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Topic: Logitech X-540 Speakers and surround sound (Read 4374 times) previous topic - next topic
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Logitech X-540 Speakers and surround sound

I just got a set of Logitech X-540 speakers and I got a few questions.

1. The manual says that the 2 satellites that aren't center or front speakers are rear speakers and it tells me to plug it into the rear speaker port on my motherboard. But the Realtek software on my computer uses side speakers for a 5.1 configuration, so it doesn't playback anything from those speakers unless I plug it into the rear speaker port. If I plug it into the other port the only way to get sound out of those is to select 7.1 and enable the rear speakers. Which is the correct way to do it.

2. I have a few DTS albums, and I wanted to know what is the best way to play these with the best possible quality from my speakers? I used VLC, but then I have to choose 5.1 from the menu every time I open a new song. They are .wav files, and they don't play with windows media player even with dtsfilter installed. My speakers don't have a dts decoder..

3. Regarding the matrix mode, is there any way I can turn up the side speakers to be a little louder with matrix mode on? They seem really quiet when I'm playing a 2 channel source in 5.1 with matrix mode, so it barely feels like surround sound. Is that just how it's supposed to be?

4. Someone told me that if I rip my CDs to lossless .wav format, I can play it in 5.1 natively without matrix mode on. Is this true?

Sorry about there being so many questions, but I'm kind of a newb at this multi-channel audio thing since I've always used stereo speakers...

Thanks in advanced

Logitech X-540 Speakers and surround sound

Reply #1 –
Quote from: murky44 on
1. The manual says that the 2 satellites that aren't center or front speakers are rear speakers and it tells me to plug it into the rear speaker port on my motherboard. But the Realtek software on my computer uses side speakers for a 5.1 configuration, so it doesn't playback anything from those speakers unless I plug it into the rear speaker port. If I plug it into the other port the only way to get sound out of those is to select 7.1 and enable the rear speakers. Which is the correct way to do it.
Are you using Vista or XP? Anyway, the way it should work is to connect to the "side" speakers for 5.1 system. The "sides" in a 7.1 system are the "rears" of a 5.1 one. Sometimes the drivers mess this up, but that's how it should work. Make sure to set Windows to a 5.1 system in the sound properties and playback devices in Control Panel.
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2. I have a few DTS albums, and I wanted to know what is the best way to play these with the best possible quality from my speakers? I used VLC, but then I have to choose 5.1 from the menu every time I open a new song. They are .wav files, and they don't play with windows media player even with dtsfilter installed. My speakers don't have a dts decoder..
I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think those .wav files are usually made for bitstreaming, they're encoded in a stereo PCM stream, thus are probably seen by your player as stereo. Your player/decoder must be able to see that they're DTS-encoded wavs, so it might not work with all players. I have no problem playing .dts files though.

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3. Regarding the matrix mode, is there any way I can turn up the side speakers to be a little louder with matrix mode on? They seem really quiet when I'm playing a 2 channel source in 5.1 with matrix mode, so it barely feels like surround sound. Is that just how it's supposed to be?
Depends on the matrix mode you're using. Dolby Pro Logic II (x) music mode allows for this, but your device has to be able to do it. Your speakers' matrix mode may be something different, since they don't mention Dolby, and if there's no option for it in your control device, then you're probably out of luck. What you can do though, is get a sound card (or a software player) that has DPLII(x) as a feature, such as a Xonar DX (though I think they took out DPLIIx movie mode in recent drivers).

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4. Someone told me that if I rip my CDs to lossless .wav format, I can play it in 5.1 natively without matrix mode on. Is this true?
Methinks this is nonsense.

 

Logitech X-540 Speakers and surround sound

Reply #2 –
Thanks for the response.

1. The cables that go into my motherboard are color coded, and the cable for the satellites that the manual says are rear speakers are colored black, so I just plugged them into the black port, which I now see is the rear speaker port. What I had to do in order for it to work in 5.1 with my drivers is plug it into the gray port, which is apparently the port for side speakers. It works just fine now.

2. VLC does play them, but starts out playing them as stereo. So every time I open another song, I have to go into the audio menu and select 5.1 as my audio device. I was actually just wondering if there is a player that will play them as 5.1 once opened, rather than me having to select it every time.

3. I actually wanted to get the Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium Sound Card. I don't know if it has DPLII, but could it work as a DTS decoder for the speakers??

4. I thought that sounded wrong...

Thanks andy, that cleared things up a lot.

Logitech X-540 Speakers and surround sound

Reply #3 –
Just one more question. With my speakers, is there any way to connect them to a receiver and get SPDIF output from my computer to the receiver for playback with my speakers? I know my speakers use analog connectors, but is there any way around that?

Logitech X-540 Speakers and surround sound

Reply #4 –
Quote from: murky44 on
Just one more question. With my speakers, is there any way to connect them to a receiver and get SPDIF output from my computer to the receiver for playback with my speakers? I know my speakers use analog connectors, but is there any way around that?


yes instead of connecting them to computer you can connect  them to analog outputs on the receiver. You will need several double RCA-(female)-to-stereo-jack cables for that and an optical lead between PC (assuming the spdif output is there) and the receiver  .