# 2.1 or 5.1 speakers for TV



## GhorMaanas (Jan 7, 2013)

Hello!

am posting this query on behalf of a friend. he needs a set of speakers to be used mostly with his TV. details are as follows:

*# location* - indore

*# budget* - upto 4k

*# choice* - 2.1 or 5.1 (?!)

*# essential(s)* - USB port.

*# usage* - priority is listening to music, then TV (reliance digital TV SD)

for that budget, i had suggested him to buy a 2.1 system instead of a 5.1, but in a bid to avoid disappointing him, i would like to urge you members here to suggest to me if any worthwhile 5.1 system can be had in that budget.

the 2.1 speakers i had suggested to him are:

1. edifier P3060
2. edifier M1385
3. edifier X600
4. creative T3100
5. F&D A520
6. F&D A555U

the 5.1 speakers that he could have:

1. F&D F2200U
2. F&D F700U

_*my questions are:*_

1. ofcourse, within this budget, is it advisable to buy a 5.1 system, considering the usage? 
2. i don't know whether reliance digital TV SD has 5.1 audio or not. if it doesn't, then having even a 5.1 system with DPL II won't be of any use. can someone pls tell me whether this STB has 5.1 audio? his STB model BTW has only L-R RCA O/P ports.
3. what could be suggested to him under 5.1 category, if it may be?
4. what for 2.1?

P.S. - one more thing....playing from USB V/S playing from a cellphone through 3.5 mm jack connected to auxiliary port on the sub's back, would they sound any different from each other?

thanks in advance!


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## The Incinerator (Jan 7, 2013)

2.1 should be great for TV or  the other way becomes expensive. The AV Receiver matrixing way or a Soundbar.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 7, 2013)

The Incinerator said:


> 2.1 should be great for TV or  the other way becomes expensive. The AV Receiver matrixing way or a Soundbar.



thanks! i have suggested him to settle for a 2.1 system, and asked him to go & get a demo of a few of them.


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## whitestar_999 (Jan 7, 2013)

to get 5.1 audio from any stb it must have s/pdif port which only HD stb have since only HD channels broadcast in 5.1 audio.you can check on back of stb for s/pdif port but i am certain it won't be there.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 7, 2013)

whitestar_999 said:


> to get 5.1 audio from any stb it must have s/pdif port which only HD stb have since only HD channels broadcast in 5.1 audio.you can check on back of stb for s/pdif port but i am certain it won't be there.



yes, you are correct. his STB being an SD box doesn't have the S/PDIF port. but i came to know that later on going through the STB's manual downloaded online, and was thinking on the line of the use of DPL II, which now-a-days many low-end 5.1 systems have, to decode the 5.1 signal & provide surround O/P (though ofcourse not DD 5.1) through RCA ports.


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## d6bmg (Jan 7, 2013)

For 4K, you can't go beyond 2.1 setup, sadly.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 7, 2013)

d6bmg said:


> For 4K, you can't go beyond 2.1 setup, sadly.



i understand.


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## whitestar_999 (Jan 8, 2013)

if you can not get 5.1 output from stb itself (only possible through s/pdif) then it doesn't matter if speaker uses DPL-II because incoming audio will be 2.0 only & DPL-II will be simply up-converting 2.0 to 5.1.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 8, 2013)

whitestar_999 said:


> if you can not get 5.1 output from stb itself (only possible through s/pdif) then it doesn't matter if speaker uses DPL-II because incoming audio will be 2.0 only & DPL-II will be simply up-converting 2.0 to 5.1.



i have been doing the same with my 5.1 which is connected to the STB. its TS HD+, which has an S/PDIF port, but i have connected the 5.1 system through RCA ports to the STB, and with HD channels like nat geo HD, discovery HD, etc., the surround-sound output is impressive! but, understandably, with SD channels, its not quite pleasing. therefore, i believe since my friend has normal SD STB, he won't be getting any worthwhile 'simulated' output if he buys a 5.1 system even if it has DPL II (esp. at that price), and hence, buying a decent 2.1 system now should make more sense.


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## whitestar_999 (Jan 8, 2013)

^^exactly.using DPL II only makes sense if at least input is 5.1 too(through s/pdif in stb's case).btw why you don't use s/pdif.is it because your speakers don't have this port or some other reason?


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 8, 2013)

whitestar_999 said:


> ^^exactly.using DPL II only makes sense if at least input is 5.1 too(through s/pdif in stb's case).btw why you don't use s/pdif.is it because your speakers don't have this port or some other reason?



but isn't DPL II meant to decode stereo signals that are originally encoded in multi-channel sound? that means STBs *officially* providing 5.1 sound, like the HD units, would give out a better sound after DPL II's processing of the stereo signals (originally 5-channel encoded sound) to simulate the surround through the speakers, as compared to an SD STB, from where the DPL II has to simulate surround-sound from an originally 2-channel encoded sound coming in as stereo signal. i believe, that also explains as to why only a few channels (HD ones, esp.) sound so good than other SD ones on my 5.1, because, as is also known, the 5.1 encoding isn't available for all the channels yet on any HD STB at the moment; or i could be wrong too on that.

and i had anticipated your question earlier. i should've written it in my earlier post. yes, my 5.1 system has only analogue connections. somehow, it didn't occur to me to look for systems with digital connections at that time (long back), and being impressed with the current one's performance & aesthetics after just a chance demo in a store where i had been to purchase some other things without even a thought of a 5.1 system at the back of my head at that moment, i decided to buy it instantly without giving it much thought then.


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## whitestar_999 (Jan 8, 2013)

stb itself does some audio/video processing so if you connect to a stereo audio output on stb(hd or sd) then the audio you are getting is already processed by stb & has lost most other audio channel information.at this point even if you send this audio to a DPL-II speaker all it means is simple upconversion of 2.0(having some extra detail in case of 5.1 source audio like in hd channels) to 5.1.also dolby pro-logic is "fake surround" & though better than simple 2.0 it can not match "real surround" which can be get only using s/pdif or hdmi on stb.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 9, 2013)

whitestar_999 said:


> stb itself does some audio/video processing so if you connect to a stereo audio output on stb(hd or sd) then the audio you are getting is already processed by stb & has lost most other audio channel information.at this point even if you send this audio to a DPL-II speaker all it means is simple upconversion of 2.0(having some extra detail in case of 5.1 source audio like in hd channels) to 5.1.also dolby pro-logic is "fake surround" & though better than simple 2.0 it can not match "real surround" which can be get only using s/pdif or hdmi on stb.



alright. i understand that a part of the processing is done in the STB itself. but i thought it comes more into play when its connected by S/PDIF to a 5.1 system directly (without an AVR in between), something like when you connect a sound card to a 5.1 system through optical out (receiver of the 5.1 system playing major/sole role) V/S when you connect analogue channels separately from the sound card to analogue ports on the 5.1 (sound card's DAC playing major/sole role). 

i have read sometimes about 'simulated surround' (produced through negative-feedback circuitry &time-lag) V/S 'real surround'. i am so impressed with this simulated surround-sound output on my 5.1 system, esp. in HD channels as well as on a few surround-sound strong HD-movies like 'master & commander', 'rise of the planet of the apes', etc., that am eager to experience what power in fact the real-deal, the 'real surround-sound' holds to take me aback!


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## whitestar_999 (Jan 9, 2013)

^^your reasoning is correct but assumption is opposite.s/pdif pass through audio to speakers without doing anything(what goes in goes out)so speakers/receiver get original audio to work with.when you connect to any other audio port processing is done by sound card/stb so output audio is different from original input audio & speakers/receiver then have to work with this modified audio.


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 9, 2013)

whitestar_999 said:


> ^^your reasoning is correct but assumption is opposite.s/pdif pass through audio to speakers without doing anything(what goes in goes out)so speakers/receiver get original audio to work with.when you connect to any other audio port processing is done by sound card/stb so output audio is different from original input audio & speakers/receiver then have to work with this modified audio.



alright. i get it.


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## princy0nisha (Jan 12, 2013)

What about sony d5?
Plz tel me


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## GhorMaanas (Jan 15, 2013)

princy0nisha said:


> What about sony d5?
> Plz tel me



i have no experience with them. perhaps 'megamind' & 'the incinerator' are more suitable persons to reply to the above question on this forum. 

also, a short 'review', if this could assist:

*news4mind.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/sony-srs-d5-2-1ch-speakers/


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