work so onkyo and denon) and would rather be able to do things like upgrade the speaker cable later on

[finlay666]

Right...

Having spoken to a few colleagues at work they have suggested to get a new amp/receiver, 2nd hand speakers, decent cable and to go for a receiver that doesn't do HDMI and to go for a seperate switcher when the time comes

Sound like a good idea?

[SiM]

Originally Posted by finlay666

Right...

Having spoken to a few colleagues at work they have suggested to get a new amp/receiver, 2nd hand speakers, decent cable and to go for a receiver that doesn't do HDMI and to go for a seperate switcher when the time comes

Sound like a good idea?

Only problem with that is that you won't get the HD audio formats (unless you use 6-8 analogue cables... yuk... but if you don't mind this, then go for it...
Also there is nothing wrong with getting a second hand receiver too.

[BigGlenn]

Now then Finlay,

I don't know if this would be of any use to you but this is what I picked up for in my living room as the speakers are small enough to be placed wherever you like, but still provide a decent enough sound

HTP-GS1 Audio/Cinema System

I have my DVD connected via the coax connection and then both my PS2 and the TV are connected via the optical, but I don't know if all of the connections would be enough for what you want

Glenn