• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

What is the cheapest way to get "true" 5.1 sound out of this setup?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
D

dguy6789

Member
​
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Location
Texas, USA
Hello. I have the following sound setup:

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wc...rogram=11002&cachePartner=7000000000000005702

Right now, I am running it through the Auxillery jack to the PC using something similar to this(couldnt find the exact one):

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a..._name=CTLG_007_002_003_009&product_id=42-2483


For now, I have been running a kind of fake 5.1 mode. I have been running stereo with it spread out on all speakers(which is really just left and right channel sent out to all the speakers)

Question is this. What is the easiest way to have my PC really use all 5.1 channels?
 
OK THANKS ALOT MAN. But, which plugs on the sound card do i plug each one into? My mainboard is this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128259

Which color for the front, which color for the surround, and which color for the center/sub woofer?

I already have two sets of those wires, and I have another on the way.

I need to know which color for the front speaker connection, which color for the surround, and which color for the subwoofer/center speakers on my mainboard.

The mainboard has green, pink, and blue. Thanks alot.
 
Last edited:
I did the following. I have the Front speakers in the speaker plug, the rear speakers in the line in plug, and the center/sub in the microphone plug. Yet in the NVmixer program, when I goto the speaker wizard, it cant make sound come out with any speakers individually except the left and right.

I have it all plugged in right as far as I know, and nvmixer can make sound either come out of all the speakers at once, or just the left, or the right individually. It cannot control the center, sub, or the surround speakers.

Does the mainboard not support 5.1 or what? It says it is 8 channel.

This is a drawing I made of how it is connected at the moment.
 

Attachments

  • untitled.GIF
    untitled.GIF
    5.7 KB · Views: 261
Last edited:
That looks right. Did you go into the Windows Sound Control Panel and set it for 5.1 Channel Speakers. If not, it will only allow stereo output and shuts off the other speakers.
 
I set it in Windows to 5.1, I also set it for the Line in and Mic ports to be used as surround speakers and center/sub. I dont know why it isnt working now. Is it possible the onboard sound doesnt support it? Would buying a cheap card, like an Audigy or Audigy 2 help?
 
It is quite possible that your board doesnt like it. The older boards that switch around the plugs were always touchy as far as I was concerned. So, your stereo does have direct 6 channel inputs? I take it, by your pic above that is does.
 
It has Left and Right Front Speaker ports, Left and Right Surround Speaker ports, and Center and Subwoofer Ports. I have each connected to one of those wires that turns 2 of them into one that fits in the pc.

The system has multiple inputs(most do as far as I know). They are Game/Aux,(which has only Left and Right ports) TV(only left and right) DVD/VCR(left and right for in and left and right for out), DVD/DVD6CH(which has Left and Right Front, Left and Right Surround, and one for center, and one for sub(this is the one I have the pc connected to))

It also has some video inputs, but they should not matter im pretty sure.
 
Well im going to be going to circuit city today. What is a good card they carry that has 5.1 for $50 or less?

Im looking at the Turtle Beach Riviera 6 Channel, Sound Blaster Live, and possbily the Turtle Beach Catalina.

Are any of these good? Are there any better sound cards for the money? How important is stuff like EAX HD?
 
How are you testing for surround sound? For music.. you have to enable CMSS 3D or you will only get output from the front left and right speakers. You can enable it in the EAX Console.
 
I have used both the NVMixer and the Creative speaker setup. I have the inputs all setup correctly.

On the creative thing, it highlights left speaker, and says "left front speaker" then highlights center speaker, and says nothing, then right speaker, and it says "right front speaker", and it does this for all the speakers, except that the front left and right are the only ones hearing any sound.

I can get sound out of all of them if I do a Panorama type mode where it just copies the stereo sound and puts it on the rear speakers. But what I want is to have 5.1 mode with 5.1 channels.
 
Your reciever assuming it is surround sound ie:capable of driving 6 or more channels simultaneously should have a button for selecting differant sources for the various modes. video, cd, tape monitor, and auxillary would all be just two channels. If your reciever can decode the spdif signal for dolby or dts it should also have a "multiple channel" selection among the ones I mentioned. It should also have 6 additional rca jacks labled analog surround or something like that on the back. You will need to find the button or control on the reciever that allows you to use the multiple analog inputs. I suppose that there might be some surround recievers that will only work in surround if the digital connection is used.

look at this reciever at panasonics site

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wc...pId=25013&surfCategory=Receivers&displayTab=S

and notice the part in the specs abnout "discreet 6 channel input" It looks your out of luck with the thing you bought it is strictly digital surround all the analogs are 2 channel You could purchase a new card like the turtle beach montego ddl

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/soundcards/mtgoddl/producthome.asp

it would let you get surround from your setup $79.99 but I have a feeling these are gonna get even lower soon
 
Last edited:
Plug some headphones into the Surround channel, and SW/Center output. If you still can't hear anything, then you know somethings not right with the sound card settings. If you hear something, then you know somethings not right with the receiver. Just a thought to help narrow down the problem.
 
i actually have a turtle beach bought it back like four months ago for about 54$....i have no clue why its 80$ rite now.... thats odd :shrug:
 
illskills You bought the montego ddl or just the plain old montego? Yes dguy that is correct either the xmystique or the new montego ddl would allow your surround system to work BUT look for others to begin appearing hopefully from a differant company even realtek could redeem themselves if they would create a product that had as much or more of the things that made soundstorm so much better. Unlike all pci soundcards but the newest creative chip run at or below the pci bus speed 33mhz soundstorm ran at the fsb. C-media just released a newer pci chip that has both ddl and dts support as well other features I am not familiar with yet. But still it will rely on software for the encoding which means latent sound no matter how pretty the board looks. I would suggest you go with montego ddl because it has the same chip and cost 20 dollars less I think eventually all cmedia's cards will drop in cost to a bit more than the cards that do not feature dolby or dts. the price difference will be whatever they are getting charged to license the encoder from dts or dolby.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Panasonic HD-PLC
Replies
2
Views
489
FireMogle
FireMogle
Back