Cheapish 5.1 speakers with optical input for gaming?

alexjholland85

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Hey

My friend wants a 5.1 cinema kit for his XBox 360.

He was about to order, when I stepped in to check - and was shocked to find out that none of Logitech's 5.1 systems, apart from the £399 top-of-the-line model have optical in.

What is the point in 5.1, if it can only accept stereo or Prologic II?

Can you recommend a 5.1 system with optical 5.1 input for gaming around the £100 mark?

Thanks!
 
Hey

My friend wants a 5.1 cinema kit for his XBox 360.

He was about to order, when I stepped in to check - and was shocked to find out that none of Logitech's 5.1 systems, apart from the £399 top-of-the-line model have optical in.

What is the point in 5.1, if it can only accept stereo or Prologic II?

Can you recommend a 5.1 system with optical 5.1 input for gaming around the £100 mark?

Thanks!

Well 5.1 speakers with optical for 100 £ I don't know of any but I know how to solve it. You can get this little box SHARKOON Technologies GmbH
and connect any pc 5.1 surround speakers at it. plus you could later buy some heaphones for 5.1 without disturbing others, and connect to it.

Another way you could go, is in case you have a pc with a 5.1 surround card with optical in, it may work for the same purpous. you can also get this little box Creative Extigy. IT is an old USB sound card that acts as standlone dolby decoder that can work even disconnected from computer. you can find it cheap on ebay
 
I have a 1000w Sony 5.1 system which I got over a year ago, it doesn't have DVD and is specifically for surround sound. It cost me about £300, but it does everything I want for my Xbox 360 including Dolby Digital and DTS over optical. It also has additional inputs, and stereo RCA inputs for my Nintendo Wii for Dolby Pro Logic 2. I'd recommend taking a look at the Sony website, looking at their latest 5.1 specific systems and then searching for them on Kelkoo Shopping UK - Online Shopping & Price Comparison and Amazon.
 
That's what we are now looking at, along with two Panasonic systems at £139.99 and £179.99 - also on the Comet website.

He has no interest in a DVD player, but these seem to be the cheapest way to do it - probably because they are produced in far larger quantities than specialised 'gaming' systems, therefore lowering production costs.

I think the best thing is to take him into the Comet store and take a listen!
 
all 3 seem to have the input you are after

the sony mentioned earlier, i managed to get for £200 a few years back and has a lot more inputs than these or you can buy seperates that can start from just over £200 plus cable costs. if all he wants is to play his xbox with 5.1 speakers this will do you
 
Not saying it's any good (and in my house it's currently not even connected up) but the Acoustic Solutions range in Argos had some 5.1's (a few years ago admittedly but I'd be surprised if the technology had taken a step back) with optical input for around £100, I'm very surprised that there's nothing showing up when you guys are searching. Good luck with the search :thumbsup:
 
i looked for those as i wanted anything better than my TV speakers if/when i upgrade to a projector and move my 5.1 kit on to that, they are nowhere to be seen but im glad you remember them existing, i thought i was going mad. The cheapest thing s i can find are these DVD players with an optical in and speakers. I think i've reached the conclusion i should just save up more and get a better 5.1 set up i was debating anyway with my projector and leave the current rig as it is, but that will mean i have 2 sets of speakers going on and might be a bit cluttered
 
Yeah strange one, did a bit of a search there for them and couldn't find much - I also thought I was going a bit mad lol, have you tried going to places like Lidl, Aldi, Asda, Tesco etc? They won't have the top-of-the-range stuff but might have some non-branded things available.

It's also very worth noting that some websites (Argos, Tesco, Asda to name but a few) have totally ****-poor information on them, going instore is sometimes the only way to verify what connections are actually available.

Acoustic Solutions (as far as I know) were a rebranded discount brand, I think a lot of the parts were probably made up from the 'off-cuts' of the bigger manufacturers, you might be able to find some other german 'branded' hardware which does the job nicely. I have no idea where you'd get these from though lol :D
 
lol, hooray for bargain german engineering

it's often hard to interpret what input and decoders systems have in stores like tesco as well, i saw one in asda and without buying it i wouldn't be able to find out what sickets were on the back. The only 2 reliable ways i've found are:
a/ go to comet/currys and look at the back of the actual box not the packaging
b/ go to the manufacturers website and get the manuals for them, they have to be right and usually have accurate diagrams of the back panels of the equipment
 
i had a set of acoustic solutions ds 533 5.1 a few years ago,they cost me arround £40 and they have optical input they were pretty good not the loudest but very clear.would reccomend in a average sized room.TRY EBAY
 

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