Logitech 5.1 Speakers

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bjurusik

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Quick question for all. I'm thinking of getting one of those Logitech 5.1 Surround Sound systems for my iMac. I was just wondering however, what do I connect the speakers to, the headphone jack? If I do this, will I still get 5.1 sound when watching a DVD on my mac? Thanks all.
 
I'm not anywhere close to being an expert, but it was my understanding that all Apple computers have support for Stereo natively. I do not believe you will be able to have true DTS / DD 5.1 output. The speakers may be able to simulate surround, but definitely not worth the money. You'd be better off with nice Stereo speakers instead.

All the best,

Trevor
 
First of all, buy the Klipsch ones instead. They're very good, and I've heard some poor opinions of the Logitech ones.

Second, you'll need multichannel output. If you have a free PCI slot, I suggest the M-Audio Revolution 7.1. It's what I have. I use VLC to play my DVD's and I get 5.1 channel sound.
 
I don't have any empty PCI slots, so that's a no go. What if I had a USB output, then could I get 5.1 sound?
 
Uh. I'm a little confused. I looked on that site, and I found two 'consumer' products that both say they have 5.1 output. one says it has 7.1 output. Anyways. Heres the bit where i get confused. The 'cheapie' with only 5.1, has a whole of three ports. USB, Line Out, and Optical Line Out. Now. USB is obviously for sound going IN. And unless they made some funky new technology, I've only ever known an RCA Line being able to carry ONE channel. So.. How do we get from ONE channel, into 5 individual channels. I mean, the 2 special channels, for voice and bass, are easy, you use high and low pass filters. but how the hell do you manage to get front|rear|left|right dimensions with ONE channel? I just don't get it. It makes no sense.

As for the high end model,
it has a "digital" output, which looks a whole lot like an RCA line out, and 4 headphone jacks for the surround. Now. this makes more sense, because 'headphone' or ... 1/4inch?? jacks carry 2 channels each, so you have one jack front, one rear, one sub/voice and one for the extra two channels in 7.1.

However. What about those who want to use an amp with RCA line inputs, and doesn't want to bugger around with 1/4" - RCA converters? Surely someone makes a USB 5.1 card with RCA Line outputs. Off to google i go.
 
First of all, pengu, I don't know what you're talking about. They make 2 USB Audio products in their Consumer line. One of them only outputs AC3/DTS (optical TOSLINK) and 2 channel (analog). The other one splits it conveniently into 7.1 (the sonica theater). What on earth are you talking about with this "multiple channels over RCA"?

You need to spend some time learning about audio, man!

The digital out on the Revolution 7.1 is a Digital Co-ax connection. They're not "headphone" jacks, they're 1/8" stereo miniplugs. That's what headphones use, though.

And no, no one makes a sound card with RCA out for Mac, unless you want a pro audio card, in which case see M-Audio's Pro Audio section.
 
Once again. Looking on the net for hours at a time, proves more useful than trying to ask a question. As for 1/8" miniplugs. All I have EVER seen them used on, is headphones, and crappy computer soundcards. Until I start seeing competition sound systems using 3mm cables to run speakers, I'll just keep on callin' em' headphone jacks, if that's ok with you.
 
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