Audio: what to watch for?

Hey

I dont know if this is a correct place to post this, but if not, please redirect me to the right place, if there is any place at all for this on this forum.

I wanne buy a audiosystem for my PC/mp3, and atm thinking about a 5.1 surroundsystem. But what should I look for? I really have no clue about sound, so if you have a link with the basics it would be great. For example do I need a amplifier (if thats the correct word) if I want to put my Mp3-player on it? And what does the watt and frequenty mean? What amounts are good.?
For exaple here: http://www.pioneer.nl/nl/products/42...80A/specs.html, I actually only know what weight and dimensions mean xD

So if you have any suggestions, for what kind of system I should be looking for and what all those things mean, pleeease let me know.

Thnx alot!

Lucy

The link you provided is for a home theater system, you want a computer 5.1 surround system.

these are what your looking for
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc... 151&name=5.1

Not really sure why you would put your mp3 player on it since youl could play them right off your pc.

using a home audio/theater system with ur pc is a lil more difficult and pricey
but still doable

and u will need to buy a sound card for ur pc
one with an spdif output
such as: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16829271002

and this will connect to the reciever of the home theater/audio system
(i didnt see one in that link, so u mite have to purchase it seperately)


computer speakers r already "pre-amplified" in a sense
no other additional components other the speakers themselves
generally the more u spend, the louder they'll be

if u have a big room, or jus really want a big sound, u'll have to go wit the home-audio/theater system

in which case, the receiver will act as ur "amplifier"

if its ur first system, jus buy the "home-theater-in-a-box" packages and ur good to go

for the mp3 player
some receivers ive heard now come wit docks and wut nots to make it easier for mp3 player use
if the one u buy doesnt, its simply a matter of buying rca cables for em


in terms of specific quality recommendations
it really depends on wut u plan on listenin to?
movies? music? gaming? all of the above?
and of course ur budget


edit: and if its purely a music thing
there are wireless methods for sending music from ur pc or mp3 player to ur home theater system in a different room
if ur lookin for that kind of solution

again tho, it gets pricey


edit #2: realized i didnt answer ur question on wattage and frequency response
i wouldnt really pay too much attention to these
wattage generally refers to how loud they can get
frequency response generally refers to how high and how low of sounds they can produce

but the reason i say not to pay too much attention to it
is because while more watts and a bigger frequency response r technically good things
they have very little to absolutely no indication on how good of a quality the speakers will be

if u really want the best advice to buyin speakers
go to the store, and listen to them urself
many stores should have demos

A home theater system will sound much better than a computer 5.1 set up. If you're looking only at "home theaters in a box" or 5.1 computer speakers, the differences between the two diminish. A good HTiB will usually have a receiver, which will give you more inputs. You will probably want a 5.1 computer speaker set up, though, if space is a consideration. Computer speakers are generally smaller, simpler, cheaper, and easier to use. Lower quality and lack of features and customization are some of the drawbacks.

I would highly recommend: www.avsforum.com.

Here is a glossary of terms.
http://www.audioholics.com/education...ctronics-terms

I have this PC connected to my receiver and home theater, and all it took was a US $25 sound card with S/PDIF pass through and a $5 optical(Toslink) cable. Many motherboards, including mine, also have on-board audio with S/PDIF output.

The best thing to do would be to listen to the speakers or systems before you buy. Bring your MP3 player along, and ask if you can hook it up.

what is your current sound card/audio device on your computer? you will need to be sure you ahve one that supports 5.1 surround sound systems...

Im not really sure what kind of audio cart I got, dont know where to find it, not really a hero with the computer. I got the Dell XPS1530, but on the website didnt see anything about my sound cart. I was looking for soundcarts alrdy, also saw some extern soundcarts, what about those?

And my main goal is to listen to music on my PC and watch video on my TV, but mainly the audio. I prefer not to listen music while I'm playing GuildWars, so thats where my Mp3-player came in. I dont think there is a good dockingsstation for it (I got iRiver Clix gen1, also known as U10).

What I'm looking for is a system that can be connected to my PC, my Mp3-player, and preverably my TV aswell. Its mostly for music.


EDIT: Btw how many surround sets (5.1 or 2.1) are there without satalites? Cause my mum is kind of a new age weenie, who dont want any buzzing and Hi-fi in her house, neither as bluetooth or w/e So are there any that use wires and cables? Or what kind of connections they use otherwise?

When I did my hunt for new speakers, I eneded up with an Altec Lansing 5.1 speaker system. Nice sound and it did not cost me more than I wanted to spend.
My advise is to set your budget then go listen to speakers at varous computer stores then review your budget again. Figure out exactly what you will be using them for. If you are not going to watch HD TV or DVDs or listen to MP4s with dolby digital 5.1 sound, they SPDIF is overkill as very few games actually currently use that encoding method for sound files. Most use MP3 or WMA compression systems.
For me it all came down to best sound for the buck and SPDIF was just not worth the extra cost at that time (about two years ago).