durch

Hey guys,

I figure it's about time I stop putting this off... I have a 5.1 surround sound system that isn't meant for the computer but I see no reason why it can't work with a computer. The receiver has only 4 ports for the Audio, a red and a white labeled TV L and R, and a red and a white labeled Aux L and R. Right now I have a cable with a red and white plug on one end (plugged into the red and white on the "Aux L and R") and a single black plug on the other end. That single plug on the other end is plugged into the green port on my motherboard's integrated sound. This is giving me clear distinctions between the left and right front speakers, but my rear speakers are drowned out as they're much farther away and I have no means of controlling their sound output as I'm only sending the receiver information from the single green port.

I have a program called Realtek HD Audio Manager that came with the board, and when I do the surround sound test, and the little noise ball circles to the back speakers, the sound stops. No where in the test do the back speakers make any noise. The program allows you to adjust the rear volume, but that does nothing as I'm not sending any rear speaker info to the receiver.

I know I need to hook up more ports on my integrated sound, but I'm not sure which ones to use, what kind of cable to use, or if my receiver is even capable of differentiating between the front and rear speakers since it can only receive a left and right signal. Can anyone help? When this thing was hooked up to my TV several months ago I swear I remember good sound from the rear speakers, but maybe that's because they were directly behind my couch lol.

Mikecdm

The green output from your onboard sound only sends a stereo signal (2channel). Your surround sound system will then either:
A) play it just in stereo using only the front 2 speakers,
B) use some sort of dolby pro logic which recreates a "surround sound" effect from just a 2 channel source
C) or you can select all channel stereo, (could be 5 channel or 7 channel depending on the system) which would give you the same sound and output on both front and rear speakers.

The test in the realtek hd manager won't work because it cant output 5.1 from only the green connection. You would have to use all of the connections, or you can try to use one of the digital connections that the mb has. I'm not positive but it probably has a toslink and a digital coaxial connection, (looks like an rca input but organe)

The ports on the integrated sound are meant to be used with a computer surround sound if you intend on using all of the connections.

durch

Thanks a lot for the reply, I feel much more knowledgeable now So given that my surround sound receiver probably isn't going to give me surround sound from integrated audio, do you know of a good/cheap sound card that would work well? My main goal is to get control over the relative volume of the back speakers versus the front speakers. I simply cannot hear them unless I switch the surround sound from Dolby II to Stereo, which is semi-ok for music but worthless in Counter-Strike. I need to know when enemies lurk behind me!

Mikecdm

I don't know anything about stand alone sound cards, but your onboard should do surround.

Both of these circled connections are digital, which allow surround sound to pass to your receiver. They both do the exact same thing and you have the option to choose either one of them. I don't know exactly how it will function in a game. In order for the receiver to interpret it as surround sound, the game would have to be in dolby digital. It's worth a shot, if you don't have a toslink cable, you can use any plain rca cable and connect it to the orange connection.