Altec Lansing ACS 56 owners, need some help setting it up with Soundblaster Live

[jaytone]

Hi
I shipped my son a computer I built with a Soundblaster Live OEM version. I also ordered online for him the Altec Lansing ACS 56.
He lives far away and is a little confused as to how to properly hook up the speakers.
He said he connected the RCA jack using the first Out of the Live to the subwoofer but could not get the sound to come through
After changing the Lives software to 4 speaker setup it works (He said it was set to 2 speaker system). Here are my questions he has
1. Is the second OUT of the Live used ?
2. He mentioned that the manual said to use the Digital out of the live to Digital in of the Sub, is this suppose to be hooked up ? again its a OEM version of the Live which has the yellow RCA jack.
3. Why didn't it work when he had the LIves software setup as Two speaker instead of Four
4. What is the surround IN on the sub used for.
5. Since it is set to 4 speaker setup in the software and since he is only using the first OUT of the Live, is he truly getting 4 independant sounds ?
6. What does the MODE on the front speaker do when pushed
Please remember I dont have the manual in front of me.\
Thanks

 

[jaytone]

anyone

 

[Noriaki]

I don't know why it wouldn't work on 2 but would work on 4...
I can answer most of your questions though...I don't know if it will help or not though...

1. Is the second OUT of the Live used ?

3 out jacks on a live:
- RCA digital out: drives all the channels: Front, Surround, Center, Sub.
If you use this you don't need any others.
- 2 3.5mm mini-stereo outs: each drives 2 channels, front L/R and the other is rear L/R (the ACS56 amp will filter the bass out for you)

That is the Live though, there is a odd thing about the ACS56..they only accept digital on for the front channel and sub. The RCA will only drive those 3 (more on this in the mode button question 😀). You have to use analog to have indepent rear channels.

2. He mentioned that the manual said to use the Digital out of the live to Digital in of the Sub, is this suppose to be hooked up ? again its a OEM version of the Live which has the yellow RCA jack.

That's right, but you'll only get front and sub (again see the mode answer), you'll need to use a mini-stereo analog to have independant rears.

3. Why didn't it work when he had the LIves software setup as Two speaker instead of Four

Not entirely sure... :|

4. What is the surround IN on the sub used for.

For the analog rear channels if that's not clear by now 🙂

5. Since it is set to 4 speaker setup in the software and since he is only using the first OUT of the Live, is he truly getting 4 independant sounds.

If it's the RCA/Digital out jack, yes. If it's the mini-stereo analog no.

6. What does the MODE on the front speaker do when pushed

There are two modes. I'll call them true surround, and quad stereo.
In quad stereo the left and right rear speakers are copies of the front left and right channels. If you are using your digital input this will make all channels digital and the surround IN jack is ignored.

True surround mode uses distinct channels for the rear 2 speakers, but it won't take the channels from the digital (RCA) stream for some reason, (this is an oddity of the ACS56) so you ahve to have the surround in mini-stereo hooked up to get the rear channels.

Edit: I believe "Quad-Stereo" is an amber mode light, and "True-Surround" is green, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[jaytone]

Thank you very much, it is now set up right. I phoned him and according to him, he only has the Digital out of the Live to the Digital In on the Sub. He says that when he hits the Mode button, it switches from 2 to 4 speaker surround. He then holds the Mode button down and is able to adjust the speakers.
Again, he is not using the Out of the second output of the Live at all, only the Digital. He tried to use the Second Out of the Live and connect it to Surround, but he said it made no difference in either Mode setting, so is only using the Digital. Hope this is right