5.1 Surround Help?

[Dahinchl]

Hello all,

I'm afraid my knowledge of how audio set ups work is very limited and am really struggling getting my set up to work. I was rather naive thinking id plug a few things in and it would all work perfectly.

I have recently set up a home cinema and I bought a set of Logitech Z906 speakers to go with it. I also bought a Asus Xonar U5 external soundcard.

http/www.logitech.com/en-gb/product/speaker-system-z906

https/www.asus.com/us/Sound-Cards/Xonar_U5/


Initially i tried connecting the two using a digital optical toslink cable ( http/www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EZ6QJUU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00_ ) with the SPDIF adapter at one end to plug into the soundcard (The round to square plug)

This didn't give any sound out of the speakers and I am not sure why, I tried a second cable to connect the speakers and soundcard which was ( http/www.amazon.co.uk/Vivanco-11-01-N-fiber-Toslink/dp/B001D634DA/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1451480497&sr=1-7&keywords=vivanco+digital+fibre )

This didn't help either and I still could not hear any sound from the speakers.


So i gave up with that end of it and used the 6 channel input cable (the red black and orange) - This worked great for music etc - But when i put a film on (PC bluray player) and set it to 5.1 on windvd, I got audio from the three front speakers perfectly - However nothing from the rear two

So i flicked the 3d sound on the speakers on and got a superb surround sound effect - however with this came the major drawback of what id presume was one channel not working as Voices were very faint or couldn't hear them at all.

Having invested quite a bit of money into this I am determined to get it to work as best as possible.I am looking for some advice into what the best way to connect by speakers up for the best surround sound (I've been told the only way to get surround sound is via digital optical?) and how i can get this to work?

And if i've missed any crucial information out please let me know or if pictures of the set up are required.



Thank you for any help or advice you may be bale to give,

Dave H

 

[alexoiu]

Can you post pictures of the connections on the back of sound card and logitech?

 

[Dahinchl]

Rear of Soundcard http/postimg.org/image/azr5zsbxr/

Rear of soundcard with cables http/postimg.org/image/5e3017h5t/

Rear of Speakers http/postimg.org/image/bqxa3gdcr/

The speaker ports are as follows:

1. 6 channel direct

2. RCA

3&4. Digital Optical

5. Digital Coaxial



When i've been attempting to use the digita fibre optic cable ive had it plugged into the SPDIF port on the soundcard using the adapter and then plugged into port 3 on the speakers.

 

[alexoiu]

Have you tried:
http/img.clubic.com/04176140-photo-logitech-z906-branchements.jpg
and
http/062d3943d52752284f55-250c061318aedd629e64a503cb52758e.r6.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/Ae2YEbzIDCUG.878x0.Z-Z96KYq.jpg

 

[Dahinchl]

Have you tried:
http/img.clubic.com/04176140-photo-logitech-z906-branchements.jpg
and
http/062d3943d52752284f55-250c061318aedd629e64a503cb52758e.r6.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/Ae2YEbzIDCUG.878x0.Z-Z96KYq.jpg

Thanks for the reply! All the speakers are plugged in properly, and I've been using the 6 channel input, which works fine as a quad speaker set up, but when everything is turned to 5.1, when watching films one channel appears not work, voices are very faint / inaudible

 

[ssddx]

ah good old postimg.. i like using that hosting myself. besides the point, but felt i would comment.

a few things...

why did toslink not work?
assuming the adapter works and the cable itself is fine.. two things you may need to check:

- http/www.logitech.com/assets/36226/z906620-002920006ug403.pdf page 8 #11 input select. you would need to set this.
- in windows, sound playback devices set default device to optical output

likely one of those was not set right. now, not sure if the u5 outputs 5.1 on optical (one would think it SHOULD given its meant for connecting to home theaters, but i dont see dts-c or ddl support listed so cant know for sure (you would need to test)

why are you getting 4 channel sound?
now, before getting into this.. it would be far better to say you have a 5.1 system and when you get audio in films its only outputting like a 3.1 system as this is very specific about what works and what doesnt work. given that you say the rear speakers do not work in the movie i have to ask three things:

-is the movie 5.1? some are only stereo.
-do you have your surround sound settings set to 5.1? did you use windows speaker test to verify sound comes out on each speaker correct?
-did you realize there are typically two 5.1 options? one for rear surround speakers and one for rear speakers. try both.

why are voices faint when using fake 5.1 processing? this is likely due to a processing effect. if it were me, i'd avoid this and use direct 5.1 instead as it should not have these issues.