5.1 speakers with 1 input. Connect 2 devices?

martinoheat · 7 Sep 2012 at 18:20

i have a set of Logitech X-530 surround sound speakers, their only input is 3 x 3.5mm jacks (i.e. for a PC).

At the moment they are plugged into my PC motherboard and working fine, but i cannot connect my xbox to them when they are plugged into the PC.

Is there a way i can connect both the PC and Xbox to my existing speakers?
i have 2 ideas (i don't know how/if they are even possible,) -

Here is the current setup:

Here is one idea:

is this pheasible? - what cable would i need to take 5.1 audio from the xbox to PC? would i need an extra audio card to receive this cable intot the PC?
Also, would any additional software be needed to switch between the 2 sources?

Here is my second idea:

Again, is this pheasible?
what cables would i need to take the 5.1 audio from the xbox to the switch? similarly what cable for the PC to switch?
Also, what audio switch would do the job?

Many thanks in advance guys!

p.s. i did do a search before posting but if i missed a theead somewhere, please point me in the right direciton

justalex81 · 8 Sep 2012 at 12:15

the only option with those speakers is to use a switch. if you had speakers with an optical input then you could plug the xbox in using an optical cable so you could have your pc plugged in aswell

martinoheat · 8 Sep 2012 at 12:24

Thanks for the reply man!

I only recently built my PC so I don't have too much spare cash for a new set of speakers.

Regarding the switch:
Which cables should I use from the Xbox and PC into the switch? Also do you know of any switches with the required inputs and outputs?

imginy · 10 Sep 2012 at 03:29

xbox can't run 3 cables so its pointless.

Marsman · 10 Sep 2012 at 11:12

I only know of one 5.1 analogue switch, but it's only available in the US, and is too expensive even if it were available here. You'd have to use a stereo switch for the green stereo front left/right jack, as Xbox can only output stereo to analogue, and the analogue lead that came with it, as that is the only way it can output analogue.

Another option would be to get a sound card with optical in. You would have to use the analogue lead again from the Xbox which has the optical port on it, but as you will have two cables coming from the Xbox, HDMI and analogue, if you turn the monitor off and leave the Xbox on it will reboot. It will only use the HDMI while it detects the TV/monitor is on. When it no longer detects HDMI connection, it reboots to use the analogue one. That obviously doesn't happen if you only have HDMI connected.

Either way, won't get you true 5.1 from the Xbox, as it can't output 5.1 to analogue and sound cards do not accept Dolby Digital coming in, which is what the Xbox uses to pass 5.1 via optical.

A third option would be to get a DAC with 5.1 analogue output, which will give you true 5.1 and not a stereo upmix. There are some external sound cards that do this, but they generally only take USB in, so have to be used with a PC only. You'd need one that takes optical in. They are few and far between. I only know of one, and that is made by Sharkoon. It's not widely available so you will have to search for it. I think it's in the region of £50. The problem with using that is, although that will give you 5.1 from the Xbox, you can only have the speakers connected to that or the PC. You'd need to use reverse 3.5mm splitter cables in order to connect the speakers to both PC and the Sharkoon device.