Trying to connect the Logitech Z-500 SubWoofer to my Sony STR-DH820 Receiver

I have the Logiteh Z-5500 5.1 speaker system, and am attempting to use it with my SONY STR-DH820 receiver. At present, I am using only the center speaker and Sub, along with two small floor speakers. The problem I am having is that I can't get the Sub to work.

Several places, including threads in this forum, have geven the direction to use a Dual RCA (male) to single Stereo Mini (male)Connector, and to connect the two RCA's to the two Sub Out terminals on the back of the receiver, whle connecting the stereo mini connector to the Center/Sub terminal on the Logitech Control Pod.

I have done this, and I have the pod connected to the sub via the VGA like connector, and have the power on the sub turned on. but can not get any subwoofer action at all.

At present, I have hooked up the Logiteck Center speaker to the Center Speaker terminals, and a pair of bookshelf speakers to the Right Front and Left Front terminals. I also have the Sony Receiver set to 3.1 sarround. All there main speakers work perfectly, but no sub woofer.

I hve the Logitech Control Pod set to Direct in, and have the volumes set to the center settings.

Any suggestions?
Edited by herkulese - 2/9/13 at 12:58pm

Update: I am thinking that Subwoofer Out terminals on the SONY STR-DH820 receiverare not Pre Out's, and that they are for a standard unpowered subwoofer. These connections are right next to the other 5/7.1 speaker connections, and they are simply listed in the manual as the subwoofer connections. My manuall is not clear about nonamplified connections at all, and there are non labeled as Pre-Out.

Again, any coments regarding this issue with respect to this receiver would be more than welcome.

Also, if anyone know if there is a way to just take the wires from the subwoofer before entering its amplifier that might be helpfull, as I have read that this can be done as well.
Edited by herkulese - 2/9/13 at 1:01pm

Thanks for the clarification on the Sub Woofer outs on my AVR.
So any subwoofer that I would attach would have to be a powered sub, correct?
Question: Are all subwoofers self powered?

I will check the switch on the Logitech Pod, and the speaker setings in the AVR. I changed the two floor speakers to large, and left the center on small, as it is the center from the Z-5500, so I will set all to small and see what happenes.

Thanks again,
Roger

Still no go.
As I said, I have the AVR set to 3.1, and I verified that all three speakers are set to small.
Then I tested with the small switch on the back of the Logitech Pod in both positions, and still nothing.
I even checked the fuse in the sub, even though the lights and menues on the pod are all functioning.
This seems odd, in that many have gotten it to work.
Anyway, thanks for the help.

I really had hoped to get this working, as the sub is easily the most expensive speaker in a surround sound system.

I figured out what you meant late last night and did just that.
I found a short optical audio cable in my cable collection, connected the Logitech Pod to my ROKU box, and -VIOLA- the Sub performed perfectly.

Since my AV Cabinet does not allow for easy swaping of cables between components, my current option is to buy 3 optical cables and connect one each to my:

DVD Player
ROKU Box
Cable Box

Note 1: These all have optical out terminals.
Note 2: Blue Rigger 10 FT on amazon for $7.99 each (Still much cheaper than a new subwoofer)

Then run them out the back of the cabinet, where the power cord, speaker cables, etc, come out, label them appropriately, and hang them there, where I have the HDMI cable that I use for my laptop.
I would also mount a small shelf on the back of the cabinet to stand the pod on, and then select the proper cable for the proper component.

Now, the question remains: Why will the Logitech Z-5500 Sub/Pod not work with the Subwoofer terminals on my SONY STR-HD820 AVR?
Seems like ther just be some setting somewhere that I have missed.

Thanks again for the suggestions,
Roger

Thanks, I will check these ideas out tonight.

BTW, what should the subwoofer level be set to?

Also, if, for all practical putposes, all subs are self powered and amped, as detailed in one of the posts above, what would be the difference between the Logitech sub, and a standard sub?

I guess my question is this: If this Logitech Z-5500 subwoofer works with both AVR sub outs atapted into one input on the Logitech Pod ( i.e. - Center/Sub) as many claim to have had success with, or if, per the suggestion in the previous post, only one AVR Sub Out turns out to be needed, why are there two AVR Sub Outs in the first place?
Edited by herkulese - 2/11/13 at 10:35am

I like the "Scratch your head and have a beer part".

All the speakers are set to 0db, so I will try your suggestion.

I already checked the fuze, and subsequent to that, I noted in my 2nd last post that I have the sub working with an optical cable from my ROCU box. I just would prefer to get it working with my AVR so that I don't have to run 3 separat optical cables and swap them between components.
Edited by herkulese - 2/11/13 at 10:42am

Now, since I am currently runing the Sub from the actual source, i.e. ROKU, DVD, Cable Box, it seems that I should set the AVR surround setup to 3/2.0 rather than 3/2.1, and leave the sub out of the equasion.
Correct?

Keep in mind that I still have the HDMI going from the ROKU and Cable Box, and RCA Audio fromt the DVD, through the AVR, so that the sound is still being sent to the AVR speakers, with the Optical Audio going from the ROKU directly to the Logitech Sub, and only the sub in that system.
Edited by herkulese - 2/11/13 at 2:00pm

OK, I trid again last night.

The AVR was set for 3/2.1
The Logitech Pod was set for Direct Input
- Not COAX
- Nor Optical

I have a Dual RCA to Singal Mail Sterio Mini Jack adapter.
The Mini Jack was plugged into the Center/Sub input on the back of the Pod

I tried each leg of the RCA splitter in each of the two Sub out terminals of the AVR, and nothing.

Again, from everything I have read, this shuld be working

Reminder: Sub works with Optical cable from ROKU box, but I don't have Optical out on my AVR.

Now this is just tooooooooo strange.

I hooked up the Z-5500 sub this morning just as I did the first time:
- 2 male RCA from AVR Sub Out's to 1 male Mini Jack into Logitech Pod Center/Sub input.

Double checked AVR and Logitech Pod settings:
- AVR Surround = 3/2.1
- AVR Speakers = Small
- AVR Effect (I think) = Nano6 (or somthing lik that) Suggested setting for doing this by a poster somewhere
- Pod Input = Direct
- Pod Terminal - Center/Sub

I fired up Netflix, and tuned to "Transformers Dark Of the Moon", and VIOLA there was the Sub, just like it should be.
I honestly do not believe that I did anything different, but there it was, just as big as you please.

I will do some more testing over the weekend, to make sure it is still working, and which settings it will work with.

Go figure...........
Edited by herkulese - 2/15/13 at 8:30am

Must have been a connection, or an ambiguous setting in my AVR that I didn't remember.

I did try using a small solid adapter (Duel Female RCA to 1 Male Stereo Mini Jack) to get from the Duel RCA cable to the POD with less connections, and that did not work. The mini jack on this adapter simply would not stay all the way snapped in, and either way, would not work.
I went back to the Duel RCA cable, to Cable Y splitter, to Male to Male Mini Jack cable, as that is what I had around at the time, and that continued to work, as before.

I have ordered a 5ft Duel Male RCA to Single Male Mini Jack cable from Amazon to make it one integral cable between the AVR and the POD, with no intermediate connections.

Bottom Line: I now have a 5.1 surround system without having to buy any new speakers, or a subwoofer.

Center - 2 of the Z-5500 speakers wired together
Front R&L - Pair of medium sized RCA Bookshelf Speakers
Rear R&L - 2 of the Z-5500 speakers (Wired down behind cabined, thru basement, back up behind sofa)
Subwoofer - Z-5500 thru Logitech Pod from duel sub out's on AVR

Awesome? No
Good? Yes
I like it.

Thanks again for all comments and suggestions,
Roger
Edited by herkulese - 2/18/13 at 11:30am

OK, I found out that wireing two speakers in parallel to the same AVR outputs can be dangerous, so I am going to put them in series and see how they sound.

Duel Center speakers now wired in series, and sound fine.
More pronounced than one speaker, and seem to be in phase as they are only about 24" apart.

Again, the reason for the two Center speakers is that I am using two of the 4 Logitech Z-5500 surround speakers, which are a bit small, as I don't have room in my setup for a larger bookshelf speaker.
I am using the other two surround speakers for the Rear L&R, with a pair of mdeium RCA book shelf speakers for Front L&R.
I am also using the z-5500 Sub, which seems to be working fine now as well.

UPDATE

I broke down and switched out the RCA bookshelf speakers (Front R&L) for the two Z-5500 speakers that I was using for the center channel, and then switched those speakers with the actual center (horizontal) speaker.

I was wowed by the much more balanced sound.
Those bookshelf speakers in the Front R&L positions were simply overpowering the remaining Z-5500s.

Now, the center channel is working fine with just the one speaker, and the surround is again, very immersive, using the AVR - Neo6Cynima surround setting.
Playing music with the MultiStereo surround setting is very nice as well.

I had used the Z-5500 system for several years, but that was over two years ago, and I had quite frankly forgotten how good that system sounded.
I also just didn't know if it would work with an AVR rather than a PC, so I didn't go there.

When I finally decided to get it out and start messing with it I found that it works just fine with all the 5 surround speakers connected directly to the AVR, and with the sub attached to the AVR dual RCA outputs, via the Logitech Pod.
The really great thing about the sub is that I can controle it separately, using the Pod Remote, so if the base is too much I can decrease it, or if not enough I can increase it, with the push of a button, right from the sofa.

On top of everything else, these little speakers are small enough to spread around the room almost invisibly.

Thanks for all the guidance here,
This is a great community.
Roger
Edited by herkulese - 2/22/13 at 8:17am