Surround Sound

[Frythan]

I am looking for a good surround sound system for playing games. While I would like a good deal, money is not my biggest concern, does anyone have any suggestions on good surround sound systems under $800? Also does anyone know if buying a "home theater" surround system vs a system specifically for gaming makes much of a difference. So far from what I have seen is that omnidirectional speakers seem like a good choice, any opinions on those? Also size is not an issue.

 

[DrFoo]

Here is a good home theater in a box. I have always liked Onkyo's prebuilt systems the best and this one comes with very solid components overall including a 10" subwoofer, a great Onkyo receiver, and some decent satellite speakers . Just make sure to avoid Bose. As far as those sets specifically designed for gaming, usually they seem to be very low quality (but cheap).

Of course building it piece by piece would give you the best quality components for your money but of course it would take more work.

 

[Treehouse Gamer]

Onkyo is good, but I would always recommend getting it piecewise.

Buy a receiver for $250-300 looking for the things you want (2-3 HDMI ports, etc) and a pair of really nice speakers for maybe $150 each. Maybe a subwoofer if you want. Later on, buy a nice center channel. This is where you can reevaluate your entertainment space. If 3 channel works for you, fine. If you need more, move those nice speakers to your rear surround, and buy a pair of cheaper speakers for the front. Front speakers really don't need to be anything too crazy if you're using 5.1 (everything mostly uses the rear two and center channel).

 

[Frythan]

Is there anything that I should check/be aware of if I decide to build my own system? I know I should buy everything but the center and sub woofer in pairs, but are there any other compatibility issues I should look out for? Are connections standardized? Is it possible to get a receiver that blow up my speakers from too much power?

 

[DrFoo]

You should check to make sure the resistance of the speakers matches the receiver (usually either 6 or 8 ohms). Otherwise most everything should work fine together. Most all speakers just use standard speaker wire (which you can purchase from monoprice.com, such as these which I bought for my setup). You will have to strip and cut those wires yourself and add banana plugs if you want (I didn't) although you can probably find precut wires for a higher price somewhere.

Also you don't even really need to buy a different center from your other speakers. It's actually ideal if it is the same speaker since it will help the sound blend perfectly. Most people just buy a different center because normal speakers are too tall/bulky to go underneath their televisions.