Speaker recommendations for a media center PC?

So I've got this setup that’s basically a media center PC (honestly, just a decent rig hooked up to a massive 42" 1080p screen).
I'm sitting on a huge pile of movies, series, and documentaries, so I was hunting for that full home theater experience combined with the versatility of a computer. This is how I've got the visuals dialed in so far.

Now that I've scraped some cash together, I really want to fix the audio side of things (right now, I'm stuck using the 10W speakers built into my TV/monitor, which are pretty pathetic).
I'm looking for advice from anyone who actually knows what they're talking about.

I'm looking to drop around $1000 and I want to get the absolute best audio quality possible for that money—meaning a 5.1 channel setup with a punchy subwoofer.
Currently, the sound comes out of the PC through the 3.5mm jacks on the motherboard. Let's be real, standard computer speakers don't even come close to actual home theater gear.

I'll admit, I'm not an expert on this stuff, so I've been weighing three different options:
1. Buy a sound card (if that's even necessary or possible) that has the right outputs for home theater speakers—since those never use 3.5mm jacks—and then pick up a new or used home theater system to scavenge the speakers from.
2. Buy separate speakers and an amplifier with an audio input and hook the PC directly to them (this looks like the most expensive route to me).
3. Just grab the best high-end computer speakers available, like the Klipsch Reference Series with THX certification.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the last option because it's the easiest. If you guys have a better suggestion, please let me know.

Thanks in advance

Personally, I’ve been rocking an old Creative setup at home for seven years, along with some 2.1 systems. Once I swapped in this card, the sound quality just hit a whole different level. Suddenly, the bass is deep enough to make a Mosleys player shake, and you can actually hear every single cymbal clearly. It sounds incredible. My advice? Grab a sound card from someone like Creative or a similarly well-known brand $100 and definitely pair it with those Klipsch Reference Series speakers mentioned above.

It looks like you're after a surround setup. You should definitely grab those Klipsch Reference Series and make sure to pick up a decent sound card too...

quiethound10 said:Look, personally? I’ve got this old Creative setup sitting at home that’s been around for seven years, plus three different 2.1 systems cluttering up the place. But man, after I finally dropped that sound card in, the audio quality just went through the roof. It's insane. Suddenly the bass is so deep you feel like you're hitting a MOS pit, and every single cymbal hit is crystal clear. It sounds absolutely beautiful. My honest advice? Just go out and grab yourself a decent sound card. $100 Look, if you’re actually serious about this, just go with something from Creative or one of those other big-name brands you've heard of. And for the love of god, make sure you grab those Klipsch Reference Series speakers you mentioned earlier. Don't overthink it.

Thanks for the tip.

Man, I honestly had no clue that audio quality was such a massive deal. I really thought having decent integrated sound on my Intel motherboard would be more than enough to get the job done. Who knew?

Wait, hold on. You’re telling me you’ve got a 3x2.1 setup? Like, three separate 2.1 systems running at once? Six speakers and three different subs? Man, I had no idea anyone even pulled that off. Is that even a thing people actually do? Seriously though, would you actually recommend going down that rabbit hole instead of just sticking to a standard 5.1 surround setup? Is it worth the headache?

One more thing I gotta ask: right now, my video signal is running through a DVI-to-HDMI adapter on my graphics card, then through an HDMI cable into the LCD monitor since my current card doesn't even have a native HDMI port. As for the audio, that’s just running through the motherboard. I’m planning on picking up a new GPU with a built-in HDMI port pretty soon, but here's what's bugging me. Does it actually matter that an HDMI output is rated for 7.1 channel audio? Like, is that audio signal even going to travel through the graphics card at all?

I forgot to mention I used to have three separate 2.1 setups, but I eventually ditched all of them for some Pioneer SE-M290 headphones. My room was such a mess of cables my parents thought I was running a small telephone exchange or something. As for doing what you're asking, it’s just not possible. The only way I hacked it together was by setting my sound settings to quadraphonic audio (my drivers basically tricked themselves into thinking I had four speakers; any other setting just wouldn't work for some reason). That left the green jack as green, but it essentially "turned" the black jack into a second green one. I plugged one 2.1 system into the first jack, then used a splitter on the second jack to turn it into two outputs for my other two 2.1 systems. There was no loss in volume or quality.

I wouldn't recommend it, though. Like it says, you're just running 3x2.1. A true 7.1 setup sounds way more immersive because the sound actually travels around the room like you're 😁 right in the middle of it, whereas this is just a way to get more volume and extra bass.

If you go with that Klipsch Reference Series, set it up properly and trust me—even a massive 5.1 setup won't even come close to matching it. 😁

Regarding HDMI, I haven't messed with that much, so you should probably ask someone smarter than me.

quiethound10 said:I forgot to mention that I used to have a 3x2.1 setup, but I eventually ditched the whole mess for some Pioneer SE-M290 headphones because there were so many damn cables lying around my room my parents thought I was running a massive telephone switchboard or something. As for that workaround you mentioned? Yeah, it doesn't exist. What I did was go into my sound settings and set it to quadraphonic audio (the drivers just assumed I had four speakers, otherwise for some reason nothing worked on any other setting). That left the green jack as green, but it basically "tricked" the black jack into acting like a green one. That way, I could plug one 2.1 system into the first jack, and for the second, I used a splitter to turn that jack into two, which I then plugged my other two 2.1 systems into. I didn't lose any volume or quality doing that.

I wouldn't recommend that approach though, because like you said, it’s just three separate 2.1 systems. A real 7.1 setup sounds way more immersive because you actually hear things coming from different corners of the room, making it feel like you're actually 😁 right in the middle of it, whereas this is just about cranking up the volume and the bass.

If you grab those Klipsch Reference Series, wire them up, space out the speakers, and just wait and see—even a crazy 59x2.1 setup won't even come close to touching them.😁

Regarding HDMI, I haven't messed with that much, so you should probably ask someone who actually knows their stuff.

Thanks for the advice.
Basically, I'm wondering if I even need to bother buying a dedicated sound card. From what I've gathered, cards in the $100 range aren't really any better than the integrated audio on an Intel motherboard; the ones that cost a fortune are just loaded with fancy features I don't give a damn about.

Also, I don't know if you bothered reading through all those specs, but from what I can tell, these Logitech speakers already have everything needed to make the "sound quality skyrocket"—so like you said, I figured I wouldn't even need a sound card.

This sound card is leagues ahead of any integrated audio you'll find on a standard board...

Alternatively, you could grab an Audigy SE since it uses the exact same chip as this one, but honestly, there isn't much of a price gap... just go with the one above...

So, I was over at AMD today and they pointed me toward this sound card

plus those Logitech Z-5500 speakers.

Honestly, it looks like the best deal out there.
I'm probably just gonna pull the trigger and buy it.

Terry Rogers86 said:They actually recommended this sound card to me today at AMD...
Check out this product page on the AMD site! It looks like exactly what I’ve been searching for...
I've got a set of Klipsch Reference Series speakers...

Honestly, this looks like the absolute best deal out there...
I think I'm actually going to pull the trigger on this one...

Go get it! 👍

If you picked one up, man, you seriously scored.

In my book, it’s basically perfect for those movie marathons at AMC