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General discussion

Question about Cables

by mitch_fan Dec 19, 2005 10:39AM PST

I'm about to get a set of Logitech Z-5500's for my laptop, along with a Creative Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA sound card. I've read the websites for both, but I really don't know enough about speaker systems to understand what kind of cable I'm going to need to connect everything to the sound card. I'd really appreciate any insight that anyone could give. Also, I'm not sure if better quality is achieved by letting the sound card or the speakers do the decoding.

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2 Posts

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Question about Cables??????

by jcrobso Dec 20, 2005 12:35AM PST

It's the job of the sound card to do the decoding, take digitial and trun it into analog sound.
A small audio cabel with a 3.5mm plug goes from the sound card to the speakers.
It's the job of the speakers to amplify the signal from the sound card and make it loud. John

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I'm a noob, not an imbecile

by mitch_fan Dec 20, 2005 2:46AM PST

I understand the basic functions of a sound card and speakers. The Logitech Z-5500's have built-in Dolby Digital and DTS hardware decoding. The Creative Audigy 2 ZS Notebook card does the same decoding also. My question is about whether I should leave the decoding to the sound card or the speakers. Is there any kind of advantage one way or the other?

Since I don't have the card or speakers yet, and I can't really understand the info on the product websites (yes, I'm a noob), I was wondering if anyone could tell me how all these components get connected.

(I'm assuming that I should buy the sound card. It just seems silly to pair an expensive set of 5.1 speakers with the built-in P.O.S. sound card. Right?)

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