Just bought my 1st 5.1ch receiver. Few Q's...

[BigToque]

I just bought a Pioneer VSX-D510 receiver. I'd like to connect it to my SB Live to watch movies in 5.1

In order to do this, do I need to use the Digital Out on the SB-Live?

I have 5 plugs (Front Out, Rear Out, Mic, (something I'm not sure of), Digital Out)

I assume that when you send the signal out the Digital Out, it sends the whole signal unmodified to the Receiver to decode the 5.1 signal and then output to my speakers?

 

[Accord99]

Buy a 1/8" minijack to mono or stereo RCA cable and connect the Digital Out to the Digital Coaxial input on the receiver. You can pass through pre-encoded Dolby Digital and DTS material as long as you don't decode them on your computer.

 

[BigToque]

I'm getting frustrated here...

1st I should ask if this will work, cause that might give me some direction.

I'm using a 1/8" adapter that I (normally) use to connect to the front line out, that would (normally) connect to the stereo RCA jacks on my old amp.

What I'm doing on my new receiver is taking this same adapter, connecting it to the digital out on the SB-Live, then connecting that RCA end (1 of the 2 ends) to the digital coaxial input on the receiver.

Should this work, or do I need to go buy a specific cable for this? (1/8" to mono RCA)

 

[Accord99]

That's the right cable. The digital signal will only come out of one of the RCA jacks. If you want to pass DD/DTS material, you need to make sure that your DVD program is not decoding it and is using the SPDIF setting, and also that the Creative drivers are not set to decode DD in the Creative control panel. Otherwise, you'll only get 2 channel stereo from the digital connection.,

 

[BigToque]

well, i've got it working... kinda.

My DVD movies are comming out in 5ch. so that's great.

How do I go about getting just regular 2ch sound comming from the SB-live to play? I figure that I can just run another 1/8" from the Front out on the SB-Live to one of the Stereo Line-In's on the receiver, but I won't be able to llisten to the music on all 5 speakers if I do this... Only front speakers + sub

Is there anyway around this?

 

[Accord99]

2 channel stereo should just come through on the same cable, you shouldn't need to make any changes, though in order to get music to play on all 5 speakers, you would need to apply an effect on the receiver, such Dolby Prologic 2 or something like Party mode. You should check your manual to see what effects it has built-in.

What you cannot pass through the digital connection is any multi-channel audio that is not pre-encoded DD/DTS, such as surround game audio. These would require you to use 3 of the same minijack->RCA cables connected the Live's line outs to the receiver's 5.1 analog inputs. However, I believe on the Live 5.1 the digital output also does duty as center/subwoofer output, so its not possible to use both the digital and analog 5.1 at the same time.

 

[BigToque]

2 channel stereo should just come through on the same cable, you shouldn't need to make any changes

You're right... When I shut my DVD off, I noticed the MP3 playing in the background

 

[BigToque]

I'm a n00b at 5.1

 

[BigToque]

thanks for the help Accord...

 

[Accord99]

No problem, glad it all works. And have fun in the world of home theater!

 

[UncleWai]

If you can upgrade your sound, you really need to consider this card
Chaintech AV-710 $27 shipped.

The sound quality coming from this card is disturbingly good compare to my newly acquired CIaudio VDA-1 DAC.
I have decided to downgrade and use this card's high quaity stereo out and save a few bucks.
It also has optical out for you to connect to your receiver.

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: Stefan
I'm getting frustrated here...

1st I should ask if this will work, cause that might give me some direction.

I'm using a 1/8" adapter that I (normally) use to connect to the front line out, that would (normally) connect to the stereo RCA jacks on my old amp.

What I'm doing on my new receiver is taking this same adapter, connecting it to the digital out on the SB-Live, then connecting that RCA end (1 of the 2 ends) to the digital coaxial input on the receiver.

Should this work, or do I need to go buy a specific cable for this? (1/8" to mono RCA)

A coaxial cable should be used. These are sold as "video", "digital audio", or "cable TV" (with F connectors). The analog audio cables are generally braided wire and not suitable. They may work, but not ideally. So, use and a mono 1/8" plug to RCA jack adapter and a bog standard video cable.