BabylenTatarsky

I've recently moved my computer to my brother's old desk. There are five speakers already in the correct places and a subwoofer.

How do I go about configuring 5:1 surround sound?

What do you need to know? Do I need to install anything special? And how can I test it?

I'm a total noob at this and have never used anything other than 2 regular speakers in the past, so would appreciate any help.

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MIG-31

Going by your specs you have a Asus P5Q if so there is already a 5.1 sound card installed already.

This is not a direct image of the sound out puts from the same board but it should give you the idea.



The Green Port is usually only for 2.1 setups.. You will get the additionally outputs for 5.1 by placing the plugs by the matching color.The other colors are (Possibly) for a 7.1 set up.

The Black & the Orange ones are used to get the 5.1 set up working... You may also need to update the drivers also.. I have no idea if you are using onbord or an alternative sound card.So im only going with what i can at this time.

Once they are plugged in goto My Control Panel and go to the sound options.

This may look different depending on the OS.(this is from Win7)



Click Configure...This will give you the options to select 5.1's as you require.There will be a test option in the following window.

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BabylenTatarsky

Hahaha straight after I posted I started fiddling. My brother just plugged it in quick and only the front left and right speakers worked.
I managed to get the rear speakers working (somehow) but the centre and sub were dead. Turns out the centre one had come unplugged from the sub and so wasn't technically even connected to my computer. Duh!

Fixed it all up now though - although had to swap the front right (when facing) and centre speakers, which I thought was odd... makes me think it's never been set up right.

My music sounds better now though so right or not, it's staying.

Thanks for help. And yeah I think I am using onboard sound.

I've no idea what the knobs on my subwoofer do though. Well, I'm guessing the top one is like a balance between left and right... although what's the centre bit? The second knob must just be the same for the rear ones. Third one's got me baffled though, and turning it seems to do nothing...

Here:


(sorry about the pic - hipstamatic on iphone by default...)

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mcdragon2

my guess would be that the bottom knob controls how loud the rear speakers are, unless there is another label that is not visible.
any idea what brand the sound system is? it sounds like you are just feeding it 2.1 and it is trying to give you back 5.1

MIG-31

Just as a guess as i have no idea what the sound system is.

Front: Balance between the front Speakers

Rear: Balance between the rear Speakers

The bottom Control: will control the Bass from the sub Woofer.

As you say the bottom one does nothing... I think you may have it incorrectly wired up... ?

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BabylenTatarsky

'it sounds like you are just feeding it 2.1 and it is trying to give you back 5.1' I don't understand what this means.

And maybe it is wired up wrong, haha.

And uhm, it says medion on the speakers - I got them ages ago when I got a Medion computer.

It sucks that all the wires go into the subwoofer because I can't physically access the back of it cos the wire's going in are too goddamn short, so can't pull it out far enough to see.

Then there are three wires going into the back of my computer and, as far as I can recall, they were all the same colour. Although one does have celotape on, which I assume was to differentiate between that one and the other two... but nobody seems to remember why!

I could take a photo of the back of the computer, but like I said can't even see the back of the woofer properly.

I think circumstances mean I'll just have to stick with what I've got. There's bass now, so at least that's an improvement from when I first started...

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BabylenTatarsky

Bottom knob definitely affects the amount of bass. Just had it turned too loud elsewhere to notice.

So I guess it's all fine.

Thanks for the replies guys.

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mcdragon2

well if there are 3 wires from your computer then you are giving it 5.1 or atleast 4.1 idk where the center chanel comes from
glad you got it all figured out

Judas

make sure there isn't a switch for "5.1" and "2.1" modes..

some speaker packs such as 5.1 units have a dip switch or mode available... so that you can feed the speakers through a single connection.. and to use the 5.1 truely.. you have to switch it to the 5.1 mode so that is used all 3 connections

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BabylenTatarsky

where would the switch be?

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MIG-31

Probably on the back where all the cables are connected.

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