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litri
01-17-09, 11:53 AM
Hi,

I hope someone can help with this, because i really feel dumb on this.
I have always been using my Logitech 2.1 set of speakers until last week when
finally i moved to a bigger room where i have a Denon AVR-2808 receiver and thought
it would be great to output the sound through the home cinema speakers for once
and forget about the old ****ty set.

The thing is i have never been to much into it but i guess that PC games started supporting
surround sound more than a few years ago and i was wondering if i have to set my computer in a special way.

Right now, i have a X-Fi xtreme add-on sound card that came packed with my motherboard.
The cable i use is a high quality stereo minijack-to-RCA and it's connected to the front (game input) RCA conector in the amplifier.

The sound card has several outputs in the back, 4 of them labeled LINE OUT (front channels, rear channels, side channels and center and subwoofer channel) but i have connected the RC cable only to the connector that the manual states that is used for 2-channel speaker output.

Does that mean that i'm just getting stereo out of my card and the receiver is only matrixing that signal to all the speakers? How can i get 5.1 support if i don't have the rest of the cables needed for the other LINE OUT conectors?

Shall i use the optical output??? Are there games using it?

Thanks a lot!!!
LordJuanlo
01-17-09, 01:26 PM
Yes, your computer is sending a plain stereo signal to your receiver. If you use the optical output you won't get 5.1 sound from games unless you buy the X-Fi Dolby Digital Live addon, it's a special driver upgrade from Creative and it's not expensive, it allows to encode 3D audio to Dolby Digital or DTS in real time. The other option is to use 3 analog cables for the 3 line out connections
AGibbon
01-18-09, 09:32 PM
The other option is to use 3 analog cables for the 3 line out connections

Exact setup I use. Work great.
crainger
01-19-09, 04:39 AM
Yes, your computer is sending a plain stereo signal to your receiver. If you use the optical output you won't get 5.1 sound from games unless you buy the X-Fi Dolby Digital Live addon, it's a special driver upgrade from Creative and it's not expensive, it allows to encode 3D audio to Dolby Digital or DTS in real time. The other option is to use 3 analog cables for the 3 line out connections

Yip.

Analogue works fine. I myself have the DDL pack. Was only 3 bucks. I did notice a difference on my setup.
litri
01-19-09, 09:42 AM
Yes, your computer is sending a plain stereo signal to your receiver. If you use the optical output you won't get 5.1 sound from games unless you buy the X-Fi Dolby Digital Live addon, it's a special driver upgrade from Creative and it's not expensive, it allows to encode 3D audio to Dolby Digital or DTS in real time. The other option is to use 3 analog cables for the 3 line out connections

Thanks!

Then i guess that if i use the 3 analogue outputs they should go to the multi-channel analog inputs at the back of my receiver... mmmm. But then i'll have lots of cables, it's already a mess so i can't imagine how it would look.
litri
01-19-09, 09:42 AM
Yip.

Analogue works fine. I myself have the DDL pack. Was only 3 bucks. I did notice a difference on my setup.

Where in the webpage can i get the DDL pack???

Thanks!
LordJuanlo
01-19-09, 10:53 AM
http://buy.soundblaster.com/
AGibbon
01-19-09, 05:27 PM
Thanks!

Then i guess that if i use the 3 analogue outputs they should go to the multi-channel analog inputs at the back of my receiver... mmmm. But then i'll have lots of cables, it's already a mess so i can't imagine how it would look.

Yep that is where they hook up and yes it is kind of messy in a way, but the sound you will get makes up for it.
crainger
01-19-09, 10:34 PM
Use some cable ties and make it nice and tidy.