Thread: Need help choosing equipment, 800$ budget

First off, my current setup:

Crosshair IV ----pci---> Xonar D2 ----5.1 analog---> Logitech Z-5500

I sold the Z-5500's today, in the pursuit of a more accurate/proffessional setup.

I have about 800$ to spend.

What I want to do is get the best stereo setup I can with the ability to go to surround sound again later. I also want to keep the ability to plug my ps3 into the receiver via hdmi, but if there is a better solution not involving a receiver then I won't care too much....

So from my understanding there are two routes here:

1. Xonar to Reciever to passive speakers....

2. Xonar to amp's (pre/post ? confused here, explain please) to passive speakers...

3. (don't want to do this) active speakers direct from sound card.....


So help me out, explain the differences between 1 and 2.... give me some suggestions. I want the most accurate sound possible (I was looking at reference monitors)... Do I need a sub-woofer if I get really good speakers? I am out of my depth here.,...

Well.... I am liking the look of the KRK Rokit 10-3 reference monitors.... they are a bit over my budget... but if I wait till monday for my next paycheck.... lol

Guyver and heavy would be ones to ask. Maybe aeth, too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Well I bought the Rokit 10-3's they should get here friday.


I went out to a local guitar center to test out a few systems. Here were my impressions:


Rokit 8 + krk sub - closest to the 10-3's a bit too much low-mid range, drowned out the highs


Mackie HR824 - missing those lows when the melody drops out and its a sustained note....


Atom A7X - concerned about the lack of mid range power on these and about what I read about fatigue with extended use....




So based on the rokit 8 = sub combo being a bit boomy and the 10-3 having a 4" + 10" each.... as long as they are balanced as well as I hope they are...




Here's hoping friday gets here quicker.....

I will post my impressions up once I get some good play time with them.....

1. Xonar to Reciever to passive speakers....

Xonar is producing the signal which is sent to the receiver. Most receivers have an amplifier which will then power your speakers. A receiver is really only needed if you are wanting to power your speakers from multiple sources.

2. Xonar to amp's (pre/post ? confused here, explain please) to passive speakers...

Xonar is producing the signal which is sent to your power amplifier. There are lots of different power amplifiers available with many different options (high pass/low pass filters, crossovers, etc). Only one source (maybe two depending on the amplifier) can be sent to the power amplifier, and it cannot be a digital source. It will likely be 1/4" inch, XLR, or speakon on most high grade studio/rack amplifiers. The amplifier would then power the speaker.

3. (don't want to do this) active speakers direct from sound card.....

No middle man. The Xonar sends the signal to the powered speakers. The powered speakers have their own amplifiers in them and likely have their own volume controls on the back of the speaker.

The easiest method is #3 as you don't have to take up any space or spend any money on a receiver or power amplifier. Don't think that powered speakers will not sound as good as unpowered, because it just isn't true. I have JBL EON 515XT speakers for my PA system, and they are powered. I have had unpowered JBL JRX speakers, and if you don't have the right amplifier/power distribution to the speakers, it is difficult to get them to sound good. Powered is the way to go.

That being said, if you want surround sound OUT from your PC, you would likely need a receiver, unless you can find some other way to connect 4 or 5 powered speakers to that Xonar D2, which might be tricky with all 1/8" individual plugs. You could digital out to a receiver and just run some normal, unpowered speakers to all of the desired channels.

Personally, I just don't see the use of wanting surround sound on a gaming PC anyways. I either play games with my headphones on, or play with my 2.1 setup so loud that it shakes the walls. I hope I was able to answer some of your questions.

You were and cleared up some stuff for me. When I started the thread I was just overwhelmed with options and avenues to pursue.....

I think when I get a receiver (couple months from now) I will wire these to pre-outs.... so I will have to have a receiver that supports that. Or I could just go all straight from my card to powered speakers everywhere.... that would be interesting, lots of cables, luckily I have a ton of furniture to hide things behind.



For me I had a very narrow sound scape with my surround setup. The imaging was superb, and when I was forced to use headphones I didn't do so well at hearing where stuff was coming from. If the imaging with these rokit's is good enough, perhaps I will never to go surround sound again..... we shall see....

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff, there is only one thing worse than waiting for these things to be delivered.... and that is having one get delivered a day before the other WTF!!!! REALLY!?!?!?!?

Ok got it, plugged it in..... bad news. It seems my crosshair IV has very noisy PCI power. Both my Xonar D2 and Audigy 4 had extremely high pitched whine noises coming over the tweeter. Confirmed it isn't the speaker, playing from my laptop or zune HD both are perfect.......

SOOOOOOO...


I now need suggestions for an audio interface. I have firewire and usb as options..... I heard firewire is the way to go for audio interfaces.....

So with a hard 720$ budget this time, what is the best sounding external audio interface I can get? I am not concerned with inputs/outputs (maybe a headphone jack) besides to from my computer and speakers. Replaceable DAC's would be nice.

I think I am going to pick up an Onkyo receiver the TX-NR809 this friday so that my clean power issues go away...... and also provide me with some great dac's and connectivity for other things.....