surround sound

So I am at walmart and see surround sound speakers at 5.1 80 watts for only 40 bucks. I buy it and hook it up but sound quality is horrid. It's sort of staticy and I can barely hear singers voices..

Is it because they are cheap and only 40 bucks, or do I just need a better sound card for my laptop?

 

I'd say its most likely both. $40 isn't going to get you much when your looking at 5.1 But I'm not sure how the sound is one your Sager, but considering that Sager is a good brand then I'm definatly going to bet my money that its just really low quality stuff... but hey.. at least its from Wal-Mart. Just take them back and get your money back.

 

yeah, try a set from Logitech. They make great speakers

 

but that will run you $140 if not more

 

Yeah, the center speaker doesn't work either.

It's calle d duraband or duralast. Something like that.

 

hahaha anything with a dura* is not gonna work that well, and believe it or not, i got a logitech z3's 2.1 40 watts amazing sound for 5 bucks... hahaha $5!!! i got a good deal off buy.com. buy logitech 2.1's for 40 or 5.1s for around 75 it'll be worth it!! and if you really want nice sound of out your sager get an external audigy gamer zs pcmcia card, for really decent sound.

 

heh, wow, $5 is a good price... I have a pair of z-560's... only 4 channel though, but ****... the bass is HEAVY. Even on the lowest settings, it can easily shake my desk.
But yeah, logitechs are a good set to get. the 5.1's that hbomb mentioned are probably the best set of 5.1's you'll find for under $100.

 

Yeah, anything from that brand isn't going to work... I've tried a few differnt products from them and now I'd rather not even think about using their stuff.

 

My brother is a big fan of Emerson products, but I know better than to fall for that.

Logitech is a good brand, and there are some Klipsch sets that sound really good. It all depends on how much you are willing to spend.

 

Funny thing is, you'll find many review sites that say that Logitechs are better than Klipsch if you're a gamer.

My old roommate and a friend of his had the logitech 4.1's and klipsch 4.1's... Slightly better high end on the klipsch, but the logitechs blew them away on the rest of the spectrum. And they were $100 cheaper.


That and Klipsch's desktop speakers have fallen under scrutiny as they aparantly have had lots of problems. But I believe that was only the GMX series. The new promedias are supposed to be much better than the old ones... But a bit pricey for desktop speakers.

 

I've got an older set of Klipsch that sound really nice. I'm not sure which model they are. I haven't had any problems with them, but I stopped using them quite some time ago. I've been using my headphones more.

I wouldn't doubt that Logitech has gotten an edge. It reminds me of how Aiwa used to use nice speakers for their mini theater systems. Now the speakers they use sound tinny. It was a servere drop in quality.