Question 1

Is there anyway to hook all these speakers up to my laptop that has only one jack, if I bought an external USB soundcard?

Accepted Answer

Just use the front input (l&r jacks) only and plug right into headphone jack on your computer it will power all 5 speakers in stereo.  Even better, the way i have it set up, is to buy a bluetooth receiver($25) and plug it into the same input discussed and then sync (pairing) your ipod or iphone to this bluetooth receiver and  now your trasmitting wireless audio to the Electrovoice unit.  I have same set up on my older audio equipment Carver/Yamaha setup (1200 watt channel) that i have had for decades before bluetooth was around but now i play music from my ipod bluetoothed to it and talk about awesome.  I use the my electrovoice speakers in my shop that way whoever drops buy can sync there devices and we can listen to different genres

Question 2

I see some dimensions in the specifications, not sure if they are for satellite speakers or sub. I would like to know how tall the sub is? Thanks.

Accepted Answer

The sub is about 14 or 15 inches tall. It is a bit tall perhaps but this system has power and it sounds very good for the price.

Question 3

I see people have had issues with the length of the cables.  I have a fireplace with the plasma screen over top, and will need to run the smaller speakers to the sides and I want to make sure the cables are long enough to reach.  So my question is "How long are the cables"?

Accepted Answer

The two front speakers have a cable length of 56 inches each
The two rear speakers have a cable length of 9 foot 8 inches each
the power cord to the sub woofer is 5 foot 6 inches long.

All speakers are connected to the sub woofer which powers them.
Note that this is a 4.1 system.  It is front stereo left and right and rear speaker stereo left and right. Plus a sub woofer.

If you are considering this for a home theater setup note that it is not 5.1. There is no center channel. 
Hope this helps.

Movies are mostly in 5.1 or 7.1 format for the best effect.  The center channel usually has the bulk, but not all, of the speaking and front sound and the left and right have the surround sound. 
For music and not video, this is a great speaker system.

Question 4

I give up! How do I hook up the subwoofer to my computer? I have only one place on my computer that works, and thus it only powers one pair of speakers. Help. How do I connect to my computer to make both pairs work? BTW, I do not have a sound card installed, just working off the motherboard I guess.

Accepted Answer

The subwoofer will not connect directly to the computer. The satellite speaker with the volume knob on it ("the main speaker") must be connected to the subwoofer via the multi-pin communication cable that comes in the box. This cable carries the sound data to the amplifier, which is housed in the subwoofer. There is also an RCA line coming out of the main speaker. This RCA line, as well as the RCA lines from the other 3 satellite speakers, must connect to the RCA speaker outputs on the back of the subwoofer. Be careful not to plug them into the RCA inputs! If you look on the side of the main speaker, you will see three 3.5mm connections. There is one for headphone out, one for microphone in, and one for auxiliary (aux) in. The one labeled "aux" is the one that needs to run to the speaker output of your computer (usually a green 3.5mm jack). There should be a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable in the box for this. Hope this helps!

Question 5

I have 2 sets of these. I do not know how to connect the RCA cables (2 cables 2 aux cords that come with it) to my computer. Any help on this?

Accepted Answer

You need to identify the outputs from your soundcard. They are sometimes color-coded. Connect the RCA ends to the subwoofer box white to white, red to red. I used a sharpie to mark each end of one cable so I knew which was the front versus rear from the speakers. With that, I connected the appropriate cable to the appropriate output from my soundcard (in the back of the computer). You say you have 2 sets of speakers? So you are really going for 8 channel sound. If your soundcard has front, side, rear and center channel, then you will need to be creative on how to treat the center channel as it is usually on the same jack as the subwoofer output. I would use all of the short RCA's for the front and center channel and the longer ones for the side and rear. You will really need to play around as you will have an regular speaker trying to out put the sub-woofer channel from the soundcard. Maybe leave that speaker disconnected.

Hope all that helps. good luck.

Question 6

This is my 3rd question about these speakers as I'm still having trouble hooking them up to my PC. I am using the supplied RCA/aux (2) cables to plug them into my sound card. I have 2 gaming computers with both using Creative Xtreme Gamer sound cards. I plug the front 2 speakers into the "green" hole and both front speakers work. I plug the other RCA/aux cable into the gray hole and still I get no sound in the other 2 rear speakers. I unplug the gray hole and plug them into the orange one and still no sound. They work if I use the plan 1/8 aux cable that comes with the speakers but I'm not getting the best sound setup coming from the speakers by doing this as the sound card has many sound enhancements. I'm going to take out my sound card and use the onboard sound and see if this fixes it. What do you think?

Accepted Answer

The auxiliary out on any sound card generally yields a poor sound.
I suggest you look at the Creative Quick Start Guide and follow the instructions for 4.1 Analog Speakers.
Note you will be using the Telex cables, you will be going from computer audio jack plugs to RCA plugs on the back of the Telex Woofer.  
If you need one of these jacks for headphones, you'll need to secure a splitter.

Question 7

How many ohms?

Accepted Answer

Not sure, but they're self powered "no need for amplifier".

Question 8

Is there a way to add an extra center speaker to make this speaker system 5.1?

Accepted Answer

If your computer has an extra output jack (on a Realtek 7.1 chipset, for example), you can plug a center speaker in directly, and set it as your center speaker.

Question 9

May be a dumb question, but what type of connection do you need for these speakers.  Can I plug into my laptop's USB or headphone jack?  What about SPDIF?

Accepted Answer

From what I can tell, the speakers accept both RCA and 3.5mm inputs.

Question 10

Does anybody have the UPC Code number for this refurbished unit? Thanks in advance.

Accepted Answer

Yes the UPC code is 7...01001 09741...8. I think the "small" sized 7 and 8 off to the left and right, respectively, of the number 01001 09741 may not be part of the UPC barcode #. If you're thinking of buying these I must say they are outstanding. Thunderous, clean bass (if you want it, it can be adjusted down) and crisp, brilliant highs. And extremely powerful and non-distorting even at shake-the-paint-off-the-walls volume. I got them at Newegg for the current advertised price, which was an absolute steal. Knowing now how they sound, I'd pay twice to 3 times that amount.

Brand	Telex
Series	Electro-Voice
Model	EV Sonic XS

Configuration	4.1
Satellite RMS Power /ea	60 Watts per channel with 1% THD @ 1KHz (30 Watts RMS)
Subwoofer RMS Power	125 Watts with 1% THD @ 50Hz (60 Watts RMS)
Driver	(Per satellite): One 4", magnetically shielded woofer and one 1" horn tweeter (Subwoofer): One 6" long throw
Frequency Response	45Hz - 20KHz

Telex Electro-Voice EV Sonic XS 4.1 5-Piece Powered Hardcore Multimedia Speaker System-A Grade Refurbished

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Item#: N82E16836126001