Getting Surround Sound

OK, I did a search thru a forums and didn't find much...

I have an A/V Amp box that has three kinds of audio input: Coax Digital In, Optical Digital In, and Stereo Analog In.

I want to use this for 5.1 sound on my PC.

Is there any way to get this to work? I read here that only DVDs will be able to use the optical digital in (and technically my sound card doesn't have optical)... I assume that it is the same for coax, and stereo won't have proper 5.1...

So what can I do? I have an extender card for my SB Live that has SPDIF Out on it.

Oh, this is a Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer 5.1.

you could get an auzentech x-mystique or x-plosion, both of those will send full surround over spdif. the receiver doesnt have a stereo in, and then a block of 4 more rca connectors for surround, center and sub? if so you'll just need 3 1/8to rca cables, otherwise i dont think youll get true surround out of it. might be able to use the modes on the receiver to put sound on all the speakers, but it wont be a real surround.

im waiting till i have enough pennies saved for an x-mystique, but i need a new mobo first to have room and lack a decent set of speakers on my receiver, but i can stick with the 3 cables for now.

AntmanMike said:

OK, I did a search thru a forums and didn't find much...

I have an A/V Amp box that has three kinds of audio input: Coax Digital In, Optical Digital In, and Stereo Analog In.

I want to use this for 5.1 sound on my PC.

Is there any way to get this to work? I read here that only DVDs will be able to use the optical digital in (and technically my sound card doesn't have optical)... I assume that it is the same for coax, and stereo won't have proper 5.1...

So what can I do? I have an extender card for my SB Live that has SPDIF Out on it.

Oh, this is a Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer 5.1.

Click to expand...

I do not have stereo blocks for all of the channels -- only stereo in for L/R, digital optical and coax in.

does the sound card have a optical out or coax out for digital? if it does check the control panel for the SD and set it to use the digital output. the av will handle all the decoding.

The card itself does not have Coax/Digital out, but I have a little extension card for a Soundblaster that uses the pins on it, and it has S/PDIF.

AntmanMike said:

OK, I did a search thru a forums and didn't find much...

I have an A/V Amp box that has three kinds of audio input: Coax Digital In, Optical Digital In, and Stereo Analog In.

I want to use this for 5.1 sound on my PC.

Is there any way to get this to work? I read here that only DVDs will be able to use the optical digital in (and technically my sound card doesn't have optical)... I assume that it is the same for coax, and stereo won't have proper 5.1...

So what can I do? I have an extender card for my SB Live that has SPDIF Out on it.

Oh, this is a Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer 5.1.

Click to expand...

The line level out on that card outputs front/rear/center/subwoofer signals. Unless your AV unit can process that and then redeliver it to all the speakers, you're SOL.

TTP said:

The line level out on that card outputs front/rear/center/subwoofer signals. Unless your AV unit can process that and then redeliver it to all the speakers, you're SOL.

Click to expand...

1, How will I know if the AV can process that?
2, Which output is line out on this card? The manual is long gone :/

AntmanMike said:

1, How will I know if the AV can process that?

Click to expand...

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-jN7Qfi...id=morephotos&i=022RXV659&pi=2&display=XL#Tab
Look at the very left hand side of the pic. there is a small print on there that says multi ch input. that allows older dvd's with rca 5.1 outputs to be used. You can do the same thing with your sound card to the AV like this. You will need a 3.5mm jack to dual RCA's for each jack. As if IRRC each jack on the a sound card tends to be like this FL/FR | SL/SR | CC/Sub out.

AntmanMike said:

2, Which output is line out on this card? The manual is long gone :/

Click to expand...

line out's on most SC i have seen are stereo only not 5.1. You would simply use the jacks as i listed above and should be labled like that.

What you will want to do when using the rca inputs if you AV has them is set all the channles in the sound control panel turned all the way up.

The best other option I can think of would be to buy a cheap card that has optical out that fits your needs. If that's been mentioned I'm sorry, my mind is long gone... been a long day.

Burdman27911 said:

The best other option I can think of would be to buy a cheap card that has optical out that fits your needs. If that's been mentioned I'm sorry, my mind is long gone... been a long day.

Click to expand...

no it hasnt i think the OP was going for what he had on hand. That is a good option as no matter what card the sound from the optical is going to sound the same. The SQ of the sound will be in the hands of AV as it is doing all the decoding.

AntmanMike said:

1, How will I know if the AV can process that?
2, Which output is line out on this card? The manual is long gone :/

Click to expand...

1. your AV can handle 5.1 decoding if it supports dolby dts or prologic IIx.
2. it's usually the green color coded port. You can pull the manual from creative's website.