Ultimate Lowdown on the Best Speakers - Advice, Please

[Shortsord]

I've been looking for a set of high quality pc speakers. Notably, I want to try and get the best of the best, for a multimedia pc audio system.

It's been boiled down to the Logtitech Z-5500 system, or the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1.
I've searched the form and read the threads, what I want here is to try to just blatantly see which is preferred, and what equipment is needed for each. Which one is the Best, basically.

I know that for the Logitech I will need an optical audio cable, the only problem is I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for in that. Help would be appreciated.

For the Klipsch, I hear I'll need an external sound decoder, but again I have no idea about what I'm looking for in that, or where for that matter, as I've yet to find one at all. Help, again, would be appreciated.

Finally, what are your opinions on these speakers? Comparative opinions would be even better. And if you know of a better set, please by all means inform me. What is the Best?

Thanks for all your help, and cheers to all.

 

[Megatron]

What computer will you be running this speaker system off of?

 

[BlizzardBomb]

I'm pretty sure an optical audio cable should be easy to find at an electrical store and I don't think they're too expensive. A search for it might show you what your looking for.

 

[Shortsord]

Sorry, forgot to mention; I will be using the newest powerbook 17".

 

[khisayruou]

EDIT: Just read it will be for the powerbook 17...gonna have to edit all this now!

All right, let me try this again now that I know its for the powerbook.
Powerbook is limited to one analog (stereo) and optical.

Klipsch uses 3 analogs. There are external usb sound cards available and allow you to use these speakers with the powerbook. M-audio Sonica is one of them: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/SonicaTheater-main.html

Logitech has a variety of options: analog, optical, and coaxial. So it shapes up to be a better option for the powerbook since it has optical. The cable you need is a toslink optical cable with a mini adapter (picture of it found below).

Sound wise, I honestly think they are both rather comparable. Some will say Klipsch is better, others are going to say Logitech, the best thing to do is listen to both of them and see for yourself which sound is better to you. You really can't lose with either two.

Keep this in mind. Logitech uses rca cables for the speakers (cable is tethered to the speaker) and Klipsch uses actual speaker wires that clip into the speaker. Some ppl like the fact they can use the Klipsch speaker and hook it up into their home theater receiver without any modification.

 

[Megatron]

Good info on the powerbook 17" audio outputs - that's why I was wondering what computer would be hooked up to these speakers.

Just out of curiosity, how much do these systems cost? And on a related note, how do speaker systems in the home audio world stack up to these in terms of price/performance, as an alternative?

 

[wPod]

Just out of curiosity, how much do these systems cost? And on a related note, how do speaker systems in the home audio world stack up to these in terms of price/performance, as an alternative?

depends if you're an audiophile or not. for extreme audiophiles both of these systems are not very good. but for extreme audiophiles they will spend easily ten thousand dollars on an amplifier alone. Klipsch would be a name that an audiophile would consider, logitech would not.

for the TYPICAL consumer these are both good systems and you likely do not have the type of recording or playback device that would allow you to tell the difference b/w the two speakers. but, compared to a typical 2.1 consumer system both of these will sound very good. id go with the logitech system b/c it will connect easily with the optical audio out of the 17" PB. Klipsch would probably be a better quality system, but needing an external audio card might not be worth it.

 

[khisayruou]

Just out of curiosity, how much do these systems cost? And on a related note, how do speaker systems in the home audio world stack up to these in terms of price/performance, as an alternative?

They go for $250-350. For that same amount, you can get a budget home theater in a box and to my ears, the klipsch/logitech will win. wPod summed up the rest perfectly.

 

[Shortsord]

Alright, thank you all for your recommendations.

I was looking through research on the external decoder and there seems to be a slight confusion about wheher or not the sound quality is as good.
Most of he reviews on the speakers I've read say that both are great but the Klipsch is slightly better.
What I'm wondering is, suppose I do get the Klipsch and the Sonica decoder, would the sound still be better or would the quality go down just a notch or two? If the quality does go down, wouldn't I be better off with the Logitech as the end result would be the same with less hassle?


Thanks again.

 

[Sunrunner]

I've been looking for a set of high quality pc speakers. Notably, I want to try and get the best of the best, for a multimedia pc audio system.

It's been boiled down to the Logtitech Z-5500 system, or the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1.
I've searched the form and read the threads, what I want here is to try to just blatantly see which is preferred, and what equipment is needed for each. Which one is the Best, basically.

I know that for the Logitech I will need an optical audio cable, the only problem is I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for in that. Help would be appreciated.

For the Klipsch, I hear I'll need an external sound decoder, but again I have no idea about what I'm looking for in that, or where for that matter, as I've yet to find one at all. Help, again, would be appreciated.

Finally, what are your opinions on these speakers? Comparative opinions would be even better. And if you know of a better set, please by all means inform me. What is the Best?

Thanks for all your help, and cheers to all.

The BEST option is simple, hook up a surround sound reciever to the optical output on the back of your powermac.