Trouble with Z-5500 and Audigy 2ZS Plat.

K

Killdozer

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 1, 2002
Messages
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I'm trying to use my Z-5500 speakers with the optical cable. I attach everything and set the Logitech receiver thingy to optical input with Pro Logic II Movie and I can't get my center and rear channels to work properly. I get some sound out of the center channel but nothing out the rears. I did everything that was said on the Logitech support site when you use the Z-5500's with Audigy 2's.
When I use the remote that came with the speakers I can 'test' them and I get sound out of all the channels. When I try the channel tester in the Creative Speaker Settings I only get sound out of the front left and front right. I've uninstalled and reinstalled all the drivers and no matter what I try I can't get all the channels to work.

When I use the cable with the three mini plugs and set it to Direct with 6 channel direct...I get sound out of all my channels. To get this to work I had to disable 'digital output only.'

So, are there any real advantages or disadvantages to using digital over analog?
Can anyone help me out with this?
 
From your description it sounds like everything is working perfectly. Pro Logic II is a DSP that manipulates the way sound is played back, so of course it wouldn't be the best mode to be in to test your speaker settings. Using the analog cable is the best way to go because, as I'm sure many people will mention, you're better off having your audigy 2 render sound instead of sending it to the 5500's. Digital output is really only meant for people who have kick ass home theater receivers, it won't be of much use to you on the PC side.

Digital output only sends 2 channels of sound to the receiver (or in this case the 5500 pod), so to be of any use you'll have to use the PL2 modes. Movie mode is meant for Pro Logic (either I or II) encoded content, if you're watching/listening to something not meant for PL then most of the sound will come through the center channel. It's just how the DSP works. That's actually a good way to test if something should be watched in Movie mode, if the sound stays in the center channel then you need to move back to Music mode.

You're better off using analog because games only support surround sound through analog on the Audigy. Also you need to be in analog mode for most other surround sound type features with your Audigy, for example with playing a DVD-Audio disc.

If you want to compare the analog input to the optical, you can in fact have both plugged into the audigy and 5500's at the same time. Just make sure "digital output only" is NOT selected in the control panel. Then simply switch between inputs using the 5500 pod and do some listening tests on your own.

You should read up on the various modes of the 5500, 6 Channel direct is where you want to be when gaming or watching a dvd movie. If you want to upmix sound to all your speakers, usually for mp3s, then use PL2 music, and if you want to watch/listen PL encoded content then use PL2 movie.
 
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