Don't know why no one is answering this but here it is again...

I have not really utilized the SPDIF on my 8880 yet. I was wondering other than the little Y cable what other cables are necessary to plug it into my home stereo and would I need special cable to connect it to a sound system in an auditorium. We tried using a 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch to XLR adapters and plugged it in via the headphone out and that caused terrible noise in the sound system speakers.

thanks

The SP/DIF on the Sager is a coaxial output, meaning the RCA type standard cable. So you need to run an RCA type coaxial cable from the y-splitter to your stereo, provided that it has a compatible input ( i.e. a coaxial digital input to the Dolby Digital decoder ). Of course, some devices have a 1/8 inch input for 5.1 input as well, but these are special cases and unless they say so 1/8 inch inputs are for regular stereo and not DD 5.1 ( If the input is for DD 5.1, you can run a 1/8 inch cable from the SP/DIF/Microphone jack without the splitter - as some people do - however, I do not really advise this... ). The headphone out is too noisy and basically not good for anything but headphones. If the sound system in the auditorium does not accept digital input, well you are basically screwed. You would need to get one of those Soundblaster ExTigys or something...

Redundant

BE ABSOLOUTELY CERTAIN that your home stereo has S/PDIF INPUTS. Some people think that just because they have an RCA cable running out of the digital out, that it can just go in to a standard RCA input - big NO-NO.

If you do have the digital-IN, then all you need is a standard mini-jack-to-RCA(type) digital cable.

My digital speakers (for computer) came with one... Most home stereo receivers older than a few years most likely do NOT have digital input, however.

Therefore, the BEST way to get the CLEAREST sound out of your laptop would be via a PCMCIA sound card (they are usually much better than the standard audio-outs).

-myrkat

I was afraid of that. Is the Extigy really worth all that money and will it give me good sound going into the Sound System?

http://www.echoindigo.com/
try this.

Interesting product, you ever see one of these in action?

No , I'm thinking of ordering one. There are allot of good reviews, and I want to try it.

If you do order it, please keep us posted. This sounds like the solution to my needs of plugging into my church sound system. However, this past Easter I played some clips of Saddam's statue falling to illustrate the joy of Freedom and the clips plugged into the Sound System via the headphone out was actually quite clear. I think some of my problems might have been connected with the problems that I had with video and hard drive issues that forced me to RMA my 8880.

thats what I want to use mine for. I will also use my 5660 to record our sermons and save them as mp3 for our website.

I just found this other alternative and it costs less and uses USB.

Try this link. I read it and it has analog and digital output. It is only $60.

http://www.pcconnection.com/scripts/...vendor=M-Audio