speaker system for 6 channel direct?

[cavallino]

Hi

I have just bought a new PC , an Athlon quad-core with an MSI ATX board. The MB has a 6 channel out, I was wondering if its advisable to use the on board audio directly and if yes what kind of 5.1 system would be suitable. I am a novice at this but I guess there is some issue of powered speakers being necessary as the mother board would not be able to provide the power. The system has a cooler master 460W power supply. Any suggestions?

Thanks in Advance

 

[NetFreak]

Motherboard would not have enough power to power 6 speakers. You need an amplifier.

Actual solution would depend on budget. On lower end, you can buy 5.1 systems from Creative/Altec etc that would have built-in amplifier and at higher end you can buy AVR and supply audio via digital ( optical/coax/HDMI) to AVR and AVR will extract+amplify the audio and drive 6 speakers.

Option 1 would cost 2k onwards, Option 2 would cost 20k+

 

[crusader]

Z5500 is a good option. Supports both optical and 6 channel inputs.