Getting the most out of my new Logitech Z-5500s

Shinwei · Oct 1, 2006, 01:56 AM

Hey guys, I just purchased a set of Logitech Z-5500s and I have a few questions.

I will be using these speakers with both my PS2 and my PC. I've already got an Optical cable to hook up my PS2, but it seems like there's a lot of options on how to hook up my PC.

I have a Soundblaster Audigy (1) and a little add-on card that was included with my old old Sound Blaster Live hooked up to it. I was planning on hooking up the card to my speakers using a coaxial cable, but I read the sticky at the top of the page saying that I won't get 5.1 sound out of it. It also said I had to use the triple analog wire to hook it up, and with that I have two problems: 1) I don't know where to plug the orange wire for the center speaker on my Audigy, and 2) that wire isn't long enough anyway.

Is a sound card upgrade necessary for me to enjoy 5.1 surround from my PC with these speakers? And how can I get a longer triple analog cable for the 6ch direct setting?

Thanks.

**dj_stick** · Oct 1, 2006, 02:39 AM

ok soundblaster audigy 1

forget digital if you want 5.1, remove the digital cable

as for the orange calbe 1) connect it to where the coaxial digital cable was (make sure you disable "digital output only" in your soundcard control panel

as for getting a longer cable, depending on how it's connected to the speaker set, 3x stereo jack cables should do the trick if connection at both ends is the same

Shinwei · Oct 1, 2006, 07:23 AM

The orange wire doesn't seem to fit into the port for the coaxial cable... am I supposed to force it in? The coaxial cable port is on the little add-on card that I have connected to my Audigy.

On my Audigy itself there are five ports: front speakers, rear speakers, microphone, line-in, and this one called digital out. Am I supposed to plug the orange cable in the digital out?

**dj_stick** · Oct 1, 2006, 10:46 AM

oh ok, well with the audigy, on the back plate there should be:

front out (Green)
rear out (black)
line in (blue)
mic (pink)
centre/lfe (orange)

use the orange jack

Shinwei · Oct 3, 2006, 05:08 AM

Thanks for clearing that up. Now I just have to wait for my wires to arrive

sovietdoc · Oct 4, 2006, 08:38 AM

Yeah dude, I picked up three regular stereo cables 20 footers from Radioshask. They are the same color so I dunno which one is while, but I only had to wire my room up once so there is no big deal.

Shinwei · Oct 4, 2006, 09:01 AM

I ordered three 12' stereo cables from sfcables.com, they should arrive soon.

In the meantime, I've encountered another problem. I'm using the digital coaxial cable atm, and every 90 seconds or so my music playing from the computer will skip, kind of like a CD skipping, except I'm playing MP3 files. I guess the sound I hear when it happens *could* be described as a pop? But I'm not sure, it's more like the sound just goes mute for a split second and then resumes.

I went and downloaded new drivers from creative.com to see if this would be fixed, but they didn't fix anything. This didn't happen with my old speakers and my Audigy, and I know it's not my speakers because when I'm playing my PS2 hooked up with an Optical Cable, I don't get any of this skipping.

Will my stereo cables fix this when they arrive? Do they even have anything to do with this at all? Should I try downloading some kind of other drivers for my Audigy, or should I upgrade my sound card (I really don't want to do this since I heard Vista is throwing support for creative cards in the garbage..)?

Oct 1, 2006, 01:56 AM	#1
Shinwei DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Getting the most out of my new Logitech Z-5500s Hey guys, I just purchased a set of Logitech Z-5500s and I have a few questions. I will be using these speakers with both my PS2 and my PC. I've already got an Optical cable to hook up my PS2, but it seems like there's a lot of options on how to hook up my PC. I have a Soundblaster Audigy (1) and a little add-on card that was included with my old old Sound Blaster Live hooked up to it. I was planning on hooking up the card to my speakers using a coaxial cable, but I read the sticky at the top of the page saying that I won't get 5.1 sound out of it. It also said I had to use the triple analog wire to hook it up, and with that I have two problems: 1) I don't know where to plug the orange wire for the center speaker on my Audigy, and 2) that wire isn't long enough anyway. Is a sound card upgrade necessary for me to enjoy 5.1 surround from my PC with these speakers? And how can I get a longer triple analog cable for the 6ch direct setting? Thanks.

Oct 4, 2006, 08:38 AM	#6
sovietdoc DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 121 Rep Power: 0	Yeah dude, I picked up three regular stereo cables 20 footers from Radioshask. They are the same color so I dunno which one is while, but I only had to wire my room up once so there is no big deal. __________________

Oct 1, 2006, 07:23 AM	Thread Starter #3
Shinwei DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	The orange wire doesn't seem to fit into the port for the coaxial cable... am I supposed to force it in? The coaxial cable port is on the little add-on card that I have connected to my Audigy. On my Audigy itself there are five ports: front speakers, rear speakers, microphone, line-in, and this one called digital out. Am I supposed to plug the orange cable in the digital out?

Oct 3, 2006, 05:08 AM	Thread Starter #5
Shinwei DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for clearing that up. Now I just have to wait for my wires to arrive

Oct 4, 2006, 09:01 AM	Thread Starter #7
Shinwei DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	I ordered three 12' stereo cables from sfcables.com, they should arrive soon. In the meantime, I've encountered another problem. I'm using the digital coaxial cable atm, and every 90 seconds or so my music playing from the computer will skip, kind of like a CD skipping, except I'm playing MP3 files. I guess the sound I hear when it happens could be described as a pop? But I'm not sure, it's more like the sound just goes mute for a split second and then resumes. I went and downloaded new drivers from creative.com to see if this would be fixed, but they didn't fix anything. This didn't happen with my old speakers and my Audigy, and I know it's not my speakers because when I'm playing my PS2 hooked up with an Optical Cable, I don't get any of this skipping. Will my stereo cables fix this when they arrive? Do they even have anything to do with this at all? Should I try downloading some kind of other drivers for my Audigy, or should I upgrade my sound card (I really don't want to do this since I heard Vista is throwing support for creative cards in the garbage..)?