Help designing a perfect audio setup!! PLZ READ!

Vav00m · 05-26-2005, 08:45 AM

OK, this is the setup.. if anyone has any suggestions, big or small, PLEASE post, it may or will help, and i have a large budget for this project ($200-$2000, more if it's worth it).... SO, this is where i stand.. My computer needs to feed audio to several sound systems, and possibly video to some lcd screens. this is what i have now:

My computer, audio sent to 6.1 surround (Logitech X620 [in the computer room]), split from there to a 6.1 surround sound home audio amp (Panasonic SA-XR25 [in the living room]) and speakers, and split once again to a 5.1 surround mini-system (Sony 991AV[in the kitchen]), THEN, my video card (ATI 9600SE) has a handy TV out which has the S-video going to the digital projector (Hitachi PJ-TX10, which has VGA-in, not using...), and split to a 36" tv in the kitchen.. NOW, what i wanna do is have S-Video going to the kitchen, and use VGA-in on the projector, but i have to get an adapter, easy pickup at the local computer store, no biggie (i have 2 DVI on the vid card)..

THE CONFUSION:
10,000,000,000 wires in my house. Low quality sound due to splittage.

WHAT I WANT:
Use of optical cables, even if it requires upgrading the sound card to an audigy4 or higher, upgrading logitech speakers to the logitech Z-5500, upgrading the sony minisystem, and I want to stretch my audio signal to go to two more sets of surround, both downstairs. Wireless audio transer? Optical Splitting? Use of plain old magic? Should I get another PCI-based video card to send clones of my video picture to the kitchen and the basement? Maybe I should photoshop up my system in a diagram and repost it.. I've spent probably $15,000 altogether in audio/video equipment.. I just dont think it's up to par..

THANKS for readin! Now tell me what you think!

in case it helps: my computer specs...
CPU - AMD Athlon XP 2200+
Mobo - ASUS A7V880
RAM - 768MB DDR PC3200
Video - ATI Radeon 9600SE AGP 8x
Optical 1 - BenQ 52x CD-RW
Optical 2 - Liteon DVD-ROM
Sound - SB Live! 24bit
Speakers - Logitech X620 6.1

Vav00m · 05-26-2005, 07:43 PM

here's a quick diagram

http://www.geocities.com/xuolaiv69/thesetupmedium.jpg

backseatgunner · 05-27-2005, 02:53 AM

In that diagram there will be a loss of quality because of the quality and splittage. When you split the signal, split all of it at the same time, and do it in a reciever. There's some special recievers that will split the connection without loss of quality. However, they are expensive, and are mostly used in splitting audio between different rooms of a house.

mega10169 · 05-27-2005, 05:39 AM

Is it absolutely necessary that you need 5.1 surround sound in your kitchen? Because a plain old wireless a/v connection would make getting sound and video to your kitchen much easier.
And you could just split everything at the souncard if you dont want any quality loss.

Vav00m · 05-27-2005, 05:43 AM

nope, my kitchen amp has Optical out, not in.. so i have to use stereo RCA for the time being.. until i save up for a juicy Onkyo TX-NR901.. this amp has 2 Optial out ports, maybe that will help

Vav00m · 05-27-2005, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mega10169

Is it absolutely necessary that you need 5.1 surround sound in your kitchen? Because a plain old wireless a/v connection would make getting sound and video to your kitchen much easier using something like this. Wireless S-video/RCA connection
And you could just split everything at the souncard if you dont want any quality loss.

That's... not a wireless device.. it simply adapts coax cable to RCA-type... looks wireless though, doesn't it? What are your thoughts on AirTunes or other WiFi devices..?

mega10169 · 05-28-2005, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vav00m

That's... not a wireless device.. it simply adapts coax cable to RCA-type... looks wireless though, doesn't it? What are your thoughts on AirTunes or other WiFi devices..?

That was stupid of me...AirTunes is ok if all you want to do is stream audio, but the iTunes can only play to one location at a time, so say your streaming songs to a set of speakers in your living room from your PC, you can't use the iTunes to listen to music on your PC. But you could check out these Viewsonic WMA100
Buffalo LinkTheatre

Vav00m · 05-29-2005, 01:05 AM

one zone at a time? Junk. I've been lookin around, and an expensive way to go is to pick up an Onkyo Nettune enabled amplifier and a couple Nettune server thingers, and it uses it's own Onkyo media player and whatnot. I'd probably take this route if it would work with iTunes or have similar features. It'd suck to spend $1000-$10,000 on equipment, just to lose out on nifty features like the visualizations or movie playback. Can't win'm all.

elmarcorulz · 05-29-2005, 01:08 AM

you could try getting top of the range cables, this would give at least some quality back into the sound. but you do have alot of splittages

Vav00m · 09-27-2005, 10:30 AM

since my last post my system has been severely upgraded..

I now have 5.1 in my bedroom via a sony STR-DE845 amp,
6.1 surround in my kitchen via the old panasonic amp with Jamo/Paradigm speakers,
7.1 surround via a harman/kardon avr-635 amp with Jamo E875 speakers (my pride and joy),
5.1 surround in my brothers room via a Yamaha amp with sony speakers,
5.1 surround via a really poor grade Samsung amp in my basement.

That just about covers it.

The audio? Split using rca cables at the sound card, but now i'm using coax digital instead of analog. It doesn't sound too bad, but I need a sound card upgrade badly. Anyone have any additional ideas on connectivity?

What do you think about the Creative X-FI sound card (coming soon)?

05-26-2005, 08:45 AM	#1 (permalink)
Vav00m Bronze Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 29	Help designing a perfect audio setup!! PLZ READ! OK, this is the setup.. if anyone has any suggestions, big or small, PLEASE post, it may or will help, and i have a large budget for this project ($200-$2000, more if it's worth it).... SO, this is where i stand.. My computer needs to feed audio to several sound systems, and possibly video to some lcd screens. this is what i have now: My computer, audio sent to 6.1 surround (Logitech X620 [in the computer room]), split from there to a 6.1 surround sound home audio amp (Panasonic SA-XR25 [in the living room]) and speakers, and split once again to a 5.1 surround mini-system (Sony 991AV[in the kitchen]), THEN, my video card (ATI 9600SE) has a handy TV out which has the S-video going to the digital projector (Hitachi PJ-TX10, which has VGA-in, not using...), and split to a 36" tv in the kitchen.. NOW, what i wanna do is have S-Video going to the kitchen, and use VGA-in on the projector, but i have to get an adapter, easy pickup at the local computer store, no biggie (i have 2 DVI on the vid card).. THE CONFUSION: 10,000,000,000 wires in my house. Low quality sound due to splittage. WHAT I WANT: Use of optical cables, even if it requires upgrading the sound card to an audigy4 or higher, upgrading logitech speakers to the logitech Z-5500, upgrading the sony minisystem, and I want to stretch my audio signal to go to two more sets of surround, both downstairs. Wireless audio transer? Optical Splitting? Use of plain old magic? Should I get another PCI-based video card to send clones of my video picture to the kitchen and the basement? Maybe I should photoshop up my system in a diagram and repost it.. I've spent probably $15,000 altogether in audio/video equipment.. I just dont think it's up to par.. THANKS for readin! Now tell me what you think! in case it helps: my computer specs... CPU - AMD Athlon XP 2200+ Mobo - ASUS A7V880 RAM - 768MB DDR PC3200 Video - ATI Radeon 9600SE AGP 8x Optical 1 - BenQ 52x CD-RW Optical 2 - Liteon DVD-ROM Sound - SB Live! 24bit Speakers - Logitech X620 6.1

05-26-2005, 07:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
Vav00m Bronze Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 29	diagram here's a quick diagram http://www.geocities.com/xuolaiv69/thesetupmedium.jpg

05-27-2005, 05:39 AM	#4 (permalink)
mega10169 Gold Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 318	Is it absolutely necessary that you need 5.1 surround sound in your kitchen? Because a plain old wireless a/v connection would make getting sound and video to your kitchen much easier. And you could just split everything at the souncard if you dont want any quality loss. __________________ My PC: Mobo: EVGA nForce 680i SLI CPU: Core 2 Duo e6300 @ 2.7GHz RAM: 3GB OCZ XTC DDR2 @ 800MHz Hard Drive: WD 250GB SATA II Video Card: EVGA 8800GTS PSU: Antec TruePower Trio 650 Case: Cooler Master Cavalier 3 Last edited by mega10169; 05-28-2005 at 05:38 AM.

05-29-2005, 01:08 AM	#9 (permalink)
elmarcorulz VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: UK Age: 21 Posts: 6,032	you could try getting top of the range cables, this would give at least some quality back into the sound. but you do have alot of splittages __________________ C2D E6300 @ 2.6Ghz Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 2GB DDR2 667 1TB (1x500GB 2x250GB HDD) BFG 8800GTS 320MB PFC Til I Die

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05-27-2005, 02:53 AM	#3 (permalink)
backseatgunner Silver Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Mesa Arizona. Except right now I'm in a small town in Maine. Oh yeah, the girls here are hot!!!!!!!! Age: 19 Posts: 185	In that diagram there will be a loss of quality because of the quality and splittage. When you split the signal, split all of it at the same time, and do it in a reciever. There's some special recievers that will split the connection without loss of quality. However, they are expensive, and are mostly used in splitting audio between different rooms of a house.

05-27-2005, 05:43 AM	#5 (permalink)
Vav00m Bronze Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 29	nope, my kitchen amp has Optical out, not in.. so i have to use stereo RCA for the time being.. until i save up for a juicy Onkyo TX-NR901.. this amp has 2 Optial out ports, maybe that will help

05-29-2005, 01:05 AM	#8 (permalink)
Vav00m Bronze Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 29	one zone at a time? Junk. I've been lookin around, and an expensive way to go is to pick up an Onkyo Nettune enabled amplifier and a couple Nettune server thingers, and it uses it's own Onkyo media player and whatnot. I'd probably take this route if it would work with iTunes or have similar features. It'd suck to spend $1000-$10,000 on equipment, just to lose out on nifty features like the visualizations or movie playback. Can't win'm all.

09-27-2005, 10:30 AM	#10 (permalink)
Vav00m Bronze Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 29	since my last post my system has been severely upgraded.. I now have 5.1 in my bedroom via a sony STR-DE845 amp, 6.1 surround in my kitchen via the old panasonic amp with Jamo/Paradigm speakers, 7.1 surround via a harman/kardon avr-635 amp with Jamo E875 speakers (my pride and joy), 5.1 surround in my brothers room via a Yamaha amp with sony speakers, 5.1 surround via a really poor grade Samsung amp in my basement. That just about covers it. The audio? Split using rca cables at the sound card, but now i'm using coax digital instead of analog. It doesn't sound too bad, but I need a sound card upgrade badly. Anyone have any additional ideas on connectivity? What do you think about the Creative X-FI sound card (coming soon)?