Need help with 5.1 speaker setup

[MaximusBlu]

I am a bit out of my league when it comes to figuring out audio and video setups. I am trying to figure out what I need to use my 5.1 Logitech z5300 speakers with my different devices.

Here is a list of devices:

Vizio M501d-A2R
Sony BDP s580 bluray player
Xbox 360
Time Warner Samsung HD cable box
MS Surface Pro tablet
Sony Vaio i7 laptop with bluray drive and hdmi out
Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB THX 1095 (allows me to get 5.1 sound while using my laptop)

Right now I can get 5.1 sound from my laptop while using my USB SoundBlaster x-fi sound card. This works great while using my Sony Laptop to watch blurays , Netflix, or whatever I do with the laptop, but I don't know what I need in order to get my other devices to work with my Logitech speakers. My Xbox 360, Sony bdp s580, and Time Warner cable box are the issue I have. I don't know a way to hook them up to get 5.1 surround using my speakers. The Logitech speakers have 3 plugs that come out of it for front, rear, and center/sub. Is there a device available that I could plug all my devices into by hdmi and then output to my Logitech speakers with the 3 connections it has? I don't know what I need.

My laptop plays regular blurays, but not 3d ones like my Sony standalone player otherwise I would just always use my laptop for playing all my blurays and really wouldn't need a standalone player.

I finally figured out that if I use the RCA audio out on the TV and plug that into the input on my SoundBlaster xfi soundcard I could get all my hdmi connected devices to play through my Logitech speakers, but it is only in stereo. It sounds much better than using the TV's speakers, but I really want to get 5.1 sound from everything and in the easiest way possible. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Shpongle DMT]

There is a way to do it in theory, but it may be cheaper to just buy a smalled receiver and a set of speakers. If you don't want to do that, then this solution should work but I don't know how well it would sound.

You will need a HDMI matrix switch that has analog outputs like this one for $249.95 http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdmi-to-7-channel.html



The USB soundblaster that you are using has the surrounds and Center/Sub combined into 3.5mm jacks. So what you will need is a "stereo" 3.5mm to RCA cable like below. Just make sure that the appropriate end of the split cable gets plugged into the right port on the matrix switch. For example, when the 3.5mm end is plugged in to the soundblaster the subwoofer information will come out on the red end and the center on the white end, or vise versa.

[MaximusBlu]

Shpongle DMT, thank you for the helpful reply. I am still deciding what I want to do to my setup. I don't really want to spend much money right now so I will have to think it over.