High-End Computer Speaker for HTPC..

Nowadays, computer is more than office tool. Because of advanced technology, computer can now be used as home theater replacement or also known as HTPC (Home Theater PC). In order to build a HTPC, you'll need to fulfill several requirements by choosing the right components as follow :

• VGA Card that has hardware acceleration for decoding video compression (H-264, MPEG-2, etc)
  
• Processor with decent speed


• High-Quality soundcard which support multi-channel (5.1, 6.1, etc) playback


• A high-quality multi-channel speaker set


• A huge monitor or LCD TV for displaying the movie

This article will focus only on speaker. Why do I only discuss speaker? Because I believe speaker is the heart of HTPC. You cannot enjoy any movie if you cannot be immersed by the movie's sound effects. And the main device for giving you the right sound as wanted by movie producer is speaker because the quality of sound-card onboard nowadays has been very good. So in this article, I will try to show you 2 high-end computer speaker products with best price/performance that can be used in HTPC.

First candidate is Logitech Z5500. Let's see the speaker first from the image below :

I would not describe in details about Z5500 technical specifications because it would be too long and besides, there are a lot of reviews there you can easily find about :). I will just tell you what make me think this speaker does deserve to be in your living room.

Ok, first is 10" subwoofer. Well, it is the biggest subwoofer in this class and price range. So when you choose this one, you'll be sure of have an enough bass to shake your neighbors' wall :P. Just kidding. Logitech speaker is famous of its huge bass. Well, sometimes the bass is boomy but this can be tricked by placing them in the right spot and help from equalizer :). But with the big size of subwoofer, you'll be sure to know exactly what the explosion should sound in the war-action movie.

Second, Z5500 is equipped with hardware decoder in it. It's capable of decoding Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Prologic II signal. It also have 6 channel direct, StereoX2 and Stereo mode if you don't want to utilize the hardware decoder capability. This will add more benefit when you have, for example, a stereo sound card but you want to hear 5.1 Dolby Digital sound from your movie. Well, you can merely use passthrough mode of your sound card so the signal will be delivered as is to the speaker and then let the hardware decoder in speaker do its job.

Third, Z5500 offers wide range of compatibility mode. You can use this speaker for PC/Mac, CD, MP3, DVD, Playstation, Xbox and other gaming console. It's very nice to have such a versatile speaker that can be used for many devices you want to plug in. You will save room and money because you won't need to buy another speaker for every devices you have.

Overall, because of its configuration, Logitech Z5500 is most suitable for movie (THX certified) and gaming. It can also be used for listening to music, but for some genre music which need a pure-flat frequency response before it can sound enjoyable, you'll have to tweak the equalizer enormous times before you can find the right configuration...

Now the second candidate, Edifier S5.1. As usual, let's see the image of this speaker first ;)

Wow, now we see how the speaker should really look :). Edifier S5.1 is really elegant by having wood finishing instead of plastic/alumunium material usually used in computer speaker. The configuration is almost the same like logitech, i.e : 5.1 and have remote control. The main difference between this speaker and logitech's one is edifier S5.1 does not come with any hardware decoder in it. The other difference is the subwoofer in Edifier S5.1 is smaller than logitech Z5500 has (8" vs 10"). But it won't hinder this speaker to be in your living room as it has several remarkable characteristics as follow :

First, looks! In my opinion, this speaker shows us how the speaker should look. Simple and elegant. The choosing of wood as finishing material is brilliant as wood is also known as an excellent material for reproducing sound. It also have LCD display, but in this case the control center from logitech is far better :).

Second, tweeter! The satellite of edifier S5.1 are equipped with 3/4 inch cloth dome tweeter. This will ensure that you'll be able to hear high frequency sound like you often hear in classics music.

Third, price! What can I say? For a price below $300, you won't ask for more as this speaker currently is the best price/performance speaker set. But keep in mind that this speaker is most suitable for music. If you want to hear *boom* as *BOOM* then you'll have to tweak equalizer a little bit. Just make sure your sound card support equalizer or at least treble/bass configuration.

Overall, Edifier S5.1 is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to have a nice-looking speaker and listen a lot for music in their living room. The setup features smaller subwoofer than logitech, means that edifier's subwoofer won't be stand out as above its satellites. It will be balance instead.

If I have hot money to spend and should choose between these two beast, then I'll choose Edifier S5.1 as I like music more than watching movie ;)...