Anyone connect their laptop to a HOME THEATRE SETUP?
 

My logitech Z-5500 speaker setup crapped out on me, and instead of buying a new set of "computer speakers" to hook up, wouldn't it be better to buy a home theatre system / digital receiver?

I can get a SONY - DAVDZ590K 5.1ch for less than A$500 in the sales - that's cheaper than the FAIL logitechs were.

I've no idea about home theatre setups, but that would work wouldn't it? My Alienware has 5.1 output via 2 jacks.

Any :helpme appreciated.

Home Theatre Setup - I never tried that.

Thanks for the help! :1orglaugh

I've only just started investigating - I don't actually need the dvd bit - just a receiver - and set of speakers. Doesn't seem much around as a "set" though with everything I need, other than those home theatre systems.

I suppose I should go to the store and talk to a spotty 20 year old nerd.

I have my computer hooked up to to a pioneer THX receiver (which my second monitor sits on) via toslink outputs from my computer. Then I have a pair of vintage Klipsch speakers hooked to that and a 15" JBL subwoofer. Listening to it now :)

I have had this setup for years. Its the only way to go :thumbsup

That's the kind of thing I was thinking of doing.

The thing with that is though I would need to use my Logitech speakers, and buy a subwoofer, as well as a receiver. A yamaha receiver is $500 - with no speakers.

Why wouldn't I just get a complete home theatre setup for that $? They pretty much both amplify the laptop's signal in one way or other.

You can pick up some pretty minty home theatre gear on Craigslist these days for peanuts. I would pick that over Logitech's any day. But... it's your setup, not mine :)

I use my old mac book pro as the core of my home cinema set up

It has 5.1 out via miniOptical out for sound and I bought a DVI -> HDMI lead for the visuals, and I have a USB Digital TV tuner in it. So it records and plays broadcast TV and also all my music, movies, podcasts, pics etc directly into my HDMI receiver.

get an Apple Airport http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ to stream your music wirelessly via itunes

I have monster cables i hook up to my laptop to play music

home theatre for $500...!?

It's an Alienware M15X with no optical audio out - only 2 jacks, which are supposedly 5.1

I'm throwing away everything in the house related to Logitech Elli, their support sucks donkey nuts.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Is one of them referred to as 'digital out' by chance, and are they RCA style composite jacks, or TRS headphone jacks? If you're lucky enough to have an RCA digital out you will be able to plug it directly in to the digital port on the receiver, which is usually an RCA jack with orange plastic instead of the red/white/yellow for typical composite.

I don't know anything about the audio output on your computer, but the best method would be to get a soundcard that is going to let you connect it via coax digital, or optical output.

Most decent motherboards nowadays have the appropriate outputs on them wihtout having to buy a separate sound card, but I am not sure about yours. Check to see if there is an output labelled "spdif" or digital out.

If so, you can run a mini jack adapter to a coax digital cable and run that into a receiver.

I use this setup on both my computers at home. One upstairs uses a 5.1 setup and has a 71 inch DLP running as my second monitor, and the one I am building downstairs uses a 120 inch screen running off of a DLP projector, and I have a touchscreen LCD monitor I am using to run an MP3 jukebox and to keep an eye on security cameras. It is a full 7.1 setup.

Ah sorry, I mis-read. I love their mice and keyboards, but their speakers are fairly useless. Haven't had to deal with their support yet (knock on wood).

Do try to pick up a sound card with optical outs. That would be preferable, I think. But I'm not sure how easy that is to find in a laptop card.

BTW, I would never use one of those home theater in a box setups like above. The subwoofers you get are garbage, the speaker enclosures are usually made of plastic and only sound OK for watching movies. If you try to crank music they sound like ass.

Save up the extra cash and get a separate receiver. Then you can upgrade the speakers as you see fit and get a REAL subwoofer. Not those crappy ported midbass woofers they usually throw in with those HTIBs.

edit: Ugh, didn't realize you were using a laptop.

Yes :Oh crap

It looks like I can use the headphone output and hook it up to a home theatre easy enough, but as MrBottomTooth says, it probably sounds like ass.

I might have to buy a decent soundcard for it. You'd have hoped it wasn't necessary on a machine costing $3K :disgust

If you confirm that your laptop doesn't have spdif out, then you could add one of these which will do the trick:

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...=1 6642&nav=1

Perfect. Thanks MrMolar. :thumbsup