S/pdif Interface Connector

[Oprime]

Sup guys. I wanna connect my Z-5500 speakers via its Optical input. I know most motherboards and Sound cards have S/PDIF pins that a connector can be attached to but, I can't find a connector that has an optical S/PDIF output interface.

Anybody know where I can get one that will connect to the sound card pins?

[BlackBox]

Well, the pins are for an electrical S/PDIF connection... you might able to able to get some sort of electrical -> optical hookup. (Usually it's something as simple as a bright LED connected to a jack).

Does the sound card have an optical output? (They look different from most jacks. It looks kinda like the hole that speaker leads would be connected to (by stripping the wires and inserting))

Many stereo system components and DVD players have these connectors. Your soundcard might not.

However, the pinout for the SPDIF header is pretty widely understood, so it should be pretty easy to connect something to it (assuming your speakers can take a coaxial input for SPDIF).

It's possible that your soundcard might have a coax output built in already. Sometimes, it just routes the SPDIF through the regular analog jacks (as is the case with my sound card), you have to turn on an option in the volume settings to enable digital output.

But again, neither of these are optical. You will need to connect the speakers through coax / RCA to get SPDIF input unless you can somehow connect an optical transmitter to the SPDIF output pins.

[Oprime]

My speakers can take both coax and optical connections Logitech Z-5500. I have a coax interface cable that will connect to the onboard pins. Reason why I'm looking for a optical interface cable/board would be cuz I'm building a Media room. xD in total the project is most likely going to cost me more or less $8,000. Optical connections don't get the interference that copper based cords get.

If there is an interface I can simply connect to the onboard S/PDIF pins it'll keep me from spending $200+ for a card that has an optical out. If there is no easy way out of spending money on a card that has one that's ok but, dang why are hi-end sound cards so expensive when they are so weak and use old tech >.>;;.
 

[BlackBox]

yeah, electrical interference is a problem if you have to run long cables.

However, I think long fiberoptic TOSLINK cables are pretty expensive if you need them.

As for connecting TOSLINK (optical) to the SPDIF pins, you need what they seem to call a "TTL -> TOSLINK" adaptor (it takes the electrical signal and converts it to an optical signal)

(TOSLINK are the square connectors with the hole, that looks like the speaker wire connection)

This site seems to have plans to build one:
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/spdif.html

Hope that can point you in the right direction -- it seems you might be able to do something as simple as connecting an LED to the pins.

[Galactic]

A lot of sound cards today have optical ports on it. My $40 external USB sound card has them, so it isn't an expensive technology. Just recently I worked on a computer with an optical port on the motherboard. I would suggest heading to your local computer store and asking about sound cards with optical ports. The cables are a little expensive being about $10 for a 3 footer.