Just bought a 5.1 speaker setup. Help solve some issues please.

[McGraw]

It's all rigged up and working out loud.

However, I have a problem.

What do I do with my headphones?

I seem to have to get under my desk and swap my main speaker line for my headphones.

My sub and sound don't have a headphone socket as far as I can see.

Could I run a female 3.5 mm female extension lead and use it with some kind of switch or is there something really obvious I'm missing?

Also, is there any way of connecting my DVD player to this set up or do I have to watch it through my PC's DVD drive?

Cheers.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by McGraw

It's all rigged up and working out loud.

However, I have a problem.

What do I do with my headphones?

I seem to have to get under my desk and swap my main speaker line for my headphones.

My sub and sound don't have a headphone socket as far as I can see.

Could I run a female 3.5 mm female extension lead and use it with some kind of switch or is there something really obvious I'm missing?

Also, is there any way of connecting my DVD player to this set up or do I have to watch it through my PC's DVD drive?

Cheers.

Would really need to know exactly what make/model of speakers you bought.

I had the same problem, I bought a 3.5mm splitter cable male to 2 female, the male plugs in the 5.1 speakers amp 'line in' & one female to a 3.5mm male to male coming from 'spkr out' on the sound card. This handles 'normal sound' like cd's, the telly and software DVD players.

- the headphones plug into the other female when needed.

- drawbacks are that plugging in the headphones doesn't mute the sound & leaving them plugged in attenuates the sound to the main speakers.

As for external dvd player, I don't have a 5.1 soundcard, so I use an spdif coax lead from an external player to the 5.1 speakers amp. But this only works if either the player or the speakers amp has a dolby decoder - mine is in the amp.

[McGraw]

It's the Creative Cambridge Soundworks.

Got them for £20 off a mate.

Will have to rig up some sort of amp inbetween I think.

Originally Posted by McGraw

It's the Creative Cambridge Soundworks.

Got them for £20 off a mate.

Will have to rig up some sort of amp inbetween I think.

you should have a white box with a power button & volume controls that the speakers plug into - that is the amp, just get a split 3.5mm cable to plug in the socket where the sound card plugs in, now.

It is the same as have, quite old now, but it does have the dolby decoder built in & does a reasonable job for the size of the speakers

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by homealone

you should have a white box with a power button & volume controls that the speakers plug into - that is the amp, just get a split 3.5mm cable to plug in the socket where the sound card plugs in, now.

It is the same as have, quite old now, but it does have the dolby decoder built in & does a reasonable job for the size of the speakers

There are a few different versions of CSW speakers (none of which I know of that are white or have any white peripherals), the older 5.1's (DTT2200) has 3 analog inputs, front, rear, centre/sub in the rear of the subwoofer so you've very little chance of getting 5.1 from a standalone DVD player as normally you'd only have digital out (which the DTT2200 doesn't support) or left and right analog out.

McGraw, do they look like this?

http://itwarehouse.co.za/catalog/har...ia/dtt2200.jpg

Originally Posted by Bifta

There are a few different versions of CSW speakers (none of which I know of that are white or have any white peripherals), the older 5.1's (DTT2200) has 3 analog inputs, front, rear, centre/sub in the rear of the subwoofer so you've very little chance of getting 5.1 from a standalone DVD player as normally you'd only have digital out (which the DTT2200 doesn't support) or left and right analog out.

McGraw, do they look like this?

http://itwarehouse.co.za/catalog/har...ia/dtt2200.jpg

my proxy doesn't like that link <edit> got it - my set is nothing like that

my set is def white - Cambridge SoundWorks Desktop Theater (sic) 5.1 "Creative multi speaker surround" - but like you say, there have been various sets with similar description.

mine has seperate coax outputs for each speaker,from the amp, sub included (passive sub) - the inputs are front & rear stereo/fourpoint & a coax spdif.

it would be crap in a decent sized room, but in my little den I have jumped a few times at something happening suddenly 'behind' me

[McGraw]

Bifta, that is them.

Originally Posted by McGraw

Bifta, that is them.

http://www.hardware-one.com/print_re...sp?reviews=114

this is mine - looks like Bifta is your man

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by McGraw

Bifta, that is them.

Yeah, analogue only I'm afraid, so you could at best get stereo on it using your DVD analogue outs with RCA -> mono minijack cables.

[McGraw]

Cheers, will look into an upgrade later.

Considering I've using stereo since way back when this is still good stuff for me.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by McGraw

Cheers, will look into an upgrade later.

Considering I've using stereo since way back when this is still good stuff for me.

They're still a cracking set of speakers, I had some for years and still think they sounded better than the 250 quid set I've got today.

[McGraw]

Agreed, very good speakers.
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