Solved! Computer Audio set up help, surround/DAC

[DEHawk]

This is going to be long, I will try and describe my current set up the best I can.
Building a new computer and just bought the Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Pure Edition card. Old card was a Creative Sound Blaster Z which is staying in my old computer.
I have A Logitech Z906 Surround System but do not use the speakers that came with it, I have set up a different speaker configuration. Here is where is might get confusing.

Picture a square room.
My desk sits in a corner, I have two in wall speakers on each wall of the desk and a center channel on the desk in front of me. In addition to that I have 4 ceiling speakers plus a sub (Logitech system). I also have a TV and an AV Receiver that is also connected to the 4 ceiling speakers.
So in the square room, when at the computer I can switch on the 2 Wall speakers, the center channel on the desk and two of the ceiling speakers, the two ceiling speakers that are active the ones in the right corner and left corner, not the one directly above me and in the opposite corner from the desk. I can also switch and turn on all 4 ceiling speakers if I chose when i watch TV, if I do that no TV sound come out of the 2 wall speakers and the desk center channel.
Why do I have this set up this way? So when you are playing a game I can have surround sound which is good so you can hear action in the back ground, enemies sneaking up on you etc.. Also good when listening to music from my computer ( 2 wall, 2 ceiling, center and sub).

Now I do have a SPDIF cable that I can plug into my sound card and goes to my AV Receiver but my sound card only has optical and 3-3.5mm jacks (Front, Rear and SUB/Center) I can if needed buy an optical to go from my sound card to my Receiver but it would have to be very long.

So what am I trying to do?
One Option get a DAC for music, suppose to have better quality sound. So If I do this best way to connect it. Am open to get another dedicated AV receiver to use directly with my computer. But if i do this what happens to the sound for gaming? I like the surround sound options for gaming.

Is there a way to use what I have plus get a DAC and still keep the same sound option I described.

One more thing one of the reasons is I would like to upgrade my wall speakers, have really cheap one now and looking a a pair of Klipsch but the Ohm rating is different, 4 Ohm for the Logitech System and the Klipsch are 8 Ohm. I do not want to fry my Logitech system.

Thank you and I am sure there will be a lot of questions on how the set up is configured before a solution(s) if found. I will show pictures if needed.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Using a DAC won't work for surround sound. I would suggest you get a Marantz receiver which will have pretty decent quality of DACs built in. That will improve your overall quality of sound on everything. It will handle 4 ohms loads fine. No problem using mixed impedances. The SR5013 is the sweet spot in terms of features and price.
I would suggest you consider better inwalls than Klipsch. Consider Revel or Paradigm. Not just loud but clear and smooth.

 

[DEHawk]

Using a DAC won't work for surround sound. I would suggest you get a Marantz receiver which will have pretty decent quality of DACs built in. That will improve your overall quality of sound on everything. It will handle 4 ohms loads fine. No problem using mixed impedances. The SR5013 is the sweet spot in terms of features and price.
I would suggest you consider better inwalls than Klipsch. Consider Revel or Paradigm. Not just loud but clear and smooth.

Paradigm actually would be my first choice> I have them for my main home theater system but what I noticed about them is they seem to need a lot of power to drive them at least the ones I have do. They are floor speakers. Klipsch do not seem to need as much power to drive them. Please correct me if i am wrong. On the note of the Marantz, I have numerous relievers in my house and they are all Denon except my main system which is Anthem. Would a Denon work, just a question.
I did find this Marantz
https/www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/marsr5012/marantz-sr5012-7.2-ch-x-100-watts-networking-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

About half the price. So if I use a receiver instead of my Logitech then I could get DAC sound quality and still be able to do surround? I would also have to buy a sub correct?

The Marantz you suggested is a little more than I would prefer to spend. Would like to upgrade but there is a price point I do not want to cross just for a computer.

Thank you

This is a good start!

 

[DEHawk]

Using a DAC won't work for surround sound. I would suggest you get a Marantz receiver which will have pretty decent quality of DACs built in. That will improve your overall quality of sound on everything. It will handle 4 ohms loads fine. No problem using mixed impedances. The SR5013 is the sweet spot in terms of features and price.
I would suggest you consider better inwalls than Klipsch. Consider Revel or Paradigm. Not just loud but clear and smooth.

So I went and talked to the place that done most of my A/V installation and the best bet was to go with an A/V receiver. I am now waiting for delivery of the receiver and I also bought a powered sub. The person I talked to did not have a solution on the correct way to connect my sound card to the receiver. So maybe you could help me out. The card does have an optical output which I will use but also has 3 3.5mm outputs as well, Front, Rear and Center/Sub which I believe are analog. Is there a way to connect those to my receiver?
Other things I am wondering about is the Motherboard Outputs and the Graphic Card Inputs/Outputs. Do any of these worth using? My Motherboard is an ASRock Taichi Ultimate, I will attach a picture of the outputs.

Thank you again

 

[americanaudiophile]

The Marantz SR5012 is discontinued but at that price you can't go wrong.
Use the HDMI output of the PC to the receiver if you can. That will support the most formats. Optical is 2nd best. If you use the analog outputs you won't be using the DAC in the receiver.