Close to 15 years have passed since the PC first learned to make sounds beyond the occasional beep. In that time, there's been a world of change, and PC audio has come of age. But however much PC audio has improved, it can sound only as good as your output devices allow, so selecting the right speaker system is critical.
You have a lot of choices, and they vary both in price and number of speakers. Multichannel audio, which requires more than two speakers (in modern speaker parlance, two-channel sound is simply called stereo), can enhance both games and DVD movies, and it's the current rage in PC sound, but that doesn't mean it's right for you. Use this guide to help pinpoint the system that will most closely fit your intended uses, meet your feature requirements, and still match your budget.