i have a THX-certified logitech 5.1 multimedia system that i am more than happy with...the sound's great, i have no complaints

however, as i'm in a studio apartment, i'd LIKE to hook it up to my standalone DVD player as well, which has a digital-out coax jack (the orange one)...obviously, the the multimedia system i have doesn't really support that because it just has the RCA jacks for the speakers and then the stereo-in jacks that run from the subwoofer to the computer

surely there's a way to do this...the DVD player is pushing out a 5.1 signal through the digital out, and the speakers are 5.1, so what would i need in order to use the multimedia speakers on the DVD player?

i've found this device on amazon for $5 that converts a stereo out (the white and red audio cables) into the 5.1 system, but that's not true 5.1, right? it just pushes the sound out to 5 speakers

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006U3ACY/102-0171705-2187335?v=glance&n=172282

i've looked at purchasing a 5.1 receiver and splitting the signal to the speakers (using RCA y-splitters), but 5.1 receivers are expensive and i don't need it to do any more than convert the orange digital out into the three stereo plugs

any useful suggestions are appreciated...useless ones, if amusing, are also appreciated

8/5/2006 8:17:24 PM

I believe there's no cheap solution. And I wondering how RCA splitters would work

http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=433&dmore=True&rmore=False

[Edited on August 5, 2006 at 8:32 PM. Reason : .]

8/5/2006 8:20:52 PM

what is the model # of the DVD player?

5.1 Receivers have been around for a long time, you could try to find a used one.

[Edited on August 5, 2006 at 8:45 PM. Reason : .]

8/5/2006 8:41:27 PM

this is why you should never buy those shitty PC surround sound setups. There's no cheap solution, other than selling what you have and getting a real reciever and speaker setup

8/5/2006 8:54:56 PM

Some of those computer setups have the digital inputs though.

Your only option is to just buy a receiver though. They use to sell standalone dolby digital decoders back in teh day, but I would think something like that would be hard to find now.

8/6/2006 2:41:34 AM

^^^^ thanks for the link...that looks like what i would need/want, but i can only imagine how much it would cost

^^^ i don't know off the top of my head...i'll look at it when i get back...and yeah, i was looking for a used receiver

^^ that's just it, though, they're NOT shitty...the sound awesome, the bass is full and true, i have no complaints with the quality of unit...also, when i bought it, i was living with other people and i only needed it for my room...i understand your point, though...it wouldn't take much for them to put in a digital in jack

^ well, they aren't TOO hard to find...i wouldn't think the quality would need to be all that great as the speakers and sub are fine

i just sold a dtt2500 system (old, i know), but it had that...you could hook it up to a computer, television, dvd player, playstation, whatever...i should have kept it, but i didn't realize i was going to need it

8/6/2006 9:09:29 AM

Quote :

"this is why you should never buy those shitty PC surround sound setups"

8/6/2006 10:06:14 AM

i use the previously mentioned dd-5.1 - i use it for my klipsch setup instead of my logitech one tho - it was the cheapest solution and more than enough for my small townhouse living room

my only complaint is that i wish it had 2 coax inputs

8/6/2006 10:58:47 AM

for the same price you could have gotten a true 5.1 setup with much better range and a better sub.

i had the dtt2500's back in the day (1999 actually) and thought they were awesome too, then i came to my senses a couple of years later and traded them up for a real system.

8/6/2006 4:51:03 PM

i don't know...i got the logitech z-5300 (280w, 560w peak) for $60 almost 2 years ago...even now they're about $120...for the money, and the situation i was in at the time, i don't think there's anything you can find me that would have beaten the deal

8/6/2006 7:16:30 PM

several sound cards will allow you to input a digital signal, but i've only seen optical inputs (the $$$ version of the audigy, and the turtle beach catalina for example)

8/6/2006 11:14:35 PM

You can upgrade your DVD player to something like this for $100:

Quote :

"Pioneer DV-578A-S DVD Player with DVD-Audio / SACD"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ERY6W/sr=8-1/qid=1154927260/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1649054-8608142?ie=UTF8

You can find something similar used on amazon or ebay for cheaper. Any SACD player that can do multichannel will have 6 channel analog output which is what you need. This Pioneer also does DVD-Audio so I think this is perfect for you.

8/7/2006 1:19:00 AM

^ yeah, that seems like it might work...i was kind of hoping for a single converter, though

thanks for the help, everyone

8/7/2006 1:50:07 PM