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True 7.1 audio cable setup for audigy 2ZS?

B

biomanz

Member
I just got the ZS and the Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 speaker set, and it comes with a 4 to 3 cable connector - 3 cables to the sound card and 4 to the sub. I read that I'm missing a connection to the sound card for a true 7.1 audio setup, but not sure if my card accepts 4 connections. People said they could just buy an extra audio cable for non-creative sound cards with the extra port for that 4th cable, but how bout for the ZA?
 
Normally, Creative speakers and soundcards work well together. It is usually when you try to connect other speakers / receivers that the fun starts. Search Creative's KB for the pinout assignments for the A2ZS. It will show that line out 2 and 3 actually output 3 different analog signals via 4-pole mini plugs (damn hard to find). Line out 1 outputs front L/R via normal stereo mini plug, line out 2 outputs rear L/R via normal stereo mini plug and right side speaker if 4 pole mini plug is used and line out 3 outputs center / sub via stereo mini plug and left side speaker, if 4 pole mini plug is used.

I have been trying to connect my receiver (5.1) to my A2ZS and it seems the best way to do this is using 3 sets of stereo mini plugs to 2 RCA "Y" cable adapters and use the A2ZS to do the work. If you do have a high end receiver, which has a superior decoder, then you can use a similar cable, select SPDIF on Power DVD or whatever software, turn off the A2ZS decoder and set the speaker settings to 2/2.1. This passes on the digital signal to the receiver which then does the audio decoding to 5.1. But for games, you only get stereo.

Correct me Soundman / others if I am wrong above somewhere.

 
I don't use a receiver for my audio system, just with speakers. I'm not much of a tech savvy, but I'm still not sure if this "true 7.1 configuration" that the Audigy 2ZS is missing is true, and if it is, is there a way to configure the wiring and such for this particular sound card. I couldn't find related info in the knowledge base and all.
 
It is pretty easy to find out. Start the speaker settings applet from Programs>Creative. Your setting should be 7.1. On the right will be a small diagram of the speakers. Click on channel to test each speaker's sound and if it is working or not. You can also calibrate the speaker system, channels, etc. from here.

From the surround mixer, you can adjust each channel's volume, control the sub, etc.

From the EAX console you can set the audio effects, equaliser, etc. On this there is a CMSS tab. This controls whether you want music/audio from which speakers. Since music is usually only stereo, you will not hear anything from the rear speakers if this setting is not changed. Also not all DVD's output 7.1 so in this case also you may be restricted to 5.1 only.
 
Can you take a picture of the three connections that go into the soundcard?

If two of them look like this this or similar ( vs this ) then you should have the right connections to work with the A2zs.

The difference as sandeep 108 noted is that the first cables can get more than just two signals each out of the A2 cards. If the connections have more than two black plastic rings in the plug, you should have the hardware connections you need to get 7.1
 
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