Decent 5.1 speaker set/no reciever/with mounting screw holes

Topic. I'm looking to add some speakers to my cockpit. I have a nice set of Altec Langsing AC48s but they are only 2.1. Ideas?

-Byshop

Hmm... Difficult. Getting a decent/good 5.1 or 7.1 system can be expensive. Could always start with what you got and go from there.

I'm assuming you're after small speakers, which means you're not gonna get good sound

What's your budget?

Indeed.. If you get a 5.1 surround set and use your Altec Lansing AC48's as rear speakers, you'll have a 7.2 surround setup for very cheap..

$79.99 + free shipping - Logitech Z506 75w 5.1 Surround Set

That's not gonna work. Those speaker sets tend to have the amps in the sub so you can't add any more satellites. Since the inputs are on the subs you wouldn't be able to run two subs either.

TC to do anything that actually sounds good and gives you some options you're gonna want an AV receiver. They're pretty cheap these days anyway. Used speakers are also great value. For the cost of some crappy logitech set you could get some decent speakers second hand to go with a new (or used) receiver.

Eh? I think it's a little early for you still. It'll work just fine..

I'm using a Logitech 5.1 X-530 + Logitech 2.1 X-230 to get 7.2 surround..

Center/sub + Front + Side outputs -> 5.1 X-530 sub / amp -> 5 Satellites (w/ front localized bass)

Rear outputs -> 2.1 X-230 sub / amp -> 2 Satellites (w/ rear localized bass)

Also, he said that he doesn't want a receiver or holes in his walls, which is why I recommended the cheap 7.2 setup over something expensive...

Ah, so you're using them out of separate analogue outputs from your soundcard? I didn't think of doing that.

I guess it's a big annoying since you then have 2 separate volume controls?

I guess it depends what you're after, but I'm way to OCD about sound to do something like that.

I just keep the volume on both sets at 60% and use the Windows volume control to adjust the volume. It works well, especially for the price..

I got my 10 yr old son a nice audio setup for his XB1, though. He has an 800w 7.1 receiver, floor standing 4-way front speakers with 12" subs, and a nice set of center and surround bookshelf speakers...

I'm flexible on this. I was looking for something easy under the $200 mark, but if there's nothing of quality within that price range I'd be willing to go up closer to the $400-500 mark. If I have to go that high I'd sooner get a reciever, but that's not my first choice. All I need is something with decent quality sound and 5.1 directional. I already have two Yamaha receivers in my man cave (one of which is actually hooked up to this same computer) and I'd prefer not to have to get a third.

I took a look at those Logitechs at Best Buy and they seemed okay. I wasn't clear in my original post (it was late and I'd had a few glasses of wine) but I meant that I want speakers that have mounting holes. The Logitechs I saw on display didn't have any holes so I'd have to use tape/velcro to mount them, although that's not the end of the world. I also have a $100 Best Buy gift card from Christmas that I never got around to spending so I'd be getting them for free. How happy are you with them?

The goal is to get a speaker set to mount on this: http://obutto.com/index.php/new-obutto-speaker-mounts-finally/

-Byshop

Not really.

I have these and they sound freaking amazing: http://www.logitech.com/en-au/product/speaker-system-z906?crid=47

@Byshop, I recommend them and I'm pretty sure they have mounting holes (not 100% sure)

That's pretty close to something I'm looking for. They run about $300 USD on Amazon right now which is a touch more than I was looking to spend, but for a relatively cheap option they have a lot of inputs and features which is nice. I may check those out.

-Byshop

Look at reviews and do some research, but trust me, they sound really good for the price you're paying.

I'm not an audiophile, but I know good sound and bad sound when I hear them.

I also bought it cause of the multiple inputs to connect both my PC and PS4 to them.

They also have a button that simulates 2.1 and 5.1 for audio sources that only come in stereo.

I can't really comment since I've never heard them, but I hate the way logitech doesn't actually provide any real specifications for their speakers. What I can say is for the cost of the Z906 you can almost certainly do better. They're probably what Byshop is after though.

If there's something better in that price range, I'm happy to entertain the idea. The only point was that whatever I get, I'd like to have a balance between price and quality. I know that a proper reciever and speaker set would be better, but space is limited and this is literally the third 5.1 system I'm setting up in my man cave so I don't see the point is spending a lot on this setup.

-Byshop

Why do you need a third?

If my understanding is correct you want to mount them to a seat/cockpit setup, in which case you're limited to small speakers like those logitechs which removes basically all choice.

Personally I'd just put speaker stands behind the chair and use large speakers. Or even buy used floorstanders.

Think of them as different entertainment "stations", with different speaker sets and combinations hooked up to different display devices. I have an 80" projector screen with a Yamaha receiver and 5.1 speaker setup, a 62" DLP TV with the same, and now this is the computer workstation/cockpit. The gaming PC can drive any one of these at a time.

No, small speakers do not "remove all choice" because there are a wealth of options in small speakers. I already have two sets of floor standing speakers for the other two 5.1 sets and a third would be excessive. Also, there are space constraints to deal with in my office.

-Byshop

Small speakers don't but a no receiver requirement removes alot of the choice in speakers for a 5.1 setup. Unless you want to spend a good chunk of money on something like the Swan M60 is the only high end 5.1 audio setup I know off that would offer what you that isn't from logitech or creative or some similar company but its $1000 shipped which is alot more then your looking to spend.

I guess since personally when using my pc for gaming or listening to music I'm mostly using it at my desk versus my bed or living room I wouldn't want to compromise in sound quality there. Want to get the best sound quality I could afford no receiver limits choices way to much for me if I wanted to go for a 5.1 or 7.1 setup.

Amazon's 5.1 Computer Speakers department/category comes up with at least a dozen different options. Obviously my criteria eliminates -some- of the choice, or else they wouldn't really be criteria. Like I said, I already have two 5.1 systems that are pretty damned decent that are driven by the same PC using recievers and matrix switches. The intent here isn't to sit in my leather chair wearing sunglasses indoors listening to Ride of the Valkyries at full blast as the sheer force of the sound slowly pushes my glass of white wine towards the edge of my black cube shaped side table. What I'm looking to find speakers for is this:

My Altec Lansing AC48s are great for my purposes except for the fact that they are not 5.1. I'm not looking for something crazy high end, I'm looking for something that's 5.1 and no worse than my computer speakers that I have now.

-Byshop

Like I said, those Logitech I recommended would match all your criteria.

Necro-bumping my own thread, but for anyone who's interested I finally pulled the trigger on this (when my annual work-based goodie budget renewed) and I got a set of the Logitechs that Felipe suggested for about $325.

The screw holes worked great with the mounting hardware for the Obutto so I didn't have to use any velcro or tape. The sound quality is really good and having a 5.1 set floating around your head is awesome in Star Citizen and I look forward to playing more games with this level of surround immersion. The speakers float above each monitor by about half an inch and the seat mounted ones are nicely spaced. The sub is on the floor to the lower right and the rears are tied down but they have enough slack for the seat to move anywhere in the track.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.

P.S. Nobody got my Maxell commercian joke. :(

-Byshop

No offense to your speakers mate but I'm astounded how much you're willing to spend on every aspect of your setup but willing to put up with crap audio :P Logitech is crap dude. You're doing your entire setup a huge disservice in my opinion, but it's just an opinion. Everything about your audio setup is really low-tier compared to everything else I see in that setup. The placement isn't ideal either. Ideally, you really don't want the rear speakers close to your head, facing forward like that. Tweeters should be facing your ears directly, maybe slightly off axis at most. Maybe I'd space out the front speakers more to widen the soundstage a bit too.

Since you're not an audiophile I'm sure you understand PC hardware - it's like buying a super expensive gaming PC and then only getting 4gb of RAM. Sure, might seem fast and all, but you could be getting way more out of your setup (imo).

I'm not willing to drop a grand on a sound setup for the cockpit. As mentioned, this is one of several setups. I'm not an audiophile, and I think self proclaimed audiophiles dump crazy amounts of money for incremental differences in sound quality. I've only played with them for a day, but so far I've found the sound to be rich and clear and the sub adds a decent amount of depth. Are they on par with the floor standing AC powered Klipsch I have on the other two setups? Of course not, but positional audio for the gaming cockpit is more important to me for -this- setup (as mentioned). What I was looking for was 5.1 audio that wasn't a significant step down from the AC48s I had, which I was very happy wtih. At this price, I don't fell like I've blown a crazy amount of money should I decide 6 months down the road that I don't like them (plus I basically got them for free from work).

Regarding spacing out the mains, I'll take that into consideration. The mounting brackets work on either side of the center monitor mount, so I could put them towards the inside or outside. I opted for the inside because due to the angle of the monitors the outside would leave them pretty far out to my sides, but I'll tinker with it and see which I prefer.

-Byshop

You don't need to spend a grand to get decent 5.1 audio, and it's cool you have low audio standards and all - but these just are just rationalizations. What's the point in having an expensive cockpit setup just to have cheap, inexpensive audio? Seems lopsided to me. You're going for immersion, no? If you actually heard a good audio setup, I have no doubt you'd regret going with Logitech. There's always a better solution than Logitech if you're willing to spend around $500 or less, as long as you're willing to do the research and ask in the right places (like the AVSForum, not Gamespot).

@KHAndAnime: You're bitching about my choice but I have yet to actually hear a helpful suggestion, which was the whole point of this thread...

-Byshop

KH, have you even heard these speakers? Answer will be NO, so you have no clue how good they sound (I'm no audiophile but I can tell a good speaker from a bad one). Logitech have cheap lower end products that aren't that good but their high end models are great, especially sound-wise.

Byshop, glad you went for them mate. They aren't the highest model best of the world, but for what you pay you get a really good surround sound setup. Every friend that comes over gets amazed by the sound these little suckers put out. Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks. @KHAndAnime seems more interested in trolling than helping so I don't see any reason to pay him any more attention than he has already gotten. These Logitechs seem at least on par with my old Altec Lansings, which was my big goal so thanks for the suggestion. Space is at a premium in this setup as well which is one of the reasons I wanted to get decent "computer" speakers and not just set up a third 5.1 system.

-Byshop

Reread my post bud, I said...

There's always a better solution than Logitech if you're willing to spend around $500 or less, as long as you're willing to do the research and ask in the right places (like the AVSForum, not Gamespot).

You think this place is worth coming to for A/V help? It's not. There are probably around a dozen posters who give the slightest damn about A/V here, which isn't very many. We don't have an A/V section here anymore, anyways. If you're not willing to put in the effort to make a post elsewhere, then you're being too lazy to do the research to get the best product for your money. I'm just one audiophile, and while I can't recommend you the absolute best way to spend your budget, I can recommend you a wealth of people who can, but these people only exist as the AVS Forum, not here, and I'm not going to open up a thread over there on your behalf.

I haven't used a ton of sub-$500 audio setups recently, I typically spend more these days, so I don't know specifically what to recommend you, what I do know is that you can do tons better than Logitech, particularly if you're trying to spend over $300. Their speakers and headphones aren't just bad for the money, they're just bad, period. They're cheap, plastic crap. Most of their speakers don't last long (particularly if you enjoy a little bit of volume). I'm sure you'll find tons of people who disagree with me because Logitech markets their speakers towards gamers, who typically just want clean sound from their games for as little money as possible. Go to any forum where people care a lot about audio and no one in their right mind would recommend you Logitech. They can recommend you plenty of cheap alternatives though.

You could do much better for your money moreso if you went the headphones route, though I understand if speakers are your preference (they're mine too). You could definitely get some worthwhile speakers in your budget IMO, I've seen recommendations in that budget, I just don't know them specifically, and the speaker field changes constantly so what the best value is constantly changing too.

Who are you to say I haven't heard them? I've heard all Logitech 5.1 setups (in some iteration or another). The Z-906s are arguably just cheaper, lower quality rebrandings of the Z-5500 speaker systems that were floating around for around the same price before they got discontinued (discussed a bit here). Of course, many people didn't like the Z-906's so people still tried to pick up the Z-5500s on Ebay, causing the value of the Z-5500s to actually go up. I owned the Z-5500s for a brief period of time, so maybe you shouldn't talk out of your ass? I've owned 3 Logitech systems in the past. They're for suckers. I bought all of those speakers when I had no clue what I was doing.

@KHAndAnime: "Go ask somewhere else" after telling me I have poor standards isn't what I call "help". I know AVSForum and getting into a debate with a bunch of self proclaimed audiophiles over why I'm not just buying a cheap receiver that I don't need or have room for isn't what I was looking for.

-Byshop

You still have no clue what you are doing if you think the speakers Byshop bought and I have are crap. I never said they were cinema quality speakers, but they sound damn good for the price they are and for the amount of inputs they have (with the bonus of the control centre). Obviously you don't compare these speakers to a $2000 high end audio system, but for the budget Byshop and I had, and for the use we needed them for, they are more than enough.

And I still really doubt that you've heard them, because that's what you normally do in ALL your arguments. I've played this game, I've used this hardware, I've tried this software. Sure, you've done it all...