If I bought surround sound speakers, it’d be mostly for music. Bear in mind that I listen to quite a bit of music, and I rarely ever get £50…
Do you reckon it’ll be worth it?
That’s not too bad of price. To me 5.1 isn’t worth it for music… gaming maybe. Depends on if you have a decent soundcard.
I gots a Soundblaster Audigy.
I do play some games, but more or less, I’d use them for playing music when I’m making graphics or constructing websites 
I just use the onboard 7.1 channel sound on my 5.1 channel speakers.
Its better than 2 speakers by heaps, but is similar to 2.1 speakers (subwoofer improves sound more than the other extras)
For DVD’s and movies its fantastic having 6 speakers, if you have set them up right.
Do the speakers take much setting up?
Should I go with 2.1?
IMHO I’d say no. I listen to music the entire time my computer is on, I just have a 2.1 sound system and I think it sounds fine. Then again I have a $3000 dollar sound system in my car. So maybe you don’t want my advice. 
[added] If you can’t get the 2 speakers behind you in a decent way, 5.1 would be a waste anyway.
Try getting good headphones, if you like that option. You can get really good headphones for around US$70(~35 British Pounds), while you might have to pay around US$300(~150 British Pounds) for a sound system that sounded as good as the headphones that were US$70(~35 British Pounds).
Here’s a forum post on www.ocremix.org called, “What headphones or monitors (speakers) should I buy?”
Also, I have a US$50(~25 British Pounds) 5.1 sound system, and I think it sounds just fine, and I’ve had it for a over a year and it hasn’t broke yet. It is from Durabrand. I seriously recommend headphones, though.
for £50 no, that’s lickly to be a very poor quality system
I’ve considered headphones, but the thing about those is, they’re broken and lost a wee bit too easily, and my brother won’t be able to listen to music at the same time as me!
About the price- The next most expensive speakers after the ones for around £50 are priced at over £140. Since I can’t afford that, I guess I could settle
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(9139)Logitech-X530-51-Speaker-system-70W-RMS-9701140120.aspx
2.1 Speakers is Fine, and doesn’t take a huge amount of room/cabling
5.1 speakers is better again, but no different on normal music (different for movies), 5.1 needs to be set up, and has cables around the room (around roof, or around corners, or under carpet)
7.1 channels is better again, but not enough to be worth it, seems a little to much to me.
A good 2.1 system would be better than a low range 5.1 system IMO. Having said that i bought a 5.1 system that was about 50 pounds worth about 5 years ago. It’s sounds good IMO, good enough for what I want.
I previously had it set up in 5.1 which was very very cool for movies, but have since just stuck the two rear speakers next to the front 3 because I moved houses and got lazy about it.
Which ever you choose, work out what you are using it for… gaming, CD’s, or Movies.
I have a 5.1 from creative on my onboard realtek, it costed me aboud 50€ I think.
What is good about them a centre speaker and the subwoofer, really those 2 really make a hell of a difference. (I don’t really use my back speakers)
So yea they are worth it.
About the headphones, how do you hold a party, or put up some music when people are around? (I know the quality is good but kinda inconvenient me thinks)
Like I say, I do play some games…But I think the bigger issue with the speakers and the games would be that the drivers the manufacturer of my soundcard provides for Windows ( the platform I’d obviously play most of my games on… ) won’t install, due to a well known bug that that Soundblaster don’t really seem to want to do anything about. The soundcard works, due to a partial fix I found, but I don’t know how well the speakers would work with Windows.
Mostly, I’d be using the speakers for DVDs/movies, and music, with Ubuntu. Maybe, if I can get sound working with Return to Castle Wolfenstein’s engine, I could have another bash at completing that
after the 50$ you will still need some nice speakers or a stereo system to plug it into.
How do you mean?
For music a good 2.1 system would be fine. For gaming and movies 5.1 definitely makes a large difference.
I have a 5.1 sorround and a good 2.1 system. I deinstalled the 5.1 due to weird cables everywhere. It sounded great, but the cables…everywhere. I think you really have to try it out and do a proper cabling under the carpet etc. or you’ll be fed up pretty fast. It’s annoying, well … somehow. Think well.
Would the sound quality on £50 worth of 2.1 system be better than that of a £50 5.1 set?
Should I go 2.1? Is that much better than 2.0?
2.1 for 50 would be better qualaty than the same price for 5.1 but you will still probaly get quite abit of static. my sterio whas £100 and it still makes allot of static. i intend to just build my next one!.
the subwoofer only make a big difarence if its for films or you like metal music, or something else with allot of bass
I disagree, I’m personally not too impressed with Bose headphones. Particularly for the price.
Sennheiser or grado all the way! I’ve got a squishy pair of Senn HD 555’s, cost me £60 two years ago and look like new (& sound it too) despite being thrashed around, dropped and otherwise mistreated. Since I first bought a pair of senns, all the headphones I’ve bought are from them. Same as my family.
I’m not an audiophile, they are just undeniably great.
On topic, for music I’d go for 2.1, 5.1 might be better for movies but for your budget I’d stick with 2.1. You’ll get a much better 2.1 system for your money.
Go to richer sounds, they have some fantastic deals, and have a price promise. They are also usually very helpful and know what they are talking about.