Creative ZiiSound T6: Cheap Surround Sound for Computers

The Creative ZiiSound T6 looks like a great, REAL cheap surround sound system for computers. It's nice and small, compact, and wireless. You can use it via bluetooth as well as USB and iPod/iPhone. Sounds pretty nifty to me, but even cooler? Comes with a 5.1 encoder app to turn your computer's sound into surround. Check out what home theater blog "Big Picture Big Sound" had to say. 

ZiiSound T6 is part of Creative's well-received Pure Wireless speaker family, compatible with a wide range of Bluetooth stereo sources, including PCs, Macs, tablets, laptops and even netbooks, in addition to the iPhone, iPad and select iPods. Pairing the speakers to a device is quick and easy, and the high-performance apt-X codec assures low latency in wireless configurations.

It is also positioned as the new flagship product in the ZiiSound lineup, but going a step further with support for 5.1-channel content when we use a wired USB connection. (A 5.1 software decoder is required for this application.) The top drivers on the full-bandwidth satellite speakers are swivel-mounted, for rear-channel effects which can take advantage of wall reflectivity, or they can be angled for an enhanced stereo effect. The satellites also feature audiophile-grade aluminum drivers.

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/Creative-ZiiSound-T6-Brings-5-1-Back-to-the-Desktop.shtml

Also visit http://mycheapsurroundsound.com

A Little More Price for a Lot More Power...

I was reading CyberTheater today and they posted about a seemingly great surround sound system made by Sony. It costs $500, but should last you a lifetime. It's an incredible system with some great features. Here's a picture, and some more description from CyberTheater. For more cheap surround sound systems and news, check out MyCheapSurroundSound.com

The Sony DV-E770W home theater system comes is a 5.1 channel, one thousand watt system that comes with a Blu-ray player as well as four satellite speakers, a center channel speaker and a subwoofer. Further, you’ll also get Bravia Internet Video systems for streaming video from various sources, wireless rear speakers thanks to the S-AIR system, a free app to turn your iPod or iPhone into a remote for this setup, a Digital Media Port for your various devices, Bravia Sync, Digital Cinema Auto Calibration that will tell you where to place your speakers according to the conditions in the room, Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD decoders, a component input, a variety of sound modes, two analog audio inputs, one HDMI output, and one optical audio input.

The best part about this system is that it covers just about everything. Not only are you covered as far as your old media goes–DVDs are just fine in a Blu-ray player–but it’ll also cover the current crop of Blu-rays, and when the future arrives and we’re all streaming our content straight off the net, you’re covered there too.

Samsung HT-Z520: A Decent Surround Speaker System

Hope you're all having a wonderful Boxing Day (and that your Christmas was great as well). I saw a review of this cheap surround sound system on CyberTheater.com and thought I would share. Given that the Samsung HT-Z520 is only $194 at Amazon.com, it seems like a decent surround sound system for a low price. Might be worth it for a tighter budget, and cheap is the whole point of this site!

The Samsung HT-Z520 is a 5.1 channel, twelve hundred watt home theater system with four satellite speakers, one center channel speaker, a subwoofer, and a five DVD changer. You’ll also get an iPod dock, a USB port, HDMI input, wireless rear option for your rear speakers, AnyNet Plus capability, automatic upscaling for your DVDs, Energy Star compliance, FM tuner, Auto Sound Calibration systems and Smart Volume.

File this one under “not bad”.  The sound is loud, but nothing spectacular.  There’s a five DVD changer in here, which is always nice. And there are plenty of solid options, which is enough to put it, as I said, squarely in the not bad column. There’s nothing particularly great about this setup, but so too is there nothing particularly bad.

Downright BAD Cheap Surround Sound- Don't Buy This!

Just because the Coby DVD-937 has a great price tag ($95), doesn't mean it's a great system. They're trying to be simple and everything, but it's just not working. Has most of the features most other systems have, but it's just not cutting it quality-wise. It's pretty ugly too. Although most cheap surround sound is great quality, there's the occasional dud, and this seems to be it :P 

Now, while you’d think you had most of the basics well in hand, you’d be largely wrong. Yes, there’s a DVD player and all the speakers with a Dolby Digital surround decoder, but the sound on this thing is really rather unpleasant. It sounded muffled to me, and that doesn’t bode at all well for a system that depends on doing the simple things well because it doesn’t do much of anything but.

Surround Sound Radio?

Know how all those cheap surround sound systems I've been showing you have radios built in?

Well seems like some people are starting to roll out radio broadcasting that's actually IN surround sound! Check this out...

http://www.sa-cd.net/showthread/63586//y?page=first

Cheap 7.1 Surround Sound System: Onkyo SKS-HT540

 

I normally don't feature any 7.1 surround speaker systems either here or at the Cheap Surround Sound blog, but this system is pretty high quality, and comes at a price comparable to others I blog about.

For under $349 (The first option for sellers on Amazon costs $319), you're getting 2 front speakers, 4 surround speakers, a center speaker, and a subwoofer. Each is capable of putting out at least 130 watts of power (the subwoofer can do 230).

Customer reviews on Amazon are gleaming too. Dialouge is reproduced beautifully, movies sound great, and one reviewer especially enjoyed the front 3 speakers. All in all, I'd totally check out the Onkyo SKS-HT540 if you're looking for a cheap 7.1 surround speaker system.

Surround Sound for Under $200

Cheap surround sound just keeps getting cheaper and cheaper, while the quality of different systems gets better and better. With technology advancing and the home theater industry evolving, the consumer will always win. So what's amazing to me is this Samsung HT-Z320 system. It probably would have cost $600 a few years ago, but now it's only $170 on Amazon. Is it an incredible system? No. But it sure does the job, and can handle all your normal sports, movies, video games, and TV. And you know how I always talk about things getting cheaper when bought used? You can buy it used for $99 on Amazon too. 

Insane!

The Samsung HT-Z320 is a 5.1 channel thousand watt home theater speaker system that offers a center channel speaker, two front speakers, two rear speakers, a subwoofer and a DVD player. You’ll also get upconversion to near-1080p for your DVDs, Auto Sound Calibration systems, compatibility with a large variety of different formats, AnyNet Plus technology, an iPod dock, a USB port for playing music and videos directly from a USB drive, an FM tuner, one component video output, one composite video output, one HDMI output, and a headphone jack.