Audigy surround 5.1out to 6 channel Amp !! GOOD

lookinco · 08-28-2004, 12:49 AM

I have a few questions regarding surround sound with my PCI Audigy and intergrating it with my in car surround sound system.

Right now in my car I have a Pioneer multimedia system and a 6 channel amp.

I am trying to integrate my carputer which also with 5.1 surround sound.
I have a PCI Audigy sound card with 3 mini jack output.

Would I be able to use 3.5mm jack to RCA converter and split them into 6 RCA and then input them into my 6 channel amp ?

will the 3.5mm jack to RCA converter degrade the sound quality ?

Most stand alone DSP have all sorts of adjustment such as time delay and etc, will my Audigy be able to do the same with some kind of software ?

Lastly, since my 6 channel amp already have input from my pionner headunit. Would I be able to use splitter so that i can have input from the pionner headunit and carputer at the same time ?

So when I have headunit on i will turn off the carputer and vice verse. Will I encounter any problem ? Would there be problem if both source are playing music at the same time ? Is there any switch avaliable that would let me have two sources and switch between them ?

I have read the whole forum and still couldn't find some clear answers. Help is apprecaited.
Thanks

bulgogi777 · 08-28-2004, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Would I be able to use 3.5mm jack to RCA converter and split them into 6 RCA and then input them into my 6 channel amp ?

technically yes... your sound card should have 2 dedicated channels for the 3 stereo mini-jack outlets... off the top of my head I believe they are separated as FL-FR, RL-RR, Center-Sub... anyways, if you have a stereo mini-jack to RCA, you'll end up with all 6 channels correctly going into the sub.

Quote:

will the 3.5mm jack to RCA converter degrade the sound quality

It shouldn't really degrade your sound quality. I believe most people that run their PC sound to amp use mini-jack to RCA... I know I do

Quote:

Most stand alone DSP have all sorts of adjustment such as time delay and etc, will my Audigy be able to do the same with some kind of software ?

Your creative software that comes with the audigy card, should have these types of things included.

Quote:

Lastly, since my 6 channel amp already have input from my pionner headunit. Would I be able to use splitter so that i can have input from the pionner headunit and carputer at the same time ?

You could do this... having a RCA splitter running into say, the FL-FR channels out of your amp. This should, however, result in the combination of sound from both your sources. If both your PC and HU are playing music it will play at the same time out of your speakers. I'm sure you could use some sort of RCA audio switcher to change between the two, but you could also just turn one off before you play the other

One last thing... I'm not exactly sure how your 6 channel amp is setup... Meaning if it has a dedicated bass channel in which it pumps more wattage into. If it's an even split, then say you have your 50w x 6 into 4ohms... you won't be pumping a subwoofer very hard... Secondly, if you really want a correctly setup 5.1, that center channel should be setup in the front center. And I'm not so sure how easy it'd be to put a speaker smack dab in the center console or what not.

Another thing I just was thinking about is the fact that when playing mp3s through your computer, I believe with 5.1 setup it might only play through your FL and FR channels... which might not be the type of sound environment you want in your car. There's ways to play with this, and redirect the sound playing through those channels, but it might take some frustration before figuring it out. Anyways hope this helps

Squid · 08-28-2004, 01:34 AM

I use the audigy 2 nx in my SUV.... works great.... I use the RadioShack 3 foot mini-plug to rca
plug cables and run those directly into my amp. Sounds crystal clear.

My music and any other non-AC3 media plays thru all the speakers because of Creatives
CMSS 3D which upmixes or puts out a stereo signal to all channel pairs.

I use the stereo signal output.. works really well.. even the center channel being used
sounds good when just playing an mp3...

Good luck.... its worth it... the first time you hear 5.1 surround sound DVD
in your vehicle you just can't stop grinning

lookinco · 08-28-2004, 03:00 AM

Thanks for everyone input ! Right now with my Pioneer system it has Dolby Pro logic, so it splits stereo input into 5.1 channel which then go to my amp and speakers.

If I use stereo output from my computer into the AUX of my pioneer headunit, then let the pro logic seperate the audio into 5 channel , would it make a big difference then real dolby digital surround sound ?

Squid · 08-29-2004, 02:14 AM

um... yea.. I gotta think you would still notice a big difference between Dolby Digital and pro logic
in a car environment.

Nothing is as clear as 5.1 discreet channels of coolness

antimatter · 08-31-2004, 11:35 AM

Is there a way to continue to use the existing hardware. Does your surround sound unit accept Coax or Optical SPDIF?

wysocki · 11-03-2004, 08:41 PM

Quote:

My music and any other non-AC3 media plays thru all the speakers because of Creatives CMSS 3D which upmixes or puts out a stereo signal to all channel pairs.

Squid:
WTF? I just got my Win2k system installed in the car and my Audigy 2NX works great with mp3's and dvd. HOWEVER!!! I get only front channel stereo from my XMpcr Toslink input and my FM tuner into the line-in jacks. Even with CMSS enabled in both cmss and stereo modes I get only the front outputs! I spent many hours on the phone with Soundblaster techs and they tried to walk me through getting this to work and then finally saying, "it's not designed to play stereo input to all the speakers". One tech even tried it on his system without any luck. The Audigy website says "Creative CMSS® lets you play back all stereo content like MP3s, CDs and VCDs in multi-channel sound." That implies to me that I'll hear ALL my music in all my 5.1 speakers. What's different about your system that it works?

strohj · 11-03-2004, 10:02 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by wysocki

Squid:
WTF? I just got my Win2k system installed in the car and my Audigy 2NX works great with mp3's and dvd. HOWEVER!!! I get only front channel stereo from my XMpcr Toslink input and my FM tuner into the line-in jacks. Even with CMSS enabled in both cmss and stereo modes I get only the front outputs! I spent many hours on the phone with Soundblaster techs and they tried to walk me through getting this to work and then finally saying, "it's not designed to play stereo input to all the speakers". One tech even tried it on his system without any luck. The Audigy website says "Creative CMSS® lets you play back all stereo content like MP3s, CDs and VCDs in multi-channel sound." That implies to me that I'll hear ALL my music in all my 5.1 speakers. What's different about your system that it works?

I have the same problem.. and got the same answer form creative.. im totally bummed about it...

Squid · 11-04-2004, 12:45 AM

I didn't say any Toslink or Line-in worked.... I said "My music and any other non-AC3 media" meaning mp3's/cd's/video's/whateva...
as long as its played internally in the pc..

My d-link radio goes into my line-in and only comes out my 2 front speakers... it ****es me
off big time... why they would make it not output to all channels is beyond me.

I've never tried my toslink in.... but I would have to think that if u shoved a 5.1 sound down
the toslink cable, it would have to come out of all 5.1 channels... why else would it exist.

The problem is.. the hardware never passes the incoming signals thru the PC...
If you record the line-in.. and play back.. comes out of all speakers.... so I thought...
great I'll just use one of their Creative audio effects forcing it to be processed... but yea that dont work either...

What you need is a sort of "time-shift" type software... something that records the line-in and immediately puts it back out..
maybe some inventive programmer on this board can figure that out...

Believe me.. I'm constantly on the lookout for a way that would make this work... I'm mad now just thinking about it again!!!!

wysocki · 11-04-2004, 10:31 AM

From the documentation, I assumed that CMSS would encode my non-AC3 material (primarily external stereo sources thru the inputs) and give me simulated surround out. I would expect to AT LEAST have it simply pass the stereo signal directly to all of the output pairs unaltered. I could possibly live without rear channel sound from these stereo sources but when my subwoofer goes dead on them, I just want to fling the damn POC out the window. Isn't there any other 5.1 unit that can do what should seem to be obvious?

Squid · 11-04-2004, 02:01 PM

I'm right with you... how can a normal person think ... oh the inputs must just slap all the stereo signals over the 3 diff outputs...
and Creative not have any clue about it????????

Believe me... as soon as I see a new usb Audigy card I'll be picking it up to test...
I figure they gotta be due soon right?? NX has been out awhile... ugh

Also, the fact that the drivers won't allow you to set the subwoofer crossover
point with some overlap kills me.... zero bass goes to my front speakers...
I like to overlap them some... but no... bass redirection.. one slider... thats it.

Hehe...

wysocki · 11-04-2004, 06:44 PM

The Audigy has been nothing but trouble for me to get it into my carPC. First huge problem was that it was 5vdc and it took me a week and $25 to work around that. Now that I get it fired up, it works like crap. The marketing info pushes its flexibility, all I see are limitations. I wonder if I could just enable the onboard audio on my Epia M10000 and maybe put in a switch to reroute the audio cables to the mobo for my external (XM/FM) sources???

ddogg_777 · 11-18-2004, 10:46 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by wysocki

Squid:
HOWEVER!!! I get only front channel stereo from my XMpcr Toslink input and my FM tuner into the line-in jacks. Even with CMSS enabled in both cmss and stereo modes I get only the front outputs! I spent many hours on the phone with Soundblaster techs and they tried to walk me through getting this to work and then finally saying, "it's not designed to play stereo input to all the speakers". One tech even tried it on his system without any luck.

I wonder if my Audigy 2 ZS has the same defect. I always thought I would be able to upmix my xmpcr to all channels, not just stereo. Once I get it running I will let you know.

antimatter · 11-18-2004, 11:17 PM

You could always do what i did... get an external surrounf sound processor (panasonic cy-ac300ex) or get a Creative DTS-100 Somwhere there is a tutorial to get around the powering issue (it's meant for AC)

eatyummypuppies · 11-18-2004, 11:23 PM

As far as the bass redirection issue goes, if you're not using the center channel, you can use it for the sub and turn off bass redirection. This gives you bass out of all the speakers and at least control over the volume of the sub in software (but not the cross over frequency).

kX Project FAQ

Quote:

A. The Extigy and Audigy2 NX cards are NOT 10k1/10k2-based card (most of their functionallity is software-based), and since they are USB audio devices they are not kX-compatible. However, we are currently working on ASIO drivers for these cards. In order to finish we will need test samples -- please donate to our kX Fund in order to help us to support both cards.

We have to cut a deal with these guys to make this software happen. How many people have an Audigy 2 NX and need these issues resolved-- times say $20 each?