Does anyone have their Audigy 1/2/4 hooked up to a Receiver? (With poll)

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

This has been bothering me for quite a while. I've seen several people mention they have no issues using a 5.1 analog connection to a receiver while others have serious problems getting a signal to their subwoofers.

I would be very interested in hearing someone with a working system give me details on how they were able to accomplish a working 5.1 analog setup with these cards.

I'd like to be able to give a straight answer to people when they ask about this type of connection.

I don't have one of these cards so I've been unable to mess around with the settings and get a feel for what's going on myself. Is there some driver version or hidden setting that allows users to set a crossover frequency for sub output?

 

[Schfifty Five]

I'm not an audio expert or anything but I have an Audigy 2 ZS w/ Klipsch Ultra 5.1 speakers and in my audigy/speaker settings, I have a slider bar for all 6 channels and whenever I slide the subwoofer one up or down, I hear no difference. I have tried it on DVDs and other applications and it seems to me that the slider bar for the subwoofer doesn't do anything.

Again, I'm not very knowledgable w/ audio stuff.

Edit: forgot to mention I'm hooking the speakers up via analog connection.

 

[SaltBoy]

I have an Audigy 2 Platinum ZS and don't know any way on how to set up a true 5.1 analog signal. I use the digital out to my receiver, which works just fine, but the connections that Creative Labs provided for the analog are pretty messed up unless you have a 4.0 or 7.1 speaker system.

That being said, however, my receiver is an old Yamaha RXV-992 and does only Dolby Digital 5.1. I use Front L/R and Rear L/R analog outputs (4-speaker output) when playing DTS tracks with PowerDVD or Media Player Classic. It simulates 5.1 very well, IMO - the center channel is used as it should be, and the subwoofer kicks in quite nicely.

 

[Boogak]

I got my Audigy 2 working with my Onkyo receiver following the instructions from the Creative website's Knowledge Base article.

If your receiver has discrete Line-In jacks for Front Right, Front Left, Rear Right, Rear Left, Center, and Subwoofer:

* Connect Front Right and Front Left to the Line-Out 1 on the sound card with a 3.5mm (stereo) to RCA "Y" adaptor cable
* Connect Rear Right and Rear Left to the Line-Out 2 jack with another 3.5mm (stereo) to RCA "Y" adaptor cable
* connect the Center/Subwoofer In to the Line-Out 3 on the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card, with a 3rd 3.5mm (4-pole or stereo) to RCA "Y" adaptor cable.
* Connect the white RCA plug to the Center input and Red RCA plug to the Subwoofer input on the receiver.

I did notice the subwoofer sound level is low, but other than that I get full multi-channel sound in everything.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Boogak
I got my Audigy 2 working with my Onkyo receiver following the instructions from the Creative website's Knowledge Base article.

If your receiver has discrete Line-In jacks for Front Right, Front Left, Rear Right, Rear Left, Center, and Subwoofer:

* Connect Front Right and Front Left to the Line-Out 1 on the sound card with a 3.5mm (stereo) to RCA "Y" adaptor cable
* Connect Rear Right and Rear Left to the Line-Out 2 jack with another 3.5mm (stereo) to RCA "Y" adaptor cable
* connect the Center/Subwoofer In to the Line-Out 3 on the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card, with a 3rd 3.5mm (4-pole or stereo) to RCA "Y" adaptor cable.
* Connect the white RCA plug to the Center input and Red RCA plug to the Subwoofer input on the receiver.

I did notice the subwoofer sound level is low, but other than that I get full multi-channel sound in everything.

Ok, well that's the method that several people say doesn't work.

How low is the subwoofer output? Can you compensate with gain controls on the sub? Controls on the A2?

Does the amount on the audio spectrum the sub produces depend on the bass redirection setting in the A2 controls?

 

[Boogak]

It's a low rumble whereas with my previous onboard optical SPDIF output it was noticably louder. I don't install any of the extra software Creative provides so I'm not familar with the A2 controls, I just up the gain on the sub itself to compensate.

No idea on the 3rd question.

 

[Tiamat]

Audigy 2ZS analog stereo to RCA - I get subwoofer mostly because its a full signal and my preamp sends a full signal to my sub which cuts it down with its crossover.

The card looks like either you get full stereo, or 7.1 due to the way the outputs on the card are situated. You might have to downmix the 7.1 signal to 5.1 in your receiver.

Edit: Hmm, actually that doesnt address your problem at all.

Something wrong with the digital out on the card?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Audigy 2ZS analog stereo to RCA - I get subwoofer mostly because its a full signal and my preamp sends a full signal to my sub which cuts it down with its crossover.

The card looks like either you get full stereo, or 7.1 due to the way the outputs on the card are situated. You might have to downmix the 7.1 signal to 5.1 in your receiver.

Edit: Hmm, actually that doesnt address your problem at all.

Something wrong with the digital out on the card?

I don't have the card, but I'm putting together a kind of general audio thread and I'd like to put some info in it about this, but I'd like to hear exactly how someone has this hooked up that it's working.

I thought that if you used three stereo 3.5mm to dual RCA outputs, you'd get 5.1, not 7.1?

I thought in order to get the 7.1 output you needed more than stereo on the 3.5mm connection to get the three signals out per jack on two of them.

The issue with 5.1 analog input seems like in games the A2 doesn't give a subwoofer signal output. It gives full range to the 5 other channels and then expects the internal crossover in the computer speaker set to sent the low stuff to the sub.
When you hook up to a 6 channel direct input on a receiver, you bypass the receiver's crossover control so the signal never ends up being divided between the speakers and sub.

Ok, so I think that's the issue, but I know some people have mentioned that there's works just fine so I wanted to know if they were doing something differently.

I'd like to be able to offer a straight answer to this issue.

As for the digital out, I'm trying to recommend a good method to get surround sound sent to a receiver so that wouldn't work with the creative digital outputs.

I'm using an X-Mystique myself so I haven't run into these problems.

 

[Aquila76]

When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

 

[spidey07]

about the low subwoofer...

Isn't the LFE channel recorded -10 db down from reference or something like that? Don't some receivers need to be told to compensate or could that be in the sound driver itself?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Boogak
It's a low rumble whereas with my previous onboard optical SPDIF output it was noticably louder. I don't install any of the extra software Creative provides so I'm not familar with the A2 controls, I just up the gain on the sub itself to compensate.

No idea on the 3rd question.

Did you install the speaker tester program where it sends a signal to each speaker? If so, does the subwoofer output play on the sub?

In games there's a low rumble? If you increase the sub gain, can you get it to sound normal or is it still at a reduced level?

If you wouldn't mind, could you tell me what you're using for receiver and subwoofer?
Do you think your receiver might be using it's crossover on the 6channel direct input somehow? (I'm not sure if there are any receivers that will do this)

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: spidey07
about the low subwoofer...

Isn't the LFE channel recorded -10 db down from reference or something like that? Don't some receivers need to be told to compensate or could that be in the sound driver itself?

I didn't think about that.

If that's the issue, it would seem like you would be able to compensate for that somewhere pretty easily.

I've seen several accounts that it didn't work at all though so Boogak's comments of it just being reduced are new to me as far as I can remember (hard to keep track of everything I have read).

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Aquila76
When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

Thanks. Don't go to too much trouble over this if it's going to be a whole project to get it set up though

 

[Kelvrick]

Could never get analog to work quite right. I'd work, but then it wouldn't sound good. Good ole' optical out solved everything though.

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76
When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

Thanks. Don't go to too much trouble over this if it's going to be a whole project to get it set up though

The PC is literally right next to the receiver (tiny apt.). Should take about 5 minutes tops to get it connected.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
Could never get analog to work quite right. I'd work, but then it wouldn't sound good. Good ole' optical out solved everything though.

Wouldn't sound good? Could you be a bit more specific?

Did you run into the subwoofer issue?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76
When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

Thanks. Don't go to too much trouble over this if it's going to be a whole project to get it set up though

The PC is literally right next to the receiver (tiny apt.). Should take about 5 minutes tops to get it connected.

Out of curiosity, why haven't you hooked up to your receiver until now? Are the Cabridge speakers better than your receiver/speaker set?

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76
When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

Thanks. Don't go to too much trouble over this if it's going to be a whole project to get it set up though

The PC is literally right next to the receiver (tiny apt.). Should take about 5 minutes tops to get it connected.

Out of curiosity, why haven't you hooked up to your receiver until now? Are the Cabridge speakers better than your receiver/speaker set?

Not so much better, but more convenient. I have one cable from the Audigy to the DTT3500 processor, and the speakers connect to that. Actually, they are pretty good speakers in their own right; basically 5 of their Newton-series cubes and a 6" sub.

EDIT: Forgot Anand reviewed these back in the day: Text

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76
When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

Thanks. Don't go to too much trouble over this if it's going to be a whole project to get it set up though

The PC is literally right next to the receiver (tiny apt.). Should take about 5 minutes tops to get it connected.

Out of curiosity, why haven't you hooked up to your receiver until now? Are the Cabridge speakers better than your receiver/speaker set?

Not so much better, but more convenient. I have one cable from the Audigy to the DTT3500 processor, and the speakers connect to that. Actually, they are pretty good speakers in their own right; basically 5 of their Newton-series cubes and a 6" sub.

EDIT: Forgot Anand reviewed these back in the day: Text

So you don't have it set up for true surround now?

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Aquila76
When I had my old SB Live!5.1 connected to my receiver, the sub was pretty underpowered compared to my DVD player via optical/coax or even my VCR.
I currently have an Audigy1 connected to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500 5.1 setup. If I can find my old cables, I'll try connecting it to my receiver and let you know what happens.

Thanks. Don't go to too much trouble over this if it's going to be a whole project to get it set up though

The PC is literally right next to the receiver (tiny apt.). Should take about 5 minutes tops to get it connected.

Out of curiosity, why haven't you hooked up to your receiver until now? Are the Cabridge speakers better than your receiver/speaker set?

Not so much better, but more convenient. I have one cable from the Audigy to the DTT3500 processor, and the speakers connect to that. Actually, they are pretty good speakers in their own right; basically 5 of their Newton-series cubes and a 6" sub.

EDIT: Forgot Anand reviewed these back in the day: Text

So you don't have it set up for true surround now?

This setup uses Creative's Digital Out, which is a true 5.1 out. However, it only connects to this and a few other Creative/CSW speaker sets with the outboard decoder. The digital out port is broken into three signals (FL/FR, SL,/SR, C/SW) and uses a proprietary cable found in the DTT 3500 kit. One end looks like a standard minijack, but has three sections instead of two. The other end looks like a mini-DIN connector that plugs into the processor.

EDIT: The 3 part mini-jack plugs into the top port on the card (Digital Out). Forgot to mention that. It can still pass a Digital or DTS signal out to the decoder, as well as transporting the 5.1 channels to the decoder. It gives full surround in all games/movies.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

So you have three different digital coaxial signals coming out of your soundcard?

(These speakers are before my time)

EDIT: I skimmed through the AT article on them.

I'm still kind of confused with all the proprietary Creative digital stuff, but if it works with your speakers, then :thumbsup:

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Well, my Logitech Z-5500s aren't a "reciever", but the 5.1 analog outs work just peachy with my X-Fi, and the sub control (in the X-Fi CP) actually does something.
<-- Voted "Jello, I like you"

 

[Tu13erhead]

I've got my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum hooked up a couple ways to my receiver.

1- Direct optical audio connection
2- Three 3.5mm to RCA cables from the rear of the Audigy to my receiver's "Multi Channel" input

I had to fiddle a bit to get things working right in 5.1 mode. First, to get the sub working, I had to open up Creative Speaker Settings, then under Bass Management, turn the Sub Volume to High, and enable Bass Redirection. I put it to the highest setting.

This is with my Polk T90EB and Polk R15 speakers and Onkyo TX-SR603X receiver.

Also, I had tried to get 7.1 surround working, but I realized I'd need a special cable to do so. I saw one on Creative's website, I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Tu13erhead]

Also - is there any way to get Optical or Digial outputs to actually output anything other than Stereo signal?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: Tu13erhead
Also - is there any way to get Optical or Digial outputs to actually output anything other than Stereo signal?

Not with an Audigy no, you'd need XDA's Mystique card or nVIDIA SoundStorm (they encode output to Dolby Digital over S/PDIF, "Dolby Digital LIVE!")