Logitech z560 - Suggested Connections

[SirDrak0]

<< Why bother hooking these things up to your surround receiver when you can just get a cheapass KLH surround speaker set including sub for $100? >>



cuz these speakers will probably blow the KLH away! These are quite nice speakers IMO!

-SirDrak0

 

[NauTiKa128]

You guys know where I can find some cheap speaker wires?? I need longer ones for my rear speakers. thanx!

btw... this thing rocks!! I'd get it even if it's $200..

 

[RyogaHibiki]

<< To compensate for a lack of a center channel, you can use your TV's internal speakers as a center channel. >>



I've got my speakers hooked up to my Kenwood receiver (model #KRV8040-it's about 7 yrs old). I've got it set to the pro logic mode and I've set the center channel to "phantom". This setting compensates for the fact that I have no center channel and it sounds a hell of a lot better than cranking up my tv's speakers. Without this setting on, the system doesn't "sound right". Read your receiver's manual and see if it has a feature like this.

I've got my system working extremely well now, the speakers sound incredible with no distortion and the bass is thumping (My neighbors now officially hate me). If you've got a mediocre receiver, you can definitely make your speakers with your home theater.

-Good Luck with your systems,
-Ryoga Hibiki

 

[linhpham2]

<< I've got my speakers hooked up to my Kenwood receiver (model #KRV8040-it's about 7 yrs old). >>



What computer computers are you connecting your receiver?

How are you connecting the speakers to the receiver? Via pre-outs? Via the headphone jack?

Can you get 5.1 sound through the computer speakers?

 

[linhpham2]

<< You guys know where I can find some cheap speaker wires?? I need longer ones for my rear speakers. thanx!

btw... this thing rocks!! I'd get it even if it's $200.. >>



I buy all my speaker wire from Radio Shack -- 18 gauge -- it works out pretty well.

 

[pennywise]

I connected the headphone jack of my 7 year old sony system to them M3D unit and from there into the sub and I have connected the speakers from the sub. It seems to work pretty well. I was wondering can i just use the 2 speakers and the sub in my music system and use the other 2 speakers in my computer. I am not much of a audiophile like u guys and have no place to mount the rear speakers in the back so iwas thinking using those in my computer

 

[linhpham2]

<< I connected the headphone jack of my 7 year old sony system to them M3D unit and from there into the sub and I have connected the speakers from the sub. It seems to work pretty well. I was wondering can i just use the 2 speakers and the sub in my music system and use the other 2 speakers in my computer. I am not much of a audiophile like u guys and have no place to mount the rear speakers in the back so iwas thinking using those in my computer >>



So basically: headphone jack on receiver ---> z560 subwoofer --> z560 control pod to sub, subwoofer to z560 sats ?? And use the virtual center channel from the z560?

I don't think the z560 sats will work without the subwoofer.

 

[Ruined]

Truthfully, to everyone hooking up thier speakers to their AV system, i highly reccomend running it through your computer, if it doesn't have seperate pre outs. Look on the back of your reciever for a "tape out" connection (also can be labeled "record" "tape record" ...ect) use a standard 2 rca male to stereo 1/8" then just hook up the 1/8th" connector to your computer soundcard (Line in or mic in...but if you use mic in be sure to disable the 20db boost). Also, after you have done this be sure that the input you used on your computer is enabled (if you do not see it listed in windows sound mixer go to "options" then "properties" then put a check next to the correct input, or look in the control panel for "sounds and multimedia" then the "audio" tab then click the "volume" and repeat the previously mentioned process.). After this, you will want to set the input level...probably to around 2/3rd but this can vary greatly depending on the output of your reciever the only main disadvantage of this is your computer will need to be on for it to work. After you have set it up go to the control panel and set It should however provide you the best audio quality with the least amount of wire hacking. If anyone wants to use this method and has any more questions please PM me about it and i will post it back in here (as i will probably not be rechecking this thread often).

Hope this helps.

-Ruined

(BTW, line level converters are about $20 for a stereo signal and you will need 2 of them, and radio shack has decent speaker cable fairly cheap....look for a good quality 14 guage cable which you can buy on a spool.)

 

[ries]

My story: I recently bought an XBox. I already have a work-in-progress media room, which included a hand-me-down Infinity studio speaker doing the center channel task and no sub-woofer. Rear and front surrounds are decent in-wall (actually in-ceiling) units.

As I didn't really need the speakers for any of the PC's that I have (and seriously lacking some desk space to put them), I decided to try out one of the full-range satellites as a replacement center channel and the 188-watt subwoofer as the new subwoofer.

Since the satellites have a binding post, I just hooked up the existing center channel wire (from my A/V receiver) to one satellite.

On my A/V receiver, I have a mono, line-level out RCA jack for the LFE (X.1 subwoofer output). At Radio Shack I picked up a mono-2-stereo RCA adapter and plugged the Front Left/Right RCA jack from the control pod into this (and this into the receiver). I plugged the control pod A/C into the switched A/C outlet on the back of the receiver (so it will turn on/off when the receiver is on/off) and of course the subwoofer DIN to the pod. No satellites are attached to the subwoofer.

Worked perfect. The satellite is much more efficent than the big Infinity and produces a louder, clearer center channel effect. The woofer rocks! The XBox rocks! DVD's rock! A great example is the intro and opening scenes of Star Wars Phantom Menace.

Because the A/V receiver outputs LFE even when not in DD 5.1 I still get decent effects when listening to stereo and surround sounds as well.

For the price and it's performance, you can't beat it.

 

[linhpham2]

<< ries said:
On my A/V receiver, I have a mono, line-level out RCA jack for the LFE (X.1 subwoofer output). At Radio Shack I picked up a mono-2-stereo RCA adapter and plugged the Front Left/Right RCA jack from the control pod into this (and this into the receiver). I plugged the control pod A/C into the switched A/C outlet on the back of the receiver (so it will turn on/off when the receiver is on/off) and of course the subwoofer DIN to the pod. No satellites are attached to the subwoofer.

>>



Ok. So basically, your connecting to the receiver via: subwoofer pre-out on receiver --> Y-cable --> control pod --> z560 subwoofer

How are you connecting the z560 sat (for the center channel) to the receiver? Did you have to use speaker-level --> line-level converters? Are you connecting the z560 sat --> center channel (speaker-out) on the receiver?

 

[ries]

subwoofer pre-out on receiver --> Y-cable --> control pod --> z560 subwoofer

Actually, it's:

subwoofer pre-out --> 1/8" mini Stereo Jack to mono RCA jack adapter --> main front 1/8" stereo mini jack (green) --> control pod --> z560 sw

The jack adapter is Radio Shack P/N 274-387. I don't see the need to connect to the secondary (black) 1/8" rear mini plug since the pre-amp out from the receiver is a MONO signal (probably ALL channel info combined into a single stream).

Also, again, the satellite to be used as the center channel is connected via the center channel connection on the A/V receiver, NOT via the subwoofer speaker connections. If you went the subwoofer route, you would loose the dedicated center channel data being sent out in a DD 5.1 stream.

To be honest, I don't know if the satellites are 4- or 8-ohm speakers, only that they are rated for at least 40 watts. By connecting them you the A/V receiver instead of the subwoofer you do have some risk of over-driving them with a powerful amp cranked up to max. My A/V receiver is rated 100 watts x 5 channels. Worst case if I blow one I've three left to go?!? I do know that If I cranked the system up as loud as it would go, I would be more deaf then I already am.

 

[linhpham2]

<< ries said:

Also, again, the satellite to be used as the center channel is connected via the center channel connection on the A/V receiver, NOT via the subwoofer speaker connections.
>>



Isn't the center channel connection amplified? I thought computer speakers couldn't be connected to an amplified audio source.

 

[akahai]

Really appreciated it................

 

[ries]

Unless I'm horribly mistaken, the sats are not self-powered.

In a normal PC installation, they would get their juice from the subwoofer's amp.

 

[linhpham2]

<< ries said:

Unless I'm horribly mistaken, the sats are not self-powered.

In a normal PC installation, they would get their juice from the subwoofer's amp. >>



I guess I'm thinking of where the problem might arise if you connected that sats through z560 subwoofer after connecting to the subwoofer pre-out on the receiver: thus the problem would be double amplification (amp from the receiver and then further amp'd by the z560 subwoofer).

I was thinking thereotically that you could connect the z560 sats to the speaker-level outs on the receiver. I didn't want to blow $199 on the z560s to test my theory though.

Does it matter what the watts per channel that the receiver supports? I guess what I'm saying is: do I need to be careful about the receiver that I hook-up the z560 sats to? I don't want to blow out the z560 sats.

If I can connect the z560s directly to the speaker-level outs on the receiver, I might as well get a receiver with Dolby Prologic II for simulated 5.1 sound.

Connections might be:
speaker-level outs on reciever --> z560 sats
subwoofer pre-out --> z560 sub

Buy your own center channel at an audio store or see if Logitech sells the sats individually.