The procedures for connecting a Creative Labs speaker set to DVD players, A/V receivers, TV, VCR, or game consoles are identical to each other. There are instances that there are more than one correct way to connect two or more electronic devices together, it is important to understand what you want to accomplish with the connection.
A cable converter or a combination of converters is often required to connect these device together. Home audio devices (TV, DVD players etc) normally use RCA jacks for audio output, while Creative speakers typically use 1/8"(3.5mm) mini stereo jacks. A typical rca to 3.5mm mini stereo jacks cable is as below:
If you have a 5.1 speaker system, you will need need three RCA Stereo Cables (2 RCA Male to 1/8 Mini Male).
Connecting Speakers to an A/V Receiver
Multichannel speakers (5.1 or 7.1) speakers from Creative Labs are all
powered and amplified speakers. They can be connected directly to any audio
devices (DVD players, CD players, or TV etc) that have a line out jack without
using an A/V receiver.
If you want to connect these speakers to an A/V receiver, it is recommended
that these speakers be connected to an A/V receiver that has a set of jacks
for "PRE OUT" or "PRE MIX" (see below). Be definition,
the PRE OUT jacks are used for connecting external amplifiers.
Do not connect these speakers to the SPEAKER OUT jacks as the audio signals
have been already amplified.
- Locate the PRE OUT jacks on the back of the A/V receiver.
- Locate the AUDIO INPUTS OR AUDIO INPUT jacks on the
back of your speaker system. The input jacks are typically located in
the back of the subwoofer unit.
- Use RCA Stereo Cables (2 RCA Male to 1/8 Mini Male)
to connect from PRE OUT jacks on the receiver to AUDIO
INPUTS jacks on the speakers.
Connect Front (Left and Right) on the
receiver to their counter parts on the
speaker;
Connect Rear or Surround (PRE
OUT) jacks (SR/SL, or RR/RL)
to their counter parts on the speaker:
Connect CENTER (CE) and SUBWOOFER(
PRE OUT) jacks to the CENTER/SUBWOOFER jack.
Connect the red plug into the CENTER
jack, and the white plug into the Subwoofer
on the receiver.
Please note you will receive 5.1 audio only when you are playing DVD movies.
You will receive only stereo channels (from front left and right) when you
play MP3, WMA, ACC or VCD etc, unless your your receiver has an upmix feature.
Connecting Speakers to a DVD Player
If your DVD player has one set of red and white (left and right)
RCA jacks only, it is not recommended that you connect a multichannel
speaker system to it as you will only hear stereo sounds. To enjoy multichannel
audio when playing DVD movies, you will connect an AV receiver that is
capable of Dolby Digital decoding between your DVD player and the speakers.
All modern DVD players have at least one kind (optical vs coaxial) of
Digital Audio Out jack.
If your DVD player has a set of 5.1 analog out jacks (also known
as 6CH Audio Out), it means that your DVD player is capable of
Dolby Digital decoding. You can connect it directly to a 5.1 (or higher)
speaker system without using a decoder.
To connect from this kind of DVD player to a 5.1 speaker system,
- Locate the AUDIO OUT (5.1 Channel, or 6CH) jacks on
the back of the DVD player.
- Locate the AUDIO INPUTS OR AUDIO INPUT jacks on the
back of your speaker system. The input jacks are typically located in
the back of the subwoofer unit.
- Use RCA Stereo Cables (2 RCA Male to 1/8 Mini Male)
to connect from AUDIO OUT jacks on the DVD player to AUDIO
INPUTS jacks on the speakers.
Connect Front (Left and Right) on the
DVD player to their counter parts on the
speaker;
Connect Rear or Surround on the DVD player
to their counter parts on the speaker:
Connect CENTER (CE) and SUBWOOFER jacks
on the DVD player to the CENTER/SUBWOOFER jack.
Connect the red plug into the CENTER jack,
and the white plug into the Subwoofer
on the receiver.
Please note you will receive 5.1 audio only when you are playing DVD movies.
You will receive only stereo channels (from front left and right) when you
play MP3, WMA, ACC or VCD etc, unless your DVD player has an upmix feature.
Connecting Speakers to TV's with a SCART connector
Cables to use are either:
- Minijack (3.5mm) to Minijack (3.5mm)
- Jack ( 5.25mm) to Minijack(3.5mm)
- 2 x RCA to Minijack(3.5mm)
You can purchase any of these cables at your local TV/Hifi /Electronics
shop.
Connect the speakers to the television and use the CMSS or the Dolby
Pro Logic function of your speakers to receive 5.1 sound. Note:
Some televisions have a mono headphone out which with some speaker systems
will result in a lack of signal on either front or rear speakers even
with Dolby Pro Logic or CMSS enabled.
If your TV does not have a headphone socket, or audio outputs you can use
a SCART socket if available.
You need an adapter that gives you Analogue Audio out, it is important
that you specify Output, as the some SCART sockets can be used for
both Input and Output depending on the type you purchase.
If your SCART connector has both an Input and Output option
- make sure that you set it to Output. [Click
to enlarge]
Connect 2 x RCA to minijack (3.5mm) cable to the SCART plug
and the Line- in to your speakers and use the CMSS or the Dolby
Pro Logic function on your speakers to get 5.1 sound.
Connecting a TV, VCR, or Game Devices
TV,
VCR, or game devices normally have one pair of stereo RCA jacks
for audio output, one (red) for the right channel and the other
(white) for the left channel. The Audio Input (Line-In)
jacks or Auxiliary Audio Input jacks on Creative Speakers
are typical 1/8"(3.5mm) mini stereo jacks.
A cable converter or a combination of converters is often required to connect
these devices together, for example, a cable that has one mini stereo plug
(3.5mm) on one end, and two RCA plugs on other end.
If your speaker system has an Auxiliary Audio Input jack, connect
the mini-stereo plug to the Auxiliary Audio Input jack.
and then plug the red RCA plug to the red RCA jack on the other device,
and plug white RCA to the white RCA jack.
If your audio device such as a portable CD player, or mp3 player, has a
Headphone Out, or a standard mini stereo jack (3.5mm), you can use a standard
stereo audio cable with mini stereo plugs on both ends. Simply connect one
end to the Audio Input on your speaker, and the other end to the Audio Output
on your home audio device.
Some home audio devices have an optical digital out jack
or a coaxial digital out jack, or both. If your speaker
system have a corresponding Digital Input jack, you can
connect them directly with a optical cable or a coaxial cable. Please note,
it will only output stereo (front right or front left) in most cases unless
the source material is encoded in multichannel format and your speaker system
is equipped with a decoder, and the decoder is properly configured.
No Dolby Digital Light on USB Sound Blaster Extigy from PlayStation/ Xbox
Xbox
As neither the Xbox unit nor the default AV cable that comes with the Xbox
have an optical out, the Advanced AV Pack or the High Definition AV Pack
will need to be connected.
The optical cable should then be connected from the the Xbox AV Pack to
the Optical In on the Extigy.
- Ensure that there is no disc in the XBox before switching it on.
- From the main menu, select Settings
- Select the Audio menu - the following Audio options are available here:
Audio Mode Mono/Stereo/Dolby Surround (Stereo is default)
Dolby Digital Enabled/Disabled (Disabled
by default)
DTS Enabled/Disabled (Disabled by default)
- Select Dolby Digital. A dialogue box will appear with the following
question: Does your stereo system support Dolby Digital Audio? Select
Yes. Dolby Digital should now be enabled. As the Extigy does not support
DTS decoding, you may ignore the DTS setting.
- Exit the Settings menu.
- Insert and start a Movie which supports Dolby Digital. The Dolby Digital
light on the Extigy should light up.
Playstation 2
- Ensure that there is no disc in the Playstation 2 before switching it
on.
- From the main menu, select System Configuration
- Select Digital Out(Optical) and set to On.
- Exit the System Configuration menus and return to the main menu. The
Digital Out port is now active.
- Start a DVD movie which supports Dolby Digital.
- Once the movie is playing, press the Select button to bring up the on-screen
menu.(Note that this is another Playstation 2 menu,NOT the DVD movie menu.)
- Select the Setup submenu icon.
- Select the Audio Setup submenu. The following options are given:
Audio Setup
Audio Digital Out (Optical) On/Off
Dolby Digital On/Off
DTS On/Off
Audio Track Auto Select Mode On/Off
DVD Volume Standard
Digital Out should already be set to On. Enable Dolby Digital.
Since the Extigy does not support DTS decode, ignore this
setting.
Exit setup by pressing the Select button
3 times. The Dolby Digital light on the Extigy should now light up.
