some questions/suggestion for my Sound setup (DENON AVR-3310)

[snakey123]

Hi guys , iam thinking of upgrading my sound system for my HTPC which is currently Sound Blaster x-fi platinum pro + logitech z-5500. its configured as follows:

1 - PC (connected directly to z-5500 via 6 CH Direct for EAX games)
2 - PC (connected via COAX for watching HD movies - SB X-FI external unit)

my TV : 55" SERIES 8 SAMSUNG LED - (the pc is connected via HDMI to this TV)
other : PS3,XBOX360 - (connected to TV via HDMI and both consoles audio go through Digital Optical Out directly to Z-5500).

now thing is, i am thinking of buying a DENON AVR-3310 A/V receiver since iam getting at a fairly cheap price from a relative of mine(less than $500). Since then i've been posting on different forums and asking people around to suggest me some nice speakers in 5.1 configuration to go along with it. Anyway to cut long story short , i have decided on the following speakers :

4 of these
TSB-525-2-Way-Bookshelf-Speaker (from thespeakercompany)

1 of these (center channel)
TC2-Center-Channel-Speaker (from the speakercompany as well)

havent decided on subwoofer yet.

so the questions i have are as follows, i'll try to be as descriptive as possible :

1 - First of all, suggest me a good 10-12" subwoofer, i was interested in those DAYTON subwoofers i saw on partsexpress but my only cheese with them is that they only go up to 120 VOLTS and since i live in India i can ONLY have electronics which are on 220 VOLTS, i know i can get a step-down transformer but i dont want to do that , too much of an effort and an ugly blow to my decorated setup if i place a transformer next to my PC/Speakers.And besides the power surges here fry the transformers very easily So thats question 1 : suggest me a good 10-12" 220 Volts Subwoofer to go along with those TSC speakers .

2 - Since this is the first time iam getting any kind of A/V receiver, i need some hints on how to connect it via PC. I have consoles too which wont be a problem i believe since all i need to do is connect their audio source (digital optical out) directly to the receiver. Anyway, coming back to the question ,as you can see in my original setup i have used both COAX and 6 CH DIRECT input options, first one for watching HD movies and second for EAX Gaming respectively.
Now, thing with this Denon AVR-3310 is that, for watching HD MOVIES - i can connect to Denon receiver directly via COAX (x-fi platinum pro console) so no problem there.Problem is with the analog 6 CH DIRECT input, from what ive read about this Denon's receiver is that it has a 8 CH EXT INPUT?? now i dont know what in the world is that, my only concern is will i be able to connect my PC through this 8 CH EXT INPUT somehow in order to play EAX games ? as most of us already know the fact that EAX games sound best over the analog connection and not the COAX/DIGITAL OPTICAL connections.
If so, then what kind of cables would i need to connect my X-Fi platinum pro soundcard to the Denon AVR-3310 receiver?

3- Third question, this Denon AVR-3310 is a -->7.1 channel receiver<-- since being a n00b i really dont know if i be able to connect those TSC 5.1 speakers to it or not? as in does it *require* 7.1 speakers in order to fully experience it or can i connect 5 speakers to it as well? also does the speaker configuration got something to do with 6/8 CH EXT INPUT or not?

lastly,feel free to throw in any suggestions PROS/CONS or any criticism about this system iam about to go for and i also hope i posted this in the right section!

P.S. i still have not bought those TSC speakers, if anyone of you can suggest better speakers for my setup then please do, though it gets all confusing as there are many options out there but still suggestions are welcome

 

[Mirko]

I'll try and help...

1. I can't suggest you a subwoofer, I don't have enough experience with speakers, I'm still rather new to all this, you will have to wait for someone else on that one. You could post your question in the dedicated Subwoofers subforum, though, you will probably get a response quicker there

2. those 8 channels don't need to concern you. Every 7.1 receiver is capable of functioning as a stereo receiver, as a 5.1 receiver, 6.1, or whatever else. You just connect those 6 channels of yours to its 8 channel input, leaving the Rear Surruound inputs empty. SPDIF (official name of digital coax and optical connections) has enough bandwidth for only 2 PCM channels, that's why, as you put it, EAX games don't sound as good. So you connect it via 3.5mm>2xRCA connections, 3 of those, one for front channels, one for surrounds and one for center/LFE channel. I suggest you also consider connecting via HDMI if you have an ATI 4xxx or 5xxx card, you should check, but I think all of those support 8 channel PCM, and 5xxx also HD codecs bitstream, over HDMI; in that case you wouldn't need to use your X-Fi at all.

When you get that receiver, all that you need to connect to the TV is an HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV, everything else goes to the receiver. Then your TV's input is always set to that HDMI input, and you switch sources, ie. PC, Xbox, PS3 with the receiver.
If case you already didn't know this, you said you were a complete noob, so just to make sure I cover as much questions you may have.

3. As I stated above, it will perfectly function with a 5.1 setup. It does not *require* 7.1, it's perfectly adaptable. It can even adapt if say, for whatever reason, you had a 4.1 setup without a center channel, it will then simply send that channel to the front 2 etc... You don't need to worry about that



About the speakers, you should go to the dedicated subforums and ask there, include your budget (this is virtually a must) and I'm sure people that know a lot more about that than me will be able to suggest something for you.

Hope I've helped. If anything I've written is unclear to you, ask and I'll try to clarify some more.