Extending Creative Labs Home Theater Cable.

Bonehead

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Jan 30, 2008
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My current audio setup involves an X-Fi XtremeGamer, an a/v receiver, and the Creative Labs home theater cable combined with 5.1 speakers. I wanted surround sound and EAX in games, so that was the method that has worked out best for me so far, otherwise I would be hooked up over optical using the on-board sound. Here is a link to the cable for reference:

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=13&subcategory=55&product=14309

The problem is that the theater cable is pretty short and due to some furniture changes in the room, I will no longer be able to run it the way it had been before. So, I am looking for some advice on how to extend that cable, as switching back to optical would defeat the purpose. From what I can see, I have two options: I can either extend it using 3.5mm male-to-female extension cables before the theater cable or I could use RCA to lengthen it from the other end. I would prefer to use the 3.5mm headphone cabling to do so, as they are thinner and easier to route, but from what I can tell, each strand carries three signals, not stereo. Will it work anyway in a 5.1 setup and does anyone have any experience doing this or am I stuck using bundles of RCA cabling to do it?

If anyone has any ideas or other suggestions, they are appreciated as well. Thanks a ton.
 
Just get 3 Stereo phono to 3 1/2 cables in the length you need.

sure those cables will be vista compatible?

on a serious note though he's already got the cable so what you need to do is buy a few male to female RCA extension cables and label them accordingly so you don't mix things up
 
Bonehead,

Your assumption regarding the 1/8" part of the cable is correct. The analog outputs on the x-fi carry three channels of audio... but only if you are setting it up for 7.1 output.

I believe if you set it to 5.1 (I'm not 100% sure about this, been a while since I've used anything other than stereo output) you will be able to use one connection for front, one for surround and one for center/sub. In this case you do not need the cable that Creative sells, and three stereo 1/8" to red/white RCA cables would be sufficient for sending 5.1 audio to your receiver.

However, since you already have the cable, if you want to make use of it, only extend from the RCA end of the cable. If you use regular stereo minijack cables to extend from the sound card to Creative's adapter cable the channels might come out all screwed up on the other end.
 
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