Sound Input/Output Advice needed ** Help me spend some money **

[loki]

A quick question for the AV experts of BD. I have got a couple of LAN parties to organise this year and we have decided that we want to extend this out to be multi format and to have a greater emphasis on Consoles as well. (FIFA Ladder, Rock Band Rock Out etc)

In terms of visual output this will be done via a HD Projector or via a 32 " LCD TV. With this the sound quality is going to be pap. What I want is to have the sound from the PlayStation 3 or X360 output via optical to an amplifier. Now this is where the trick is because I want to achieve this at the lowest cost possible.

So I see my options are as follows

1) New 5.1 home cinema with system with optical in. Downside of this is that it will be relatively bulky, at a minimum price of around £150.00 Can I justify spending that if it will only get used 3 or 4 times a year

2) Amp and Seperates system. See above and potentially more expenesive

3) One of the LAN Servers is used purely for the Intranet but is relatively powerful. Now I am thinking that a more viable option would be to get pretty cheap sound card with Optical in and get a set of half decent 5.1 speakers for it. The cost of this would be a lot lower certainly if you hunt around the Bay etc for speakers.

Does anyone have any experience of using a PC as the sound system for their console and how do they find it ?? have I missed any glaring options. I want to keep the cost of this to an absolute minimum as well as having something that is relatively portable to move around.

[leowyatt]

I think there are some 5.1 speakers sets out which aren't too expensive, they should have inputs for consoles etc.