2 sound cards can make a dolby system?

[copycat]

well i have an ISA 16bit sound card and a Soundblaster 128, is it possible to make them work together and one play with my front speakers and the other one with the rear speakers? i am interested in creating a 4,1 sound system, well i could buy a soundblaster 5,1 but i want to know if this is possible with 2 simple sound cards.

[copycat]

do i need a special program to do this?because i tried to make itn work seperately but i didnt make it. i could choose only one card at a time.

[RED Hot Machine]

i don't believe it can be done, i've never heard of any software/games that support this setup.

[3DMike]

There is no way this can be used to make a dolby system. Even if software could be found/written to allow both cards to play together, Dolby is far more than just the same sound coming from four (or4.1) speakers.

In order to create the illusion of a sound positioned in 3D space the surround channels have to undergo DSP (digital signal processing). Various frequencies are filtered and delayed by differing amounts in other words.

If you're interested in the exact details I can dig them up for you. I'm currently at work designing the hardware configurations to allow Dolby to work better on Digital Satellite tv in the uk so I'm sure I could find the details somewhere.

On the oterh hand if you want to prove me wrong I'll be pleased to admit Im wrong!

Mike

[scoobydoo]

A Dolby Surround is different than a regular surround system.

Dolby processes the info from the main and creates rear channel info for the surrounds. There is alot more to it once you get into DPL, DD 5.1, DD-EX 6.1/7.1 and so on.

Regular surround uses the same info for front and surround

You could play all 4 speakers using one sound card.

Just hook the speakers up in series or parrallel to whatever amp you use to run them.

If you need help, describe your equipment and setup and I will explain it.

Note:
This isn't a 4.1 or 5.1 system, but you would need 4 or 5 speakers and a sub for that anyway!

[copycat]

but i wanted to know if this thing would be possible, well i will make a more advanced and further research and i will inform you as soon as i find something.

[copycat]

well i would be gratefull if i you could send me some info about this stuff. i found pretty good stuff in www.dolby.com about speakers and other kind of stuff. thankz anyway.

[MikeBD35]

There's a simple way to wire four speakers to get passive dolby surround. Not exactly Dolby Digital, buts its easy to do. You have to hook up a second pair of speakers in series to the plus side of each channel of the amplifier. That way the second set of speakers only produces the difference between the left and right channels which is how surround material is encoded.

I hope the below diagram comes out alright(ignore the apostrophes, the're for spacing). This does put an additional load on the amplifier so don't crank it up without realizing this. Also note that the rear speakers are connected negative to negative. I think thats right but I'm not sure.



``````Left`````Right
-------`(+)(-)````(-)(+)`------`````Amplifier Outputs
|``````|``|`````|``|``````|
|``````(+)(-) ```(-)(+)`````|
|``````FL``````FR ````````|`````Front Speakers
|````````````````````````|
|````````````````````````|
|-----`(+)(-)`----`(-)(+)`---``````Rear Speakers
``````RL````````RR

[plague]

heres a cleaner picture of that from howstuffworks home theatre article