digital to 5.1?

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  • 02-07-2005, 07:51 PM
    petergriffen
    digital to 5.1?
    okay i was at home and i took some sony speakers, sony made them between 6 and 10 years ago. it is an all in one type set up that included two towers, a center, and two surrounds(sub was optional) the pro logic processor was in one of the towers. from my parents.My problem is getting them to use 5.1. My cable box and ps2 both have digital audio outs but these towers only have rca inputs. You can send it 5.1 but you need six connections ie front,center,sub..... So the question is do i need some sort of reciever to take in the digitial sound and put it into those 6 connections, and is there any cheap setups that'll work. Thanks for the help, if this is too vague just ask. and any ideas of solving this cheaply?
  • 02-07-2005, 09:54 PM
    paul_pci
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by petergriffen
    okay i was at home and i took some sony speakers, sony made them between 6 and 10 years ago. it is an all in one type set up that included two towers, a center, and two surrounds(sub was optional) the pro logic processor was in one of the towers. from my parents.My problem is getting them to use 5.1. My cable box and ps2 both have digital audio outs but these towers only have rca inputs. You can send it 5.1 but you need six connections ie front,center,sub..... So the question is do i need some sort of reciever to take in the digitial sound and put it into those 6 connections, and is there any cheap setups that'll work. Thanks for the help, if this is too vague just ask. and any ideas of solving this cheaply?


    I know exactly what you're talking about because I owned one of those units before I learned about audio set ups, receivers, etc. Yes, there is no digital in, only 2-channel analog in. And if it's the unit I'm thinking of, I don't think there is 6-channel analog inputs; I think there are 2-channel inputs for different sources. So, the only way to get surround from it is to use the Pro-logic function. If you want real surround sound, as in DVDs, then you're going to have to scrap your unit and get a receiver, and ideally, better speakers, and that's not cheap. The cheapest solution would be to live with prologic sound effect.
  • 02-08-2005, 11:12 AM
    petergriffen
    yea your close but it actually does have the 5.1 analog inputs. its 6 inputs. so does anyone know a nice cheap reciever im not looking for much besides a digital input with an optical???the one from ps2 input and a 5.1 analog output
  • 02-08-2005, 01:31 PM
    petergriffen
    anyone got any suggestions
  • 02-08-2005, 02:22 PM
    Ryanm
    *IF* I'm understanding you correctly, this is what you're wanting:

    http://us.creative.com/products/prod...6&product=9468
  • 02-08-2005, 02:25 PM
    N. Abstentia
    I think you'd be better of scrapping all of it and just buying a proper system. Unless your PS2 and your cable box have 6 channel analog outs (they don't) then you're screwed. Even if they did, you'd still need some sort of way to hook them both up to one input.

    One thing that confuses me though..how are the speakers powered? Where is the amplifier?
  • 02-08-2005, 05:19 PM
    petergriffen
    okay the speakers are powered by an internal amp with subs in them. I saw a few recievers that had digital inputs and 5.1 analog outputs. these speakers are pretty good and they come with wireless rear speakers and a center speaker. and im pretty poor so im looking just for a reciever that will take in a digital input and put out a sub, center, 2 rears and2 fronts.any more questions just ask
  • 02-09-2005, 08:08 AM
    N. Abstentia
    I'm not familiar with those speakers, but if you're saying that they just have standard RCA inputs and all you need to run them is basically a preamp, you can get a receiver with multiple digital inputs and preamp outputs which will hook to your speakers. They are just basically powered speakers, right?

    If the RCA inputs bypass all the processing (the Pro Logic) and take it straight to the amp, you're good to go. If not, I'd consider scrapping them and getting a proper setup.
  • 02-09-2005, 10:57 AM
    petergriffen
    yup i just need to get a reciever that has 5.1 analog outputs, and im having trouble finding a reasonable priced one because i really dont need anything special i just need the digital signal turned in analog 5.1. also i needs an optical? input for the ps2 which is my dvd player
  • 02-10-2005, 08:00 AM
    Ryanm
    Have you taken a look at my suggestion? the product I linked from creative will take a coax or optical digital signal, will do dts es, dolby ex, pro logic II. The little box is basically a preamp for the most part, I linked it earlier in the thread, might wanna take a look at it.
  • 02-10-2005, 08:22 PM
    petergriffen
    yea but i doesnt have 5.1 (6 analog outputs). it has R and L output...check it out here
  • 02-11-2005, 07:29 AM
    Ryanm
    You're looking at it wrong peter, it's basically a powered soundcard like in a computer.
    take a really close look at the orange connector. The orange says "center and subwoofer" those are basically headphone jacks (cause sound systems for computers use what they call rca mini's, which are basically nothing more than a small headphone jack)
    All you would need to run with that system are 3 of these:
    http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=090-294

    Each of those colored little jacks is 2 audio outputs, the orange one is for the center and subwoofer, the front is for the front right and front left channels, the rear is for the rear left and right channels, figuring out the right and left of each and which of the jack is sub/center might be a tad difficult. But I highly doubt you'll find a reciever that's as dependable in that price range.

    Also from what I saw of the pictures you linked, this box here hooks up to the main one and does the splitting

    http://mediaviewer.ign.com/ignMediaP...%2F620558.html

    Far as I can tell it does exactly what you're looking for, it's designed for pc users to hook up systems such as klipsch pro media 5.1 rigs etc. Those rigs are powered but don't have their own decoder.

    Take a closer look at it pete.
  • 02-11-2005, 01:07 PM
    petergriffen
    thanks a lot for the help...i'll probally order it soon.
  • 02-11-2005, 01:16 PM
    petergriffen
    one more quick quesion, is coaxial input the same as a digital input from the cable box???
  • 02-11-2005, 01:56 PM
    paul_pci
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by petergriffen
    one more quick quesion, is coaxial input the same as a digital input from the cable box???

    Most likely. The digital coaxial cable has an RCA termination like your standard analog cable.
  • 02-14-2005, 06:04 AM
    Ryanm
    coax and optical are both digital connections and both do 5.1/6.1, they just do it differently but achieve pretty much the same result.