5.1 audio system to laptop

[cheeya]

Hi, I currently have this speaker system
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882780017
and I'm trying to hook it up with my laptop. My laptop is a clevo P150EM and I believe the sound card is supposed to support 7.1 channels, but the speakers I have are 5.1 (not sure about compatibility). I'm thinking about getting an external sound card, but I'm not entirely sure how to hook up all the speakers since it's recommended to get an av receiver with it. Is it even possible or me to connect it to my laptop without a receiver? Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks!

 

[MagicPants]

You need to have a receiver to provide power to the speakers. It will not work without one. Also, you need a way to pass a 5.1 signal from your laptop to the receiver, and the head phone jack will only output 2 channels (2.0).

The easiest way to do so, is via the hdmi jack. But that'll be a little odd if you want to continue to use your laptop's display because you'll need to setup the hdmi as a separate monitor. Which you can do by cloning it.

You can also try buying a usb sound card and hooking it up with the optical out, but that can only do 5.1 if it supports "Dolby Digital Live" (or "DTS connect"), so look for that.(Unless you only want to pass through a surround signal, say for watching movies, in which case any spdif connection will do.) Most receivers you buy won't have a 7.1 direct input line(basically a set of four headphone jacks, split into rca connections), and those that do tend to be expensive. One reasonably priced line that has them is harmon kardon's avr 1600 or avr 2600 (but nothing newer like the avr 1650)

 

[MagicPants]

Basically, if you bought this:
http://www.amazon.com/Harman-Kardon-AVR1600-7-1-Channel-Receiver/dp/B002IKKFTQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391231562&sr=8-1&keywords=avr+1600
and this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829111005
and four of these:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2


you be all set.

 

[cheeya]

You need to have a receiver to provide power to the speakers. It will not work without one. Also, you need a way to pass a 5.1 signal from your laptop to the receiver, and the head phone jack will only output 2 channels (2.0).

The easiest way to do so, is via the hdmi jack. But that'll be a little odd if you want to continue to use your laptop's display because you'll need to setup the hdmi as a separate monitor. Which you can do by cloning it.

You can also try buying a usb sound card and hooking it up with the optical out, but that can only do 5.1 if it supports "Dolby Digital Live" (or "DTS connect"), so look for that.(Unless you only want to pass through a surround signal, say for watching movies, in which case any spdif connection will do.) Most receivers you buy won't have a 7.1 direct input line(basically a set of four headphone jacks, split into rca connections), and those that do tend to be expensive. One reasonably priced line that has them is harmon kardon's avr 1600 or avr 2600 (but nothing newer like the avr 1650)

Can I use a 5.1 receiver and usb sound card instead for cheaper alternatives?

 

[MagicPants]

sure, but... you need to find a usb sound card that supports dolby digital live or dts connect, and then use an optical output.
(they sure don't make it easy do they?)

 

[cheeya]

Do I have to setup a separate monitor if I try to connect the receiver via hdmi?

 

[MagicPants]

No, the receiver should show up as one. You'll need to send minimal video signal along in order to get the audio.

 

[cheeya]

I got an external sound card that accepts optical and was thinking about getting this receiver
http://www.amazon.com/Sherwood-RD-5405-Receiver-Switching-Stereo/dp/B0038C5FWA/ref=sr_1_54?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1391727553&sr=1-54&keywords=av+receiver

However, I heard it does not have DTS decoding. Will this affect much if I'm just using it off my laptop? I only know that DTS is supposed to be surround sound, but I'm not entirely sure what types of audio outputs in DTS?

 

[MagicPants]

DTS is surround sound but it's not the only kind, there is also dolby digital. For maximum compatibility you want both, particularly if you're going to be passing signals from a pre-encoded source like a movie. For games, the surround sound needs to be encoded on the fly, which is why you want a soundcard the supports DTS-connect or Dolby Digital Live, as they are both encoding schemes (Dolby is slightly better than DTS). So if the receiver doesn't support DTS you'll want a sound card that supports Dolby Digital Live.

You can also have your receiver fake surround sound, which sounds okay, but won't be able to place sounds effects correctly in space.

A Creative USB X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro, would be a good fit for that receiver. Because it supports Dolby Digital Live
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102035


Additionally the more channels you support over optical the worse the quality (which is why 7.1 isn't supported). Dolby Digital Live is roughly equivalent to a 180 kb/s mp3 where as DTS connect is more like a 160 kb/s mp3. HDMI is more like a 256 kb/s mp3 and 7.1 direct is like a flac. (sort of, but then you need to start thinking about which DAC is decoding what)

 

[cheeya]

Yea that's the external card I got, so if I get the receiver that doesn't have DTS only movies will sound different?

 

[MagicPants]

Only if the movies aren't encoded in dolby, which I believe most are.

 

[Snoofix]

Hello, I am very grateful for your detailed answer about sound card. Just one thing to reveal, please tell me what is better to choose I have creative z5450 its 5.1 system. I am choosing if it is better to buy Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 PRO or Diamond Xtreme Sound Digital 7.1 USB External Sound Card
I WOULD SAVE 25 EUR choosing diamond but not sure if I get the same quality