Hello,
I bought a Dell XPS L701X (Windows 7, 64-bit) with a Realtek ALC665 High Definition Audio (Driver 6.0.1.6240 x64 aka R2.55) and I'm trying to connect my 2.1 stereo speaker system Cambridge SoundWorks® MegaWorks® THX® 2.1 250D (http://uk.creative.com/products/productarchive.asp?category=4&subcategory=27&product=124&nav=-1&listby=) using a digital cable to the Realtek Digital Output (S/PDIF) connector #6 (see pic below) but I have no sound. The only way to get sound is connecting an analogue cable to connector #5. (see pic below)
Notebook S/PDIF connector:
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/xpsrightpanel.png)
2.1 stereo speaker system inputs:
•2 x Analogue Audio (3.5mm stereo mini-jack)
•1 x Digital SPDIF (RCA)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/Foto0025.jpg)
Mixing audio through Digital and Analog inputs:
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/mixing.png)
The Realtek ALC665 has 1 digital S/PDIF, my 2.1 stereo speakers system has 1 digital S/PDIF too, so I thought I could have sound using this option:
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/real01.png)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/real02.png)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/real03.png)
Could anybody please help me with this problem?
Thank you very much,
Gonzalo
Do you run windows 7? If so, go to "control panel", "hardware and sound" and see under "sound - playback" if your speaker is recognized and enabled.
If you want to keep it digital you need an optical to coax s/pdif convertor (pretty cheap) then you go from the s/pdif output on the laptop to the convertor then convertor to coax input on the speakers.
If you want analogue just use a standard 3.5mm - 3.5mm lead to go from connector #5 or #6 into input 1 or 2 on the speakers.
You can't go optical into analogue.
@kraut:
Yes, it's recognized.
@probedb:
If this is an "optical to coax s/pdif convertor", then yes, I'm using it, it came with my speakers.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/03digitalandminijack.png)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/01digitalminijack.png)
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/02digitaltominijack.png)
Thank you.
Gonzalo
If you want to keep it digital you need an optical to coax s/pdif convertor (pretty cheap) then you go from the s/pdif output on the laptop to the convertor then convertor to coax input on the speakers.
If you want analogue just use a standard 3.5mm - 3.5mm lead to go from connector #5 or #6 into input 1 or 2 on the speakers.
You can't go optical into analogue.
Thank you for your reply.
Is this an optical to coax s/pdif converter or it is just a simple adapter?
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/01digitalminijack.png)
Hi again,
I assume both the spdif out on the laptop and the spdif in on the speaker is an rca connector? From the pic of the speaker that is what it looks like. But is the computer outlet an rca jack too?
In any case, both outputs are definitely coax and not optical. Toslink looks quite different and there is no easy plug in conversion available, as the optical signal would have to be converted into an electrical signal.
If it is recognized in the sound device list, click on that speaker, right click and select test below configure speakers.
Hi again,
I assume both the spdif out on the laptop and the spdif in on the speaker is an rca connector? From the pic of the speaker that is what it looks like. But is the computer outlet an rca jack too?
In any case, both outputs are definitely coax and not optical. Toslink looks quite different and there is no easy plug in conversion available, as the optical signal would have to be converted into an electrical signal.
If it is recognized in the sound device list, click on that speaker, right click and select test below configure speakers.
Nope, the computer outlet is not an rca jack, I have to use the adapter below (rca to 3.5mm mini-jack) to connect the digital cable to the computer.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/01digitalminijack.png)
When I connect the cable to my computer, a popup window appears asking "what device did you connect". I choose S/PDIF output, but when I want to test the speakers, I have no sound.
So, what I need is an optical to coax s/pdif convertor? If this is too much trouble, I'll go through analogue.
I wonder why I have sound when these speakers were connected on another PC with a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy card.
Thank you again,
Gonzalo
That doesn't look like a Toslink-coaxial SPDIF adapter at all, just a regular 3.5mm to RCA adapter. From what I've seen, optical to coax is a little box, and it needs a power source. You can double check easily at the 3.5mm tip of the adapter, it should have a little hole or translucent tip cause it's supposed to be taking in light if it's an optical input.
Also, have you checked the optical input of your speakers with another device, like a DVD player? When you had sound with the Audigy card, were you using the same adapter and cable?
I believe you need these three components to connect the optical digital output of your laptop to the coax digital input of your speakers:
1. 1/8 to Toslink adaptor/cable (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00016W6Y6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
2. Optical to Coax Converter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OEUWZM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
3. The coax RCA cable you already have.
All in all, a lot easier to connect via analog and I really doubt you'd hear any difference into 2.1-channel. For 5.1 surround sound you'd have to be connected via S/PDIF.
I believe you need these three components to connect the optical digital output of your laptop to the coax digital input of your speakers:
Why do you believe that when the labeled output is clearly a coax spdif out and not a toslink out? Your response makes no sense.
You just add another component by introducing a toslink/coax converter - the question is why?
As to the speakers - do they have a switch from spdif in to analogue in. Is the xover at the sub or at the satellites?
I have a bit of experience with setting up converting amps/speakers. My main speakers - kef 104/2 are powered by hypex AS2.100 converting amps and are fed from my media server via spdif and USB for the control and filter set up, my computer station feed Edirol MA 15 D active speaker also via USB?Spdif converter.
Some switches are small and easily overlooked.
That doesn't look like a Toslink-coaxial SPDIF adapter at all, just a regular 3.5mm to RCA adapter. From what I've seen, optical to coax is a little box, and it needs a power source. You can double check easily at the 3.5mm tip of the adapter, it should have a little hole or translucent tip cause it's supposed to be taking in light if it's an optical input.
Also, have you checked the optical input of your speakers with another device, like a DVD player? When you had sound with the Audigy card, were you using the same adapter and cable?
Seeing the image of the Toslink Coaxial SPDIF adapter, I can tell you that what I have is just a regular 3.5mm to RCA adapter. I wonder why my adapter does not work with my notebook. I though that S/PDIF carries digital audio signals between devices and components over either optical or electrical cable. I definitely have a 75 ? coaxial cable using RCA jacks. Since my notebook does not have an RCA input, I thought that using the RCA adapter would work. I don't have an optical cable since my speaker system is not optical.
I believe you need these three components to connect the optical digital output of your laptop to the coax digital input of your speakers:
1. 1/8 to Toslink adaptor/cable (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00016W6Y6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
2. Optical to Coax Converter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OEUWZM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
3. The coax RCA cable you already have.
All in all, a lot easier to connect via analog and I really doubt you'd hear any difference into 2.1-channel. For 5.1 surround sound you'd have to be connected via S/PDIF.
Are you sure? I don't have any optical input/output. My speaker system uses a coaxial cable with RCA jacks (not optical).
I believe you need these three components to connect the optical digital output of your laptop to the coax digital input of your speakers:
Why do you believe that when the labeled output is clearly a coax spdif out and not a toslink out? Your response makes no sense.
You just add another component by introducing a toslink/coax converter - the question is why?
As to the speakers - do they have a switch from spdif in to analogue in. Is the xover at the sub or at the satellites?
I have a bit of experience with setting up converting amps/speakers. My main speakers - kef 104/2 are powered by hypex AS2.100 converting amps and are fed from my media server via spdif and USB for the control and filter set up, my computer station feed Edirol MA 15 D active speaker also via USB?Spdif converter.
Some switches are small and easily overlooked.
- The speakers don't have a switch from S/PDIF in to Analogue in.
- The crossover is at the subwoofer.
This is what the manual says:
About the built-in Digital-to-Analog Convertors:MegaWorks THX 2.1 250D features high performance true 24-bit Digital-to-Analog Convertors and supports sampling frequencies from 44.1 kHz to 96 khz, via an RCA SPDIF digital connection.Thank you everybody for your help,
Gonzalo
If your laptop is outputting optical, which I think it is, the adapter has to convert light pulses to electrical ones. Take a good look at your adapter and you'll see why it doesn't work for that.
I'm fairly certain that the spdif output on the laptop is a 3.5mm coax digital output that doubles as a headphone output. I had an old soundblaster that had this config. I had to physically switch the card between headphone and spdif in the control panel.
I'm fairly certain that the spdif output on the laptop is a 3.5mm coax digital output that doubles as a headphone output. I had an old soundblaster that had this config. I had to physically switch the card between headphone and spdif in the control panel.
Are you sure it's like that? I've never seen this, I've always seen that they combine optical with analog, which makes more sense. You also have to switch between analog and optical in the control panel. Which soundblaster model was that?
In any case, it's easy to check. Just set your output to SPDIF and see if you got a red light coming from the hole.
I've always seen that they combine optical with analog, which makes more sense.
Why would that make more sense? To me it seems to make more sense the other way, despite the fact that I know that there are devices which combine optical and analog. FWIW, all the SB soundcards I've had with S/PDIF outputs had these outputs as electrical, not optical.
Are we sure the digital out on the laptop is providing proper S/PDIF and not TTL?
If your laptop is outputting optical, which I think it is, the adapter has to convert light pulses to electrical ones
why do you keep harping on that when a coax output is available? No need for conversion. You are just confusing the issue why a coax spdif signal is either not recognized or no signal is transmitted via the coax.
Check in your control panel: "sound - adjust volume" if the volume slider is all the way up. The device - your spdif speakers - should also show up there. The panel shows: "Device", "Speakers".
Click on "speakers" and you should be able to see which device is enabled.
why do you keep harping on that when a coax output is available?
Why do you say a coax output is available when what is shown is a 1/8" phone jack?
why do you keep harping on that when a coax output is available?
Why do you say a coax output is available when what is shown is a 1/8" phone jack?
I would guess that it's because the two most common spdif connections are toslink and coax. Undoubtedly, the 1/8" jack would be connected to a coax cable with a 1/8" adapter.
Undoubtedly, the 1/8" jack would be connected to a coax cable with a 1/8" adapter.
Clearly, though the actual device which is supposed to be sending out a digital signal is simply providing a 1/8" jack which doesn't necessary imply a connection to a coax cable.
Note well that the coax cable came with the speakers, not the laptop.
I'm fairly certain that the spdif output on the laptop is a 3.5mm coax digital output that doubles as a headphone output. I had an old soundblaster that had this config. I had to physically switch the card between headphone and spdif in the control panel.
Are you sure it's like that? I've never seen this, I've always seen that they combine optical with analog, which makes more sense. You also have to switch between analog and optical in the control panel. Which soundblaster model was that?
In any case, it's easy to check. Just set your output to SPDIF and see if you got a red light coming from the hole.
Yes, it was an HP OEM SoundBlaster 16 PCI. I would also think it would make more sense to use it as an electrical spdif out as you wouldn't need to build an optical transmitter into the 1/8" jack. From a manufacturing standpoint it would probably be cheaper to include a toslink connector.
I'm fairly certain that the spdif output on the laptop is a 3.5mm coax digital output that doubles as a headphone output. I had an old soundblaster that had this config. I had to physically switch the card between headphone and spdif in the control panel.
I think that too. This is what the manual says:
5 jack audio output / headphones, connected to a pair of headphones or send audio to a speaker or sound system.
6 Connector combination headphone / digital S / PDIF: connect amplifiers, speakers or TV output for digital audio. It can also be used to connect a pair headphones.
7 audio input connector / microphone or connect a microphone input signal for audio programs.
NOTE: You can set 5.1 channel speakers using the three audio connectors (5, 6 and 7) or using the S / PDIF (6).(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/xpsrightpanel.png)
When I connect a 3.5mm cable, a window appears asking what device did I connect:
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/whatdevice.png)
Thank you,
Gonzalo
Why do you say a coax output is available when what is shown is a 1/8" phone jack?
because the coax refers to the cable, and it is still a coax connector no matter if you use a friggin phone plug or or a rca plug.
It is still a balanced connection if you use a xlr or a standard 1/4" phone plug.
To burnett_s:
again - check in your computer control panel. I remember the heck of a time I had to get my M audio card to work in windows XP.
Yes and the cable came with the speakers, not the laptop.
The last time I looked at the construction of a TRS or mono phone jack it wasn't coaxial regardless of the friggin cable plugged into it (which could even be optical (http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2005/08/18/gigabyte_w511a_is_a_multimedia_notebook_at_an_attractive_price/gigabyte_optic.jpg)!).
The last time I looked at the construction of a TRS or mono phone jack it wasn't coaxial regardless of the friggin cable plugged into it
Funny, isn't it. My spdif cables are all coaxial 75 ohm cables. If it ain't you might not get transmission because of impedance mismatch.
S/PDIF was developed at the same time as the main standard, AES/EBU, used to interconnect professional audio equipment in the professional audio field. This resulted from the desire of the various standards committees to have at least sufficient similarities between the two interfaces to allow the use of the same, or very similar, designs for interfacing ICs.[2] S/PDIF remained almost identical at the protocol level (consumer S/PDIF provides for copy protection, whereas professional interfaces do not), but changed the physical connectors from XLR to either electrical coaxial cable (with RCA connectors) or optical fibre (TOSLINK; i.e., F05 or EIAJ Optical), both of which cost less. The RCA connectors are typically color-coded orange to differentiate from other RCA connector uses such as composite video. The cable was also changed from 110 Ω balanced twisted pair to the already far more common (and therefore compatible and inexpensive) 75 Ω coaxial cable, using RCA jacks instead of the BNC connector, which is more common in commercial applications. S/PDIF is, for all intents and purposes, a consumer version of the AES/EBU format.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF)
TRS or mono phone jack it wasn't coaxial
Why don't you have the decency to at least read what I was writing. You might have caught on to the fact that I referred to the cable, no matter what the jack at either end.
I have the distinct impression with super moderators like you the atmosphere gets rather too dense for me, and it is time to take my leave from this illustrious forum.
at least read what I was writing
Yes and if you had read what I was writing you would have seen that this cable to which you're attaching so much importance came with the speakers.
Why do you believe that when the labeled output is clearly a coax spdif out and not a toslink out?
Let us be perfectly clear, all that is labeled is "S/PDIF". This does not mean that it must require a coaxial cable.
In case you didn't catch it earlier, kraut, I take issue with the way in which you jumped on other members when it seems pretty clear that you weren't armed with all the facts either. This might explain why my tone with you probably can't be described as loving.
Again, assuming that the connection is not optical, are we sure the digital out on the laptop is providing proper S/PDIF signal and not TTL?
burnett_s, have you looked at the waveform of the output when it is configured to deliver S/PDIF? I suppose I should back up a bit and ask if you see red light coming out of the headphone jack.
OK, if SoundBlaster cards used to have a coax SPDIF out in a 3.5mm form, then that makes even more sense. I've never seen these combined outputs with coax rather than optical SPDIF out. Creative liked to do things its way, its 7.1 cables were a "proprietary" mess, for instance. So, creative included this "adapter" that would work with SoundBlaster cards.
To the OP, it is easy enough to look for that little red light.
I've always seen that they combine optical with analog, which makes more sense.
Why would that make more sense?
I presumed (perhaps wrongly?) that sending digital electrical signal to a headphone by mistake could damage the headhpones? Never tried it though, cause I've never had a SB card and never seen this in any other devices I've owned.
One thing i haven't seen mentioned in this thread, but that it is of special importance in Vista/Seven is.... Have you selected the Digital out as the soundcard in the application?
Concretely, what i mean is that the analog output and the digital output are placed as two different soundcards, and using the erroneous one will not output any sound.
In my laptop (a 2008 Acer model) i also have a headphone-SP/DIF. I don't have a digital receiver so I've never tried the digital out, but I know that if i selected the wrong one by mistake, i didn't get sound.
I was gonna mention it, but the control panel usually synchronizes with the Windows Sound settings. I've seen this with Realtek and IDT devices.
As mentioned multiple times, set it to digital out and see if you get some kind of light coming out the jack. Sometimes they have an internal cover so to help reduce dust, so you may only see a very small amount of light.
A 3.5mm optical and analogue combo are common, as are the "cables".
(http://www.tvcables.co.uk/images/items/1m-toslink-mini-toslink-cable.jpg)
Someone at an unofficial German Dell forum claims that it has an optical SPDIF output: http://www.dell-forum.de/dell-xps-forum-no...2447-spdif.html (http://www.dell-forum.de/dell-xps-forum-notebook/2447-spdif.html).
I have only seen an electrical S/PDIF miniplug connector on some old SoundBlaster cards. The laptops I have seen have had an optical "combo" miniplug connector.
OK, if SoundBlaster cards used to have a coax SPDIF out in a 3.5mm form, then that makes even more sense. I've never seen these combined outputs with coax rather than optical SPDIF out. Creative liked to do things its way, its 7.1 cables were a "proprietary" mess, for instance. So, creative included this "adapter" that would work with SoundBlaster cards.
To the OP, it is easy enough to look for that little red light.
I can't see any red light because the only way to activate SPDIF is connecting the cable. There's no option in the soundcard control panel to activate or disable SPDIF.
About my speakers:
My 2.1 speakers are from Creative Labs, and the RCA cable and RCA to mini plug cable came with the speakers to work only in Sound Blaster soundcards.
The Digital Input is Coaxial Digital. The RCA-To-Mini Plug Cable is supposed to work only in Sound Blaster Audigy Series, Sound Blaster Live or Sound Blaster Extigy).
So, the speakers and my previous Sound Blaster Audigy soundcard are coaxial digital (not optical), and that's why the RCA-To-Mini plug cable works well there.
Now, I wonder if my Dell notebook really has an optical output because in the Realtek Digital Output properties says Left pannel: Optical connector
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/realtek.png)
One thing i haven't seen mentioned in this thread, but that it is of special importance in Vista/Seven is.... Have you selected the Digital out as the soundcard in the application?
Concretely, what i mean is that the analog output and the digital output are placed as two different soundcards, and using the erroneous one will not output any sound.
In my laptop (a 2008 Acer model) i also have a headphone-SP/DIF. I don't have a digital receiver so I've never tried the digital out, but I know that if i selected the wrong one by mistake, i didn't get sound.
There's no such option. The Digital out is supposed to activate itself as soon as a cable is connected to SPDIF connector.
That option was available in my old Sound Blaster Audity soundcard. (Digital only)
Anyway I give up, I'll contact Dell support and come back latter with an answer.
Thank you so much everybody for your help.
Gonzalo
The last dialog screen is the missing piece to the puzzle. With that in mind, Apesbrain already gave you the complete answer in Post #9 (http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=85784&view=findpost&p=736861):
I believe you need these three components to connect the optical digital output of your laptop to the coax digital input of your speakers:
1. 1/8 to Toslink adaptor/cable (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00016W6Y6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
2. Optical to Coax Converter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OEUWZM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
3. The coax RCA cable you already have.
All in all, a lot easier to connect via analog and I really doubt you'd hear any difference into 2.1-channel. For 5.1 surround sound you'd have to be connected via S/PDIF.
The sentence I took the liberty to put in bold type might be your best option, unless there are demonstrable issues with this method.
Yes, in fact I'm using analog right now and it sounds great.
I found something interesting here, but it's from 2009 and the Realtek driver is not the same, anyway here it is:
http://support.dell.com//support/topics/gl...p;s=gen&cs= (http://support.dell.com//support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=ar&docid=116788&doclang=en&l=es&s=gen&cs=)
I'll contact Dell support and come back later,
Thank you very kindly
From the Realtek control panels I've seen before, you can probably disable automatic input detection, so you could turn on/off manually the optical output and see if it's working. Is there any such option? Or, if you already have an optical cable with a 3.5mm end, you can probably connect it and see if light comes out the other end. I don't think SPDIF can tell if there's an actual device connected on the other end, so it should transmit anyway.
THIS IS THE CABLE!
As mentioned multiple times, set it to digital out and see if you get some kind of light coming out the jack. Sometimes they have an internal cover so to help reduce dust, so you may only see a very small amount of light.
A 3.5mm optical and analogue combo are common, as are the "cables".
I didn't see a light, altough the output was enabled.
I believe you need these three components to connect the optical digital output of your laptop to the coax digital input of your speakers:
1. 1/8 to Toslink adaptor/cable (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00016W6Y6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
2. Optical to Coax Converter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OEUWZM/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001622FL8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0D2KCQPY530XBP2SNJWC)
3. The coax RCA cable you already have.
All in all, a lot easier to connect via analog and I really doubt you'd hear any difference into 2.1-channel. For 5.1 surround sound you'd have to be connected via S/PDIF.
Well, the S/PDIF of the laptop was a Toslink port.
But like you suggested, I'll keep my connection via analog into 2.1 channel.
Thank you for your reply, you're right!
Posted by jimco on Dell Support Forums
The laptop has a Toslink port. So to connect to the Cambridge speakers you need a device or adapter to convert Toslink to coax. You can google Toslink to coaxial adapter. You need an optical cable to go from the laptop to the Toslink to coaxial adapter. If the Toslink to coaxial adapter has a standard size port then you will need a mini-TOSLINK adapter, or a cable with a mini on one end and standard size on the other. Here is a picture of a mini-TOSLINK adapter
Optical Toslink to Coaxial (RCA) Digital Audio Converter(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/61y8PPniHPL_SL1500_2_zps8a4ba7b7.jpg)
Toslink to Mini Digital Optical SPDIF Audio Cable(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/31owz8MWAaL_zpsbcb175b9.jpg)
Subwoofer Cable - RCA to RCA(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/81a4JUa-DdL_SL1500_2_zpsfccfc6a9.jpg)
mini-TOSLINK adapter 3.5 mm(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/adaptador-mini-toslink-35-mm-p-cable-audio-digital-optica-4086-MLA113016836_4084-O_zpsceeea227.jpg)
Optical Toslink to Coaxial (RCA) Digital Audio connection(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/SP-COAX-OPTICAL_zpscb710d20.jpg)
Thank you very much for your replies !!
Hope this post helps to somebody else.
After all, according to the XPS 17 (L702x) Audio Setup Guide, the S/PDIF of my L701x laptop was a Toslink port.
S/PDIF OUT on the laptop is a Toslink OPTICAL signal output that doubles as a headphone output.
The S/PDIF ports on the L701x and L702x are the same.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h158/gonzalo76/08-12-201306-15-01p-m2-_zps362e6028.jpg)
Thank you very much for all your help once again!
Take care,
Gonzalo