Logitech Z-5500 speakers + Mac Pro + optical audio

[pater]

I'm planning on getting the Logitech Z-5500 speakers just for use with my latest-generation Mac Pro. I'm a bit concerned, however, as I do not want to have to buy a new sound card to use 5.1; so I was thinking I will just use the integrated optical audio out.

On the logitech website it states that the speakers support digital optical input. Can I just buy a cable like this (TOSLINK M-M), plug one end into my Mac, and the other into the subwoofer? Then hook up the satellites to the sub using the (what appear to be based on pictures) attached coax cables?

Basically what I need to know is if I need any extra hardware to make this work, and if I do, what hardware that would be (I saw a few posts on here about this, but nothing specific to what I need to know). I was reading on a few other places that I need some optical->coax thing. Would this mean it would be optical from my mac to the converter->coax to the sub->coax to the speakers? Is it possible to do just optical from mac to sub->coax to speakers?

 

[maxb]

I've been using using those with a macbook pro, a mac pro and now with the new macbook. The only thing you need to use the Z-5500 is and optical cable (Tosh-link) and a sound card that supports it.

So if you plan to use it with a Mac Pro, it will work fine using the tosh-link to tosh-link cable.

But....

The only thing I dislike about using those speakers on a mac is that you'll have to use the build-in decoder that comes with the speakers for mostly everything. In other words, the mac only supports 2.1 audio outpout (excepts for DVD and stuff that are natively 5.1) and to be able to get sound from all the 5 speakers you'll have to set the receiver setting to PLII music or PLII movie.

Using those mode will significantly reduce sound quality for casual music listening. The other option (which is what I use for music) is to turn the decoder off using the 2X Stereo mode to use the 4 satellites in stereo and the sub.

Finally, now that you know everything about those speakers, I'd say that you can go for them.

 

[pater]

Does a "sound card that supports it" include the integrated sound card on the Mac Pro that has optical out?

 

[maxb]

yes, with the mentionned limitations