Trying to connect the Logitech Z-500 SubWoofer to my Sony STR-DH820 Receiver

[Herkulese]

I have the Logiteh Z-5500 5.1 speaker system, and am attempting to use it with my SONY STR-DH820 receiver. At present, I am using the Center, Rear Right and Rear Left, with a pair of small floor speakers for the Front Right and Front Left speakers.

The Sub is connected as follows per directions from several different resourcesa, but with no success.

Several different resources have geven the direction to use a Dual RCA (male) to single Stereo Mini Jack (male) Connector, and to connect the two RCA's to the two Sub Out terminals on the back of the AVR, whle connecting the stereo mini hacj connector to the Center/Sub terminal on the Logitech Control Pod.

I have done this, and I have the pod connected to the sub via the VGA like connector, and have the power on the sub turned on. but can not get any subwoofer action at all from this configuration.

BTW, I have my Sony Receiver set to 3/2.1 sarround, as ther is no 5.1 setting, and all 5 main speakers work perfectly, giving the surround effect, but no sub woofer.

I hve the Logitech Control Pod set to Direct in, and have the volumes set to the center settings, and have set the small black switch on the back of the Pod to both positions. I have also tried it with only one leg of the RCA splitter connected to each of the sub outs of the AVR.

Any suggestions?
__________

P.S. - I have been able to get the sub to work by connecting an optical digital cable between my ROKU Box and the Logitech Pod, and with all the other speakers attached to there respective locations on the AVR.

I could do the same thing with my Cable Box, but it would require a second cable, as my cabinet does not allow for easy access to the back of the components, then I would have to swap the cables at the Logitech pod, which is outboard of the cabinet. I can't do this with my DVD player, because it has no HDMI out, and in order to get surround sound I have to connect the Optical out to the receiver Optical In connectin. I could use it for the sub, but than I would have to use the sterio connections for the speakers, as the DVD player has ho HDMI out on it like the ROKU and Cable Box

Suffice it to say that I would like to get it working off the Sub Outs on the AVR as that would work for all my input sources via one cable, and would be processed from the same system as the rest of the speakers.

 

[Number1]

Stereo mini male to dual RCA female adapter.
Hook up one of your receiver sub output with an RCA cable male to male to the RCA adapter. Try one side on the adapter then the other and it should work.
Make sure your receiver is configured properly, ie sub enabled and proper audio mode.

 

[Herkulese]

Stereo mini male to dual RCA female adapter.
Hook up one of your receiver sub output with an RCA cable male to male to the RCA adapter. Try one side on the adapter then the other and it should work.
Make sure your receiver is configured properly, ie sub enabled and proper audio mode.

Thanks Number 1,

I am a bit thick at times, so I have to ask:

How is the above different than a double mail RCA to female single mini jack adapter with a male to male mini jack extension cable, and with one end of the RCA side of the adapter plugged into one of AVR sub outs?
What I believe I need to do is to try each side of the RCA portion in each of the AVR sub outs. So far I have only tried one of the legs in each of the AVR sub outs.

I am probaly missing something very simple here, and if so, feel free to enlighten me, as I am too close to the trees to see the forrest at this point.

 

[NutBucket]

Yes, try the other leg. That single mini-jack input is used both for the center channel and the sub. So if you haven't tried the other leg then it probably is true that you have the wrong side plugged in.

 

[Herkulese]

Yes, try the other leg. That single mini-jack input is used both for the center channel and the sub. So if you haven't tried the other leg then it probably is true that you have the wrong side plugged in.

Makes sence to me, I can give that a quick try as soon as I get home from work tonight.
Fingers Crossed.............

 

[Herkulese]

Still no go with the AVR Sub Out's.
I only had a few minutes for this last night, but I tried each leg of the splitter in each of the two AVR Sub Out's, and still no subwoofer action.

I double checked, and I do have the AVR set to 3/2.1 surround, but now that I think about it, I forgot to set the Logitech Pod from Optical In back to Direct In. As I said, I only had a few minutes, and didn't take enough time to think through what I was doing.

I will try again tonight with the Pod set at Direct in.

 

[Herkulese]

OK, I trid again last night.

The AVR was set for 3/2.1
The Logitech Pod was set for Direct Input
- Not COAX
- Nor Optical

I have a Dual RCA to Singal Mail Sterio Mini Jack adapter.
The Mini Jack was plugged into the Center/Sub input on the back of the Pod

I tried each leg of the RCA splitter in each of the two Sub out terminals of the AVR, and nothing.

Again, from everything I have read, this shuld be working

Reminder: Sub works with Optical cable from ROKU box, but I don't have Optical out on my AVR.

 

[Herkulese]

Now this is just toooooooo strange.

I hooked up the Z-5500 sub this morning just as I did the first time:
- 2 male RCA from AVR Sub Out's to 1 male Mini Jack into Logitech Pod Center/Sub input.

Double checked AVR and Logitech Pod settings:
- AVR Surround = 3/2.1
- AVR Speakers = Small
- AVR Effect (I think) = Nano6 (or somthing lik that) Suggested setting for doing this by a poster somewhere
- Pod Input = Direct
- Pod Terminal - Center/Sub

I fired up Netflix, and tuned to "Transformers Dark Of the Moon", and VIOLA there was the Sub, just like it should be.
I honestly do not believe that I did anything different, but there it was, just as big as you please.

I will do some more testing over the weekend, to make sure it is still working, and which settings it will work with.

Go figure...........

 

[Herkulese]

Must have been a connection, or an ambiguous setting in my AVR that I didn't remember.

I did try using a small solid adapter (Duel Female RCA to 1 Male Stereo Mini Jack) to get from the Duel RCA cable to the POD with less connections, and that did not work. The mini jack on this adapter simply would not stay all the way snapped in, and either way, would not work.
I went back to the Duel RCA cable, to Cable Y splitter, to Male to Male Mini Jack cable, as that is what I had around at the time, and that continued to work, as before.

I have ordered a 5ft Duel Male RCA to Single Male Mini Jack cable from Amazon to make it one integral cable between the AVR and the POD, with no intermediate connections.

Bottom Line: I now have a 5.1 surround system without having to buy any new speakers, or a subwoofer.

Center - 2 of the Z-5500 speakers wired together
Front R&L - Pair of medium sized RCA Bookshelf Speakers
Rear R&L - 2 of the Z-5500 speakers (Wired down behind cabined, thru basement, back up behind sofa)
Subwoofer - Z-5500 thru Logitech Pod from duel sub out's on AVR

Awesome? No
Good? Yes
I like it.

Thanks again for all comments and suggestions,
Roger

 

[kornphlake]

I wouldn't wire 2 of the speakers together for a center channel, there are a number of reasons that would take quite a bit to explain. It's just not a good idea, at worst it could damage your receiver, at best it's making your system sound worse than it should.

 

[Herkulese]

I wouldn't wire 2 of the speakers together for a center channel, there are a number of reasons that would take quite a bit to explain. It's just not a good idea, at worst it could damage your receiver, at best it's making your system sound worse than it should.

Thanks for the heads up.

It just didn't seem to me that it should be a problem, but after a short bit of research, I understand the dangers involved in damaging my AVR because of the halved impedence when wired in parallel, which is what I have right now. I need to see what the speaker impedence and AVR impedence numbers are.

The option is to hook them up in series, but I am not sure if that will result in poor sound quality or not.

The reasons for doing this were, partialy, to get more center sound, but mostly to be able to lower the center closer to ear level, which prevents the speaker from being centered. I will try them in series and see how it sounds.

 

[Herkulese]

Duel Center speakers now wired in series, and sound fine.
More pronounced than one speaker, and seem to be in phase as they are only about 24" apart.

Again, the reason for the two Center speakers is that I am using two of the 4 Logitech Z-5500 surround speakers, which are a bit small, as I don't have room in my setup for a larger bookshelf speaker.
I am using the other two surround speakers for the Rear L&R, with a pair of mdeium RCA book shelf speakers for Front L&R.
I am also using the z-5500 Sub, which seems to be working fine now, from the duel RCA sup outs, as well.

 

[Herkulese]

UPDATE

I broke down and switched out the RCA bookshelf speakers (Front R&L) for the two Z-5500 speakers that I was using for the center channel, and those speakers with the actual center (horizontal) speaker.

I was wowed by the much more balanced sound.
Those bookshelf speakers in the Front R&L positions were simply overpowering the remaining Z-5500s.

Now, the center channel is working fine with just the one speaker, and the surround is again, very immersive, using the Neo6Cynima surround setting.
Playing music with the MultiStereo surround setting is very nice as well.

I had used the Z-5500 system for several years, but that was over two years ago, and I had quite frankly forgotten how good that system sounded.
I also just didn't know if it would work with an AVR rather than a PC, so I didn't go there.

When I finally decided to get into it I found that it works just fine with all the 5 surround speakers connected directly to the AVR, and with the sub attached to the AVR, via the Logitech Pod.
The really great thing about the sub is that I can controle it separately, using the Pod Remote, so if the base is too much I can decrease it, or if not enough I can increase it, with the push of a button, right from the sofa.

On top of everything else, these little speakers are small enough to spread around the room almost invisibly.

Thanks for all the guidance here,
This is a great community.
Roger

 

[3dinciter]

Awesome, glad you got this to work and are happy with the results. It's actually not easy to find people with success stories on this for some reason. I have the Logitech Z906 speakers and I really like their sound and don't really feel the need to get new home theater speakers since these are loud enough for me and I'm trying to save $ etc.

I have the Sony STRDH540 receiver. I noticed this thing has 2 subwoofer outs. If I understand what you wrote correctly, you have both male rca's plugged into your two subwoofer outs on your receiver with the other minijack end plugged into the subwoofer in on your subwoofer? I've only tried plugging in one rca into one sub out and with that, the subwoofer is so weak that I have to crank the volume to the max on the control pod to start hearing the sub. I wonder if i plug in both rca's into the sub outs, would that cause stress and damage to the receiver over the long run? Or is that how I was supposed to do it all along?

I hope I can get this to work as I would like to be able to get some DTS-HD MA out of these speakers!

 

[anelka]

Hi Herkulese,

Would you please give me a link of your adapter kabel, would like to buy it too, for connecting my Z5500 Sub to pioneer 923s receiver.
Do you have the same connection like my receiver and z5500 sound system ?

This is the back side of my receiver.
http://image-upload.de/image/QpHRIY/815b2646ef.jpg

this is the back side of my z5500 (i saw two different kind of connection)
http://image-upload.de/image/hkEOED/f2e662b230.jpg

This my Z5500 pad
http://image-upload.de/image/82AOLS/4940cf939e.jpg

Are you still happy with result ? Thanks mate.

 

[SithSolo1]

You may want to fire off a private messege. A thread this old wont get much attention from the OP.

 

[anelka]

Thanks @sithsolo1.
But i cant send PM, i m new user, i should post 24 more messeges, before i can send a pm