Woo! Z560s + 4-channel sound card = teh g00dness!

I bought the free-after-rebate four channel soundcard at OfficeMax today and hooked up my previously unused Z560s (I got a new set after sending the old ones in for warranty but hadn't hooked them up yet).

I hooked the two of them up (first 'upgrade' on my system!) and the sound is amazing! Even though this is a low-end sound card, it still sounds great.

I have missed my Z560s; oh how I have missed them.

 

[MichaelD]

That's excellent. I miss my PM 4.1s; they've been in storage for months now. They'll be back out in a couple of weeks, though!!! I can't wait. I've got a cheapie Labtec 2.1 system now; they aren't that bad, but they ain't PMs!

 

[iamme]

do the rear two speakers make a big difference when listening to music? i have it setup as a 2.1 because i don't feel like running more speaker wire and find a place to mount the rears. am i missing out?

 

Originally posted by: iamme
do the rear two speakers make a big difference when listening to music? i have it setup as a 2.1 because i don't feel like running more speaker wire and find a place to mount the rears. am i missing out?

Well, I don't have a U-shaped desk, so my rear speakers are actually on my desk in front of me. But I'm just remarking how amazing it is to hear things in my music that my previous two-speaker Altec Lansings don't even pick up!

 

[MichaelD]

I had my rear speakers mounted on the ceiling, behind me. I bent the stands to angle them down towards my seating position and just drilled holes thru the feet of the speakers. Worked great.

When listening to music, the rears don't do anything except increase the volume level. More cone area = more decibels. My 4.1s are LOUD.

 

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I had my rear speakers mounted on the ceiling, behind me. I bent the stands to angle them down towards my seating position and just drilled holes thru the feet of the speakers. Worked great.

When listening to music, the rears don't do anything except increase the volume level. More cone area = more decibels. My 4.1s are LOUD.

The Z560s have reversible metal stands (they even include an allen wrench in the box) so that you can unscrew the stands and reverse them for wall mounting!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I had my rear speakers mounted on the ceiling, behind me. I bent the stands to angle them down towards my seating position and just drilled holes thru the feet of the speakers. Worked great.

When listening to music, the rears don't do anything except increase the volume level. More cone area = more decibels. My 4.1s are LOUD.

The Z560s have reversible metal stands (they even include an allen wrench in the box) so that you can unscrew the stands and reverse them for wall mounting!

Yeah, you guys w/the new stuff have it EASY; I had to drill holes and crap!

 

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: jumpr

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I had my rear speakers mounted on the ceiling, behind me. I bent the stands to angle them down towards my seating position and just drilled holes thru the feet of the speakers. Worked great.

When listening to music, the rears don't do anything except increase the volume level. More cone area = more decibels. My 4.1s are LOUD.

The Z560s have reversible metal stands (they even include an allen wrench in the box) so that you can unscrew the stands and reverse them for wall mounting!

Yeah, you guys w/the new stuff have it EASY; I had to drill holes and crap!

Easy, huh? I sure did NOT enjoy bringing a 48 lb. box in from the garage. Damn 30 lb. 180-watt subwoofer!

 

[dman]

You z560 owners... is the rear channel balanced with the front on yours? My front channel is about 75% louder than the rear.

The fader on the z540's does not balance front to rear it just cuts the volume to the rear from max to min.

It's possible my sound card is not outputting as much to the rears as it does to the front, but, before I start swapping stuff I thought I'd ask.

I'm able to balance it right by using the windows media mixer to cut the front channel output to about 25% of max and leaving rear all the way up. Then I have the fader control set to max on the Z540. And that seems pretty balanced.

[edit] Fixed - I have 540's not 560's. [/edit]

 

Originally posted by: dman
You z560 owners... is the rear channel balanced with the front on yours? My front channel is about 75% louder than the rear.

The fader on the z560's does not balance front to rear it just cuts the volume to the rear from max to min.

It's possible my sound card is not outputting as much to the rears as it does to the front, but, before I start swapping stuff I thought I'd ask.

I'm able to balance it right by using the windows media mixer to cut the front channel output to about 25% of max and leaving rear all the way up. Then I have the fader control set to max on the Z560. And that seems pretty balanced.

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: jumpr

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

True. I picked up the Z540's at target for $22.xx about a week ago. For that price they are excellent. Better than what I have and I'll keep 'em until I find a better deal (eventually).

Well, I do have some complaints:

1) That blue light is annoying as hell. (Fixed by putting a piece of tape over it)
2) Doesnt' have a headphone jack (which is not a big deal but I miss it from my old setup).
3) the fader thing above
4) I probably should have waited and got a 5.1 setup but I couldn't pass this deal up.

[edit] fixed, I have the 540's not 560's [/edit]

 

[Howard]

Z560s for $22??!?!?

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: dman
You z560 owners... is the rear channel balanced with the front on yours? My front channel is about 75% louder than the rear.

The fader on the z560's does not balance front to rear it just cuts the volume to the rear from max to min.

It's possible my sound card is not outputting as much to the rears as it does to the front, but, before I start swapping stuff I thought I'd ask.

I'm able to balance it right by using the windows media mixer to cut the front channel output to about 25% of max and leaving rear all the way up. Then I have the fader control set to max on the Z560. And that seems pretty balanced.

i have no problems with the fade when the rear speakers are at the same height as the fronts, but if i put them on the floor i have to give a little extra fade to the rears with my audigy...

if you dont have that option with your sound card, you could always wire the front speakers to the rear jacks on sub (and vice versa) then plug the rear input into the front output on the sound card and front input into the rear output. then the fade control would give more bias to the rear speakers and the channels would still be in the right place

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: jumpr

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

True. I picked up the Z560's at target for $22.xx about a week ago. For that price they are excellent. Better than what I have and I'll keep 'em until I find a better deal (eventually).

Well, I do have some complaints:

1) That blue light is annoying as hell. (Fixed by putting a piece of tape over it)
2) Doesnt' have a headphone jack (which is not a big deal but I miss it from my old setup).
3) the fader thing above
4) I probably should have waited and got a 5.1 setup but I couldn't pass this deal up.

you didnt get the z560s... the z560s definitely have a headphone jack on them, unless they came out with a new version without it

 

[Jugernot]

I bought the Z560s a few months ago and thought they sucked... no mid tones. Just my opinion of course.

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: jumpr

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

True. I picked up the Z560's at target for $22.xx about a week ago. For that price they are excellent. Better than what I have and I'll keep 'em until I find a better deal (eventually).

Well, I do have some complaints:

1) That blue light is annoying as hell. (Fixed by putting a piece of tape over it)
2) Doesnt' have a headphone jack (which is not a big deal but I miss it from my old setup).
3) the fader thing above
4) I probably should have waited and got a 5.1 setup but I couldn't pass this deal up.

you didnt get the z560s... the z560s definitely have a headphone jack on them, unless they came out with a new version without it

...and Z560s are definitely not around for less than 30 bucks. Z540s, my friend

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: jumpr

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

True. I picked up the Z560's at target for $22.xx about a week ago. For that price they are excellent. Better than what I have and I'll keep 'em until I find a better deal (eventually).

Well, I do have some complaints:

1) That blue light is annoying as hell. (Fixed by putting a piece of tape over it)
2) Doesnt' have a headphone jack (which is not a big deal but I miss it from my old setup).
3) the fader thing above
4) I probably should have waited and got a 5.1 setup but I couldn't pass this deal up.

you didnt get the z560s... the z560s definitely have a headphone jack on them, unless they came out with a new version without it

My bad. You are right, I did NOT get the 560's. I got the z540's. Didn't know there was two (or more) 5 series models. Damn though, the z560's must sound a lot better to justify $150+ more... I'm happy with the 540's for $22.

funny about the swapping front/rear stuff. I may check it out, but, the Nforce2 board I have w/ Realtek audio did not seem to have an option to swap the jacks that way. I could swap the front and rear speakers but it would make volume adjustments a beyotch not to mention I'd have to mess around with more cable extenders.

 

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: jumpr

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

True. I picked up the Z560's at target for $22.xx about a week ago. For that price they are excellent. Better than what I have and I'll keep 'em until I find a better deal (eventually).

Well, I do have some complaints:

1) That blue light is annoying as hell. (Fixed by putting a piece of tape over it)
2) Doesnt' have a headphone jack (which is not a big deal but I miss it from my old setup).
3) the fader thing above
4) I probably should have waited and got a 5.1 setup but I couldn't pass this deal up.

you didnt get the z560s... the z560s definitely have a headphone jack on them, unless they came out with a new version without it

Yup, I was just gonna say that - the headphone jack is right below the volume knob - clear as day.

 

[Oscar1613]

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: dman

Originally posted by: jumpr

Hmm, I think I'm having the same problem as you - but that's probably because this isn't a TRUE home theater type system - it's just a $100 computer system. I can live with it; the speakers still sound excellent.

True. I picked up the Z560's at target for $22.xx about a week ago. For that price they are excellent. Better than what I have and I'll keep 'em until I find a better deal (eventually).

Well, I do have some complaints:

1) That blue light is annoying as hell. (Fixed by putting a piece of tape over it)
2) Doesnt' have a headphone jack (which is not a big deal but I miss it from my old setup).
3) the fader thing above
4) I probably should have waited and got a 5.1 setup but I couldn't pass this deal up.

you didnt get the z560s... the z560s definitely have a headphone jack on them, unless they came out with a new version without it

My bad. You are right, I did NOT get the 560's. I got the z540's. Didn't know there was two (or more) 5 series models. Damn though, the z560's must sound a lot better to justify $150+ more... I'm happy with the 540's for $22.

funny about the swapping front/rear stuff. I may check it out, but, the Nforce2 board I have w/ Realtek audio did not seem to have an option to swap the jacks that way. I could swap the front and rear speakers but it would make volume adjustments a beyotch not to mention I'd have to mess around with more cable extenders.

no no... i'm assuming its the same on the 540s as it is on the 560s, but if you switch the wires of rear speakers to be plugged into the front jacks on the back of the sub (and vice versa), then you could take the rear input (the black plug) and plug it into the front output on the sound card and the front input (green plug) and plug that into the rear output on the soundcard. so you'll have the cables hooked up backwards twice, cancelling the backwardness out, and the fade would favor the back instead of the front.

 

[manly]

I've had the Z560s paired up w/ an SB Live card for a while now, and have never been particularly impressed. Don't get me wrong, the speakers are powerful but the SB Live is a relatively dirty source.

I may switch to a TB Santa Cruz for my upcoming system, but that DSP only has basic 2-channel support under Linux. :disgust:

 

[RichieZ]

honestly I was not too impressed with the Z560's paired them with first a SB Live and then a TBSC. The bass was too boomy and there where no mids. They do get loud tho, I recently sold them and they have not been replaced yet

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Using rears for 2 channel music = yuck.

It's 2 channel music d00ds.

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: Oscar1613

Originally posted by: dman
no no... i'm assuming its the same on the 540s as it is on the 560s, but if you switch the wires of rear speakers to be plugged into the front jacks on the back of the sub (and vice versa), then you could take the rear input (the black plug) and plug it into the front output on the sound card and the front input (green plug) and plug that into the rear output on the soundcard. so you'll have the cables hooked up backwards twice, cancelling the backwardness out, and the fade would favor the back instead of the front.

I think that's one big difference, on the z560's (from the pic I saw) there's a separate 'hub' thing that has volume controls, etc. On the z540's the volume control and fader, etc, is built into the front right speaker. That FR speaker has a PS2 style connector that plugs into the SUB and the 8mm style plugs for Front / Rear input from the PC. Anyway, it's all moot. Sounds like it is a weakness of design (front / rear balance) and I'll just use the workaround I'm already using.

 

[Deeko]

Your thread has been discounted of any value based on the idiocity of the title.

 

Originally posted by: Deeko
Your thread has been discounted of any value based on the idiocity of the title.

I pride myself on the creativeness of my post naming.

t3h titl3 r0x0rs yuo!