best way to have 3 sources going into my speakers

[Nvidiaguy07]

ok so heres my setup:

I'm ordering logitech x-540 speakers and i want to have 3 sources coming in to them. My computer, my cable box, and my xbox360. Is my best option just an av switch with a remote control or something else.

im worried about using the switch because im gonna have to convert my pc wire into the 2 red and white wires and will i possibly lose 5.1 sound or quality or anything>?

Let me know what u think

Also the guy at radioshack suggested piggyback cables that would let all the sources come in at the same time? anyone have any experince with there?

 

[sdifox]

what is the input connection available on that speaker system?

 

[Tiamat]

If your soundcard has digital inputs, use them for the xbox, and hook your soundcard to the speakers as typical.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

PC is a regular 3.5mm stereo audio cable and the 360 and cable box are RCA audio cables.

If it is possible to hook all these up to my computer and use that as a switch then ill do that, but does anyone have any experience in converting RCA>stereo and is there any loss of quality?

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Nvidiaguy07
PC is a regular 3.5mm stereo audio cable and the 360 and cable box are RCA audio cables.

If it is possible to hook all these up to my computer and use that as a switch then ill do that, but does anyone have any experience in converting RCA>stereo and is there any loss of quality?

I meant input on the speaker system. Are you saying the logitech takes 3 stereo minijack as 6 channel input?

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

oo sorry i thought u meant what type of devices was i installing.

Im not completely sure how the x-540 works

Heres a picture that might help: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...0X-540%205.1%20Speaker

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What's your budget for this project?

Would it be possible to bump up to the $213 free shipping z-5500s and get yourself the input switching built in?

(digital inputs for the 360 and cable box with analog for the computer)

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

o wow i wasnt aware that the 5500's had that. I thought the x540 were the same speakers with less power. I realkly dont need as much power as the 5500 have to offer but it might just be easier to use that

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The z-5500s don't share anything in common with the x-540s.

Depending on the output type for your cable box, the z-5500s may be able to do everything you're asking to do.

Since the newegg price on the x-540s was about $100 shipped I thought I'd let you know what you get for the $213AR price of the z-5500s.

Instead of just the 5.1 analog input, you'll get a digital optical input to get surround sound from the 360 and you'll get a digital coaxial input which would hopefully hook up to your cable box to get sound from that (and surround sound when the source channel supports it).
You'll get a remote to switch inputs and control the volume,etc.

The speakers and subwoofer are improved on the z-5500s with more headroom for when you want to crank the volume up.



If you're looking for the ability to hook up the computer and 360 with surround, you'll need to get some sort of audio device that had digital inputs on it and then probably 5.1 analog to hook up the computer unless your integrated sound or soundcard can encode game audio to a DD / DTS stream.

There aren't any readily available affordable options to act as a device to do this afaik. A receiver could do this for you, but you'd have a hard time hooking those up to x-540s and it wouldn't make financial sense to go that route. The extra inputs on the z-5500 are perfect for the kind of situation you're in. I think you should at least consider them as an option for yourself, especially if your cable box has digital coaxial audio output (If not, you'd want to get an adapter for that too).

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

thank you so much this is exactly what i was looking for. I was initailly looking into getting the 5500's anyway before i even bought that but then decided against it because I never really planned on crankin the volume up. This makes things alot easier now.

The only question i have aboout the 5500 is, is there any pictures of how they are set up and where u plug the inputs in. Its not a huge deal i jsut need to know if i needto get any extension cables for my devices. I have sort of a complicated setup with the 360 and pc in the back of the room and the cable box in the front.

If i can plug then in towards the rear i only need an extension for the cable box, 2 for the other way around.

not a huge deal but if you know it would help

And thank you very much again youve been a huge help

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

All of your sources will get plugged in through the back of the control pod. The control pod plugs into the back of the subwoofer with a VGA looking cable. The five speakers plug into the back of the sub via speaker wire.

Newegg has some decent pictures of the connections on the set.

Can you check the back of your cable box to see what type of audio outputs it has?

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

im not sure yet because im switching providers. It should be in on the 27th. ill let u know if i have any problems. thanks!

 

[Howard]

Haha, I was going to recommend a DIY audio summing circuit.