Looking for Speakers

[chemoboy]

First, the background. Over the past month I've been peicing together a silentpc/htpc/gaming rig, something for my bedroom that does it all.

Kanam HT400 case (w/ iMON remote and IR receiver and VFD)
case lined with Noisepax sound dampening material
Coolmaxx CF-400 fanless 370W PSU
Gigabyte K8NS Pro motherboard
AMD 64 3000+ processor
2x 1GB PC3200 generic 3/3/3 RAM (perhaps cause for debate, but it was a steal)
2x 200GB SATA 7200rpm Seagate Barricudas
Samsung TS-H542A 40x/40x/12x/12x DVD+/-RW
BFG GeForce 6800 GT OC
Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu cpu fan
Zalman ZM-NB47J fanless northbridge cooler
Silentmaxx SX-080-11 80mm case fan

Yes, there is a soundcard missing, but I'm pretty happy with the nForce 3 onboard sound. It's got optical and coaxial digital out, which is all I need. So all I am missing is a nice set of 4.1/5.1 speakers. Here's the requirements I have:

* preferably under $200, but if I can be convinced that I will get a lot out of ramping up to $250 or $300, I just might
* front speakers must be mounted on stands (no desk space) but I'll pay extra for them
* rear speakers do not need stands (odd, I know) but do need about 15' of speaker wire
* needs to have multiple inputs, either a coaxial or optical digital in (optical preferred) plus a standard RCA or line in -- auto sensing/mixing inputs would be great, but I could deal w/ a switch
* I don't need remotes (but I'll deal with one) and I don't want a stupid little control panel that I can use to play around with the "bass" and "treble" ... that's so 1970s.
* quality of music and sound reproduction more important than quality of movie sound more important than quality of game sound more important than features more important than volume of sound

Any suggestions on a way to finish this masterpeice off?

 

[zodder]

Nice rig

 

[MDE]

Possibly the Logitech Z-680s. They're $220 at Amazon.

 

[tphss]

For your budget i'll second the Z-680's.

 

[Algere]

What the one above me said.

 

[imported_idontknow]

Z-680s

 

[chemoboy]

Thanks, Zodder.

Wow, really? No dissenting opinion? Hmm... The Z-680s were on the MaxPC Dream Machine. And they really are the only ones I can find with switchable analog and digital inputs.

I'll think about it. Maybe pick some up at Fry's today.

Thanks all.

 

[rperezlo]

Hi chemoboy, excuse the OT.

I have the K8NS Pro and I'm a bit tired of the noise of the chipset fan. Does the NB47J work well for you? Do you overclock? I'm currently running at 245 x 10 and if I just unplug the fan it crashes quite often. If I set it to a lower speed with Speedfan it does work, but it is still annoying when it speeds up.

TIA