[mythtv-users] Powered 5.1 speakers or A/V Receiver?

[Craig Partin]

>  >I use Myth for basically my entire home entertainment setup.  I
>  >currently use some Logitech powered speakers directly connected to my
>  >Diamond Extreme 7.1 sound card.
>  >
>  >Is this the best way to provide quality sound or should I look at
>  >getting an A/V receiver connected via digital coax or spdif?
>  >
>  >The current set up is ok, but I am looking to add perhaps THX support
>  or
>  >better/louder sound.
>  >
>  >Thanks for any input --
>  >
>  >Norm
>
>  Well it's not the "best" - you can spend almost an infinite amount of
>  money on high quality speakers that will hook up to a receiver.  Also,
>  you can spend up to $1000 on an AV receiver.  The SPDIF connection just
>  sends the digital sound to the receiver, and *any* receiver/speaker
>  combo that is better quality higher and higher powered than your
>  Logitech set will be *definitely* achieve the louder and probably the
>  better objectives.  Right now the card is doing digital/analog
>  converting work of a receiver which is not bad quality, but it has
>  limited amplification - most all the amplification is on the speaker
>  side, and your limited to what Logitech gives you (which is like 15
>  Watts RMS per channel), piped to dirt cheap crappy speakers.
>
>  Lots of cheap (<$100) 5.1 receivers can give you 100 watts per channel.
>  That's *plenty* loud for most people.  Then you can pick whatever
>  speakers you want, which would be almost guaranteed to be better quality
>  than the Logitech no matter how little you spend.
>
>  I don't about THX support in myth (I just have a 5.1 receiver).  I think
>  there is a way to up-convert 5.1 to 7.1 in Linux, but I haven't done
>  that either.  I have a friend that has a 7.1 and THX setup (he doesn't
>  use Myth) and it's very nice and a definite step up from 5.1 Dolby
>  surround, but I just don't have/watch enough content that uses it to
>  care yet.  All HDTV is in 5.1, so were just talking movies for higher.
>  I'm also limited in the fact that my wife does care about surround sound
>  at all.
>
>  There are lots of other benefits to having a receiver, like being able
>  to hook up other stuff to it like video games.  Also, I don't know if
>  it's a consideration but remember you'd get a radio too.


The inside of a computer case is no place for an analog audio signal.
I noticed a huge improvement in sound quality when I switched to SPDIF
out to a receiver.

Also, having a receiver gives you more flexibility.