Advice on Connecting Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital to my imac

[iluke87]

Hi guys, recently bought my first imac, a brand new OS X Leopard.

Last week I bought the new logitech z-5500 speaker system and cant seem to get my mac to recognise it. Upon asking a 'texpert' at my local dick smith he suggested I use an optical cable, so I bought an adaptor thing to fit the optical cable plugin on the back of my mac, but still it does not recognise it.

Then I rang up logitech customer support and he said the only way is to plug it straight into my sound card(how?), although he did not seem to have a great idea either. After reading some threads on here I have come to the understanding that macs do not have sound cards(is that right?).

So I just need some advice on how to connect my z-5500's to my mac WITHOUT losing sound quality, also a good external sound card would be nice too thankyou in advance

Luke

 

[ChrisA]

Hi guys, recently bought my first imac, a brand new OS X Leopard.

Last week I bought the new logitech z-5500 speaker system and cant seem to get my mac to recognise it. Upon asking a 'texpert' at my local dick smith he suggested I use an optical cable, so I bought an adaptor thing to fit the optical cable plugin on the back of my mac, but still it does not recognise it.

It should work using the optical cable.

But the cable is just a one-directional audio signal. The computer can't know what you have on the other end of the cable. Just set the audio output to go to the S/PDIF and you should be set to go. Don't expect your computer to "see" the Logitec speakers.

You say you might want an external audio interface? There are many good ones. The first step is to decide what inputs and outputs you want and how many of each. Then choose if you like Firewire or USB. THink about monitoring and headphones and if you want MIDI and s/pdif and your budget.

If all you need is simple playback then the built-in audio is good for that. In the PC world PC's typically have poor quality built-in audio. The Mac is not like that. It's built-in audio output is good.

 

[iluke87]

It should work using the optical cable.

But the cable is just a one-directional audio signal. The computer can't know what you have on the other end of the cable. Just set the audio output to go to the S/PDIF and you should be set to go. Don't expect your computer to "see" the Logitec speakersQUOTE]

When you say set the audio output to S/PDIF do you mean from system prefs - sound? Or do you mean from the speaker control dock?

My problem is when I go to the audio output in system prefs my only option is the internal speakers

Nevermind I found out the otical cable i was using was faulty, got a new one and it works/sounds great!! Cheers Chris