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Zathras

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  1. I think I already did what you are asking rol1. I played The Matrix using WinDVD in 5.1 analog mode through the SB Live! Platinum and in s/pdif mode which should be AC-3 digital pass thru decoded by the Yamaha (AC-3 decoding was turned off on the SB Live!). I'm sure going digital improves the sound, but I'd bet that most of the improvement comes from the Yamaha decoding at 96 khz/24 bit versus 48 khz/16 bit for the SB Live!. Maybe someone could back me up on this and explain the khz/bit numbers for me in newbie speak or refer me to a newbie sound site
  2. Thanks rol1. I installed a SB Live! 5.1 Platinum and now I have all the analog outputs hooked up and am using the coaxial s/pdif output on the front panel. That is what I needed to do. Now I have full 5.1 speaker support in games. I tried The Matrix using WinDVD in 5.1 speaker mode and s/pdif mode and s/pdif mode sounded much better. SB Live! decoded Dolby sounded like TV. Dolby sound through the Yamaha sounded so good it was hard to turn off. I'm happy now. Thanks again.
  3. The SB Live! X-Gamer has all mini plug outputs on the back. One is the digital out and the analog out for a center channel. Hence the need for the mini to RCA adapter to adapt the digital coaxial cable to the receiver. I just watched a little of The Matrix. I picked S/PDIF for the sound output in WinDVD and got 5.1 surround sound! It is nice to hear something working. With this setting I wonder which is doing the decoding, the computer or the receiver? I feel like I'm getting close. The setup sounds awesome so far judging by The Matrix. I have the receiver going to four Yamaha NS-A100XT tower speakers and a NS-AC40X center speaker. I haven't gotten the sub yet. I was considering going with just a set of 4.1 Klipsh's, but I didn't think they could fully fill my living room. I still can't get surround sound working in games though.
  4. Hi. I hope you guys don't mind my posting this here. I just upgraded my old SB Live 4.1 card to a 5.1 X-Gamer card and I bought a Yamaha HTR-5250 receiver. You can check out the receiver here: http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gAVR00010HTR-5250 The SB Live! 5.1 tour shows that you can take a mini-jack to RCA adapter and send the digital 5.1 signal to an amplifier. I got a mini-jack to RCA adapter (RCA brand from Circuit City) and am using it with a Monster coaxial cable plugged into the receiver's DVD/LD coaxial input. All I get is stereo from the speakers. What am I missing? When I do the SB Live 5.1 speaker test the center, left rear, and right rear speakers don't work. I get the feeling this is something in the receiver. I think the receiver thinks it has to decode all incomming signals. I don't know how to turn the docoding off. Maybe I should just get an amp and take the Yamaha back? I hope someone can make sence of my ignorance. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!
  5. Great info Paragon. Do you have a link to Creative that explains this? You would think they would make this more clear. I was just about to get the Philips AE, but I figure I'll wait until I get the Klipsch 4.1's first and see how they sound on my old SB Live! Value 4.1 card. I'd probably rather get the SB Live! X-Gamer over the Philips AE for the better EAX surround sound support. I'm sure I'd be happy with either card though. Why did the Gamersdepot review of the Acoustic Edge make it sound like it was the only card capable of supporting 5.1 sound with all speakers? Janko is right, it is a jungle of misinformation out there.
  6. Thanks Janko. I found this Acoustic Edge review at Gamersdepot: http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/sound_cards/philips/acoustic_edge/001.htm They have some great pictures of the connectors on the card. From the review: "The card itself uses a slightly different way to attach speakers, using a cable with a mini-DIN attachment on one end, and with three female stereo connectors coming out of the other. The three cables are labeled for Front L/R, Rear L/R, and Center/Sub. This will allow you to hook up almost any set of PC speakers on the market, making this the most flexible sound card weve ever seen. Compare this to the Creative SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1 we reviewed a while back. That card had a proprietary out that only allowed you to attach those horrible Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 speakers to get 5.1 sound." Cool. Now that the Klipsch 4.1's are out the question now is what speaker to use for the center channel? I know many have said use a set of Klipsch 2.1's, but that seems like overkill to me. Can anyone recommend a single center speaker to go with the Klipsch 4.1's? --- I just read through that review. Damn, the AE comes with a version of PowerDVD and I just bought WinDVD for $50. Oh, well. The review also mentions using three Klipsch 2.1 speaker sets for a 6.3 system using the AE's outputs for left, right, and center channels. Man, what would that sound like?
  7. I was wondering if the 5.1 sound cards had an extra output jack for the 5th channel. Does the SB Live! Gamer card have an extra center channel jack also?
  8. Sam_D said there was no 5th channel output jack on the back of the SB Live! or AE so how do you send the center channel out to the 2.1's Seb?
  9. 5.1 or 6.2, either sounds good to me. All I want to know is how you drive that fifth channel from an SB Live! or Acoustic Edge?
  10. For what it's worth then I guess I won't be be getting a set of Klipsch's until they come out with their 5.1 system. So how are the 5 channels handled then? My SB Live! 4.1 card has 2 jacks, one for the front channels and one for the rears. Someone post a reply and I'll brb
  11. I agree in a normal computer set up a fifth channel isn't needed. However, if you spread your speakers far enough apart I think a center channel would be necessary. Spreading the speakers far apart enough sounds artificial because you are expecting some sound to be comming directly from the screen. I've moved my speakers far apart before to get better sound cues from my first person shooter games. Against gluegun's advice I want to try the Klipsch's in my living room where they will be 8 feet apart. Could someone look at the back of their SB Live! or Acoustic Edge 5.1 card and tell me if there is an output for a fifth channel? If you could post a photo that would be even better.
  12. Complicated? What would be involved? I'm assuming that there would be a fifth channel output on the back of the soundcard that you would plug the speaker into. Ideally you would just plug an amplified speaker into it and be good to go.
  13. If you get a set of 4.1 Klipsch's and have a 5.1 soundcard can you buy a center channel speaker and add that to the Klipsch's?
  14. I'm waiting for the 4.1's too. I have a SB Live! Value 4.1 card going through an old set of Altec Lansings with sub up front (came with my Dell XPS H266) and a pair of Yamaha YST-M15's in the rear. This is in the living room and it sounds great. I can't wait to hear what the 4.1 Klipschs sound like. If I get a 5.1 sound card can I get an additional center channel speaker and add that to the Klipschs?
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