Hifi speakers or active studio monitors for surround sound

[manuko3d]

Hello
I have several questions and I would like you to help me.

I have a gaming PC with RTX 4090 and I want 7.1 or 5.1 surround sound for video games and music.
one friend has kali lp6 studio monitors for music production and mixing, but when we listened to hifi .flac music with his RME fireface audio interface, the sound was beautiful and clean, even the bass sounds great and detailed, now the other point is that I don't have any knowledge of sound with hi-fi speakers.
and in the future I want to learn how to mix and produce music, but for now I just want surround sound because I now use the hifiman sundara headphones for movies and games and I love their sound signature but my ears ended up getting tired after more than 1 hour and For that reason now I want a surround system.

Now I have a Denom avrs760h 8k and 4k 120hz 7.2 receiver
and I looked for a company in my country where they sell Polk brand mid-range surround speakers and they are similar to studio monitors and these are the specifications they sell me: polk audio xt20 x2 - polk audio xt15 x2 - polk psw10 subwoofer - polk center xt20 all in 1500 dollars.

Now I want to know if it is possible to connect presonus eris 5xt studio monitors, which are the best quality and price, to my receiver called avrs760h? because I had the idea of buying an RME fireface ucx 2 audio interface because my idea is to buy 5 presonus eris 5xt monitors and a presonus sub eris 8 subwoofer. and make surround sound with dolby atmos with the RME fireface but searching on the internet they supposedly say that if I activate Dolby Atmos from Windows with the rme fireface audio interface it will not be a real Dolby Atmos of 5.1 or 7.1, it will simply emulate it, but with my denom receiver it is supposed to be a real Dolby Atmos of 5.1 or 7.1, now I don't know if all of that is true because I don't have much knowledge in configuring audio interfaces, just the basics and I don't know if there is a cable to connect active studio monitors to my denom receiver.

Now the question is what would be better and what would give better audio quality with a sound signature like the Hifiman Sundara with strong and detailed bass, which would be a better option, the surround system with the Polk Audio speakers or with the presonus eris 5xt monitors ?

Because like I said before, I love the sound of studio monitors for music and gaming, but I have no knowledge of the sound quality of Polk Audio hi-fi speakers.

 

[twsecrest]

The Denon AVR S760h A/V receiver does not come with any Pre-outs, for connecting self-power (studio monitors) speakers.
Any chance you could list the country your in?

 

[t.Bidstrup]

So much to unpack here ...

- You're not going to get Atmos with 5.1 or 7.1. The 5 or 7 denotes the surround channels, and the 1 denotes the sub channel. Atmos would require at least 5.1.2, denoting 5 surround, 1 sub, and 2 height channels. Your receiver will have to support Atmos both in terms of decoding and output channels.
- You must choose either surround/Atmos with a receiver OR stereo with the RME interface. You cannot have both at once.
- You say that PreSonus Eris is "best quality and price". I've heard PreSonus Eris and will never recommend them. Yamaha's HS series and Adam's T series both sound good to me (in the affordable price bracket).
- Most entry level surround receivers do not have line level outputs, meaning that you cannot connect active loudspeakers (studio monitors) to them. You'll have to pay more to get line level outputs, and then you're paying more for a receiver with more amplifier channels that you will not be using. Surround pre-amps that have only pre-outs and no amplifier channels are generally specialist or high-end units and therefore much too expensive for regular people. Basically, active speakers in a surround setup will be very expensive and/or wasteful in terms of unused amplification channels.

 

[srrxr71]

Demon x3800h is reasonably priced and offers pre outs.

 

[antcollinet]

The main problem with powered active speakers for surround is the need for a power connection to each speaker. You either need a power socket near each speaker, or you are going to be running power cables alongside your audio cables.

Add that to the fact you will (probably) run lengthy unbalanced signal cables and you are opening up the risk of noise inducing ground loops.

Personally I would stick with passive speakers.

 

[srrxr71]

The main problem with powered active speakers for surround is the need for a power connection to each speaker. You either need a power socket near each speaker, or you are going to be running power cables alongside your audio cables.

Add that to the fact you will (probably) run lengthy unbalanced signal cables and you are opening up the risk of noise inducing ground loops.

Personally I would stick with passive speakers.

I would too for surrounds. They are not critical. For LCR however I would go active.

The unbalanced cable thing isn’t so great either unless there is way to convert to balanced for the run.

Power is surprisingly not that hard to deal with. I’ve done it before for a projector even in an apartment. I hired a guy who ran power so easily.

HT is always a headache and whether the marginal expense/headache is worth it for actives is up to the person. People do have outlets placed and cabinetry done for HT.

Personally I don’t do HT but I guess it depends on the person’s goals how far they would go. If I did it I would simply go with passive surrounds as I’ve mentioned before.