I just built a new box and the VIA southbridge on the motherboard has Realtek AC97 onboard sound built in. I've been using an old but nice stereo amp and 3way speakers for years with my computer. After downloading the latest software and drivers for my mobo the onboard sound is just as good as my old sound blaster and no problems running any games.

Since the onboard sound advertises 6 channel 5.1 surround and I'm now able to play Doom3, I said to myself, "What the hey... let's give it a shot" So I went out and bought a cheap 6 channel 5.1 surround speaker set with 5 speakers and subwoofer/amp.

The speaker set came with a stereo phono plug that splits into two RCA's that you plug into subwoofer/amps input. I chose 5.1 on the sub/amp and 6 channels on the setup software that came with the updated drivers. I tried it out and all I get is stereo out of the left and right front. I've played with every setting in windows and the setup software to no avail. I've tried plugging the phono plug into all of the jacks and still no joy.

There's no documentation to be had and research of internet forums doesn't really address my problem, although I seem to see hints of maybe the only way to do surround with the Realtek AC97 is to make a seperate analog connection to each of the six speakers.

Since I've also read during my research that onboard sound can slow the processor down as much as 10% compared to a plug in audio card, I'm considering picking up a soundblaster live 24 bit 7.1 surround audio card. They're very reasonable and the specs on the internet site say for sure that the green line out jack on the card outputs front/rear/center/sub/rear center from this one jack.

So my questions are:

Will the onboard Realtek AC97 work the way I'm trying to do it and I'm just missing something? Or is my suspicion correct and the only way it actually does 6 channel surround is by connecting each speaker seperately with it's own wire.

Does disabling the onboard sound and using a sound card really boost CPU performance?

And last but most importantly, if I buy the SB Live 24bit 7.1 audio card, can I just plug the one cable from the green line out on the card to the left/right RCA inputs on my 5.1 speaker set and get true 6 channel seperation?

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

Jim

Okay this is gonna be a long one. First off with the onboard sound you need to go into the advanced sound settings and change from 2 speaker mode to 5.1 surround sound. Now what this does is make it so that instead of having a mic port, now the mic port acts as the center speaker or sub hehe I cant remember. So for 5.1 you should be using all 3 of the ports on your onboard sound. One for center/ sub channel, 1 for left and right front, and 1 for rear left and right. Now you have to make sure and plug the marked cables into the right jacks. Also I have had problem with my onboard 5.1 realtek. I have been playing quake 4 recently and the sound crackles a bit. The problem with onboard sound is sometimes it can also get feedback from the rest of the motherboard that can distort the sound. So after my experience I grabbed a sound blaster 5.1 card that I had lying around and it works a hell of a lot better. Also its nice having a seperate sound card because if your board only has the 3 jacks you have to use your mic port for the 5.1, thus disabling your mic usage in a game such as CS. Anyways I hope that helps, if you need more just reply and I can try to sort you out.

Mrwumastakiller,

Thanks for the reply! It sounds like you've already done what I'm trying to do, so if you don't mind I have a couple more questions...

You've confirmed what I was afraid of, to get 5.1 surround all 3 phono jacks must be used. So my question is, where do you connect all those RCA plugs??? That would be 6 RCA plugs. Does the average 5.1 speaker system have 6 RCA jacks, i.e. a jack for each speaker? The 5.1 system I bought only has two RCA jacks for input. That's the way my home theater system works as well. Two RCA jacks in and the receiver splits the signal to each of the six speakers.

Thanks again for your help.

Jim

When you have a little more time and money. Pick up an Xfi and some decent speakers. The xfi EAX 5.1 is really nice. I'm playing Quake 4 now, and I have shaken the dishes in the kitchen with some of the sound.

If you want to go quite, get an xfi and a good pair of headphones. I have the Sennheiser hd495. The 3d positioning from the xfi is good.

yeah, X-Fi is surely a good card but if jim has only 2 inputs on his spk set this will not help him.

Well, that's weird. You *should* have either 6 mono inputs and/or one digital input. 5.1. spk set with with stereo analog input makes no sense...
What speaker set is it EXACTLY?

jimwalker. i m struggling to understand your post a bit. the problem i am having is when you say phono plugs do you mean 3.5mm mini jacks. if so then i can uderstand. i used to use and still have a set of videologic zxr-550's. each speaker connected to the sub/amp with an rca connector. the wires that connected the speakers to the soundcard were rca to 3.5 mini jacks. i think this is the same as yours. there were three of these. the rca connectors plugged in to the amp and the 3.5mm mini jacks went into the pc. you make it sound as if you are only using one of these. i might be wrong but its hard to tell from you post

just so you know what mrwu said was correct and i would refer to the instalation instructions that came with your speakers. knowing what set of speakers would help alot.

Hey, thanks for the replys everybody!

Sorry for the confusion, let me try to explain a little better what I have. First, the motherboard with the onboard sound has three sound jacks for what I call stereo phono plugs and Stranger is calling 3.5 mm mini plugs. I call them phono plugs because that's what Radio Shack calls them, but we're talking about the same thing. The cable is standard and what I've been using for years to connect the sound output from a computer sound card to a stereo amplifier. It has the 3.5mm stereo plug on one end and splits into 2 RCA plugs on the other end. I have the 3.5mm plug plugged into the green line out jack on the mother board. The two RCA plugs are plugged into the left and right inputs on the subwoofer/amp.

My speaker system is just a no name brand that was advertised as a 5.1 surround sound system. It has two RCA jacks for input on the subwoofer/amp. On the front control panel you can choose between 2.1 sound or 5.1 sound. It has speaker output connectors for two front, two rear, and a center channel.

This is pretty much how all the home theater amp/receivers I've bought in the past have been setup. The signal out from a surround sound producing device like a digital satellite receiver or a DVD player has always been a left and right RCA plug. You just plugged the two RCA plugs into the RCA jacks in the receiver/decoder and it split the six combined signals and sent them to the appropriate speaker.

If I understand what you guys are saying correctly, computer sound cards don't work that way? They put out 6 seperate signals to the three 3.5mm jacks and are then split into 6 RCA plugs? Then the subwoofer/amp for computer surround must have 6 seperate inputs? One for each channel? If this is the case then the home theater surround sound speaker system I bought WILL NOT work with my computer (except for 2 channel stereo of course).

I hope I've explained my situation a little better. My questions now is, does a plug in sound card such as a soundblaster live 24bit 7.1 card put out a combined signal from one 3.5mm jack that can be plugged into the left and right RCA inputs on the speaker system I have now? Like the way my home theater system works that I described earlier. The Creative web site says that the green jack on this card has all the channel outputs combined onto it if I'm reading the specs correctly. Or do I need to return the speaker system I have and get something specifically designed for computers?

Either way is going to cost me about the same, I just want to make sure I don't spend the money and then still not have surround in games like Doom 3.

Thanks again for any and all advice and input!

Jim

jimwalker,

i think i see your problem. have you bought a home theater system instead of a pc set. they are different i believe. basically unless the speakers have an upmixing tech built in, outputing a stereo signal from the soundcard will produce only a stereo signal. the only way to get a surround sound from a soundcard on board or otherwise is to use a optical or coaxial connection. by the sounds of it you already have a receiver. if this has a digital input connection and the onboard has a digital out then you should be able to connect it that way and have the receiver decode the surround signal. i would also recommend not buying a no namer but instead a cheap pair of creative, logitech or even altec lansing for use with a pc.

if you tell me what motherboard you have i or someone else might be able to offer more advice. remember though that pc equipment have standard connections which may differ from home electronics. also a link to wherever you bough the speakers from would be nice if you bought them from the net.

Stranger,

You are correct, I bought a home theater system not a computer specific speaker set. I had no idea there was a difference. I thought if a product said it was 5.1 ready then that was good enough for any kind of 5.1 surround output. It has no provision for a digital connection, just the RCA inputs.

I can take the speaker system back and exchange it for a computer specific set for about $20 more, so that's not a big deal. However I'm still concerned about how it will be connected to get true 6 speaker signal seperation.

My motherboard is a Mach Speed Viper64 based on a VIA chipset. I went back and reviewed the manual and the only connectors are the three 3.5mm jacks. Now that I've talked to you I think I'm starting to make a little sense of what I've seen while playing with the software that came with the motherboard.

There are two screens related to changing settings about sound output. One screen lets you choose between 2/4/6 speaker output. Depending on your choice a picture of 2, 4, or 6 speakers appears with volume sliders next to each. In this screen each speaker icon can be clicked to test the sound and positioning of that channel and set the volume.

In the other screen that relates to the sound configuration, a picture of each of the 3.5mm jacks is shown. Beneath each picture is it's function such as green being line out, yellow line in, etc... Below all this is a check box with the text, "Enable smart 5.1 surround sound with green as RF and LF, Yellow as RR and LR, Red as CTR/LFE."

So now my question is, do PC specific 5.1 speaker sets usually have 6 RCA inputs? If I'm understanding this correctly now that's the only way this onboard sound can output 5.1 surround sound signals.

Here's a link to my motherboard
http://www.machspeed.com/v64_k8t8as.htm

Here's a link to the speaker set I'm thinking of exchanging the home theater system for
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/pro [...] id=3371490

Thanks for your help Stranger and I'd appreciate your opinion on how to proceed.

Jim

ye logitech are good. they wont provide as good quality sound as a good set of stereo speakers like the ones you were using before but will provide adequate surround. looking back at your original post the basic sb live card would be better than the onboard so if you can afford it, go for it.

after searching found this site.[url=http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/PC-Speakers/Logitech-X530-Speaker-System-Review][/url]

it has a review and some installation advice. in the logitechs setup each speaker is connected using rca connectors with ther amp. i have never seen the method used to connect to the pc, but i have never used logitech speakers. all the reviews say it is easy.

when you have setup the speakers just test that the sound comes out of the right speaker. i.e let out of left right out of right. by the sound of it you can test this using the software on you comp.

hope this helps and btw the same set is available from newegg for $50.

I'm not surprised that the speakers are cheaper mail order, but after you add in shipping it's not that much cheaper on a box this large and heavy. I was already locked into exchanging for something from Walmart anyway since that's where I bought the other surround system. Thanks for the link to the review, it was interesting!

I hooked up the system last night and can you believe it? Same result!!! I'm only getting sound from the front left and right speakers. I think the subwoofer is working though so I guess that's a difference. I'm very happy with the sound though. I was worried that those small speakers would sound tinny and weak, but combined with the sub under the desk the effect is just as pleasing as my old stereo system.

I played around with software that comes with the onboard sound briefly last night with no result. I'm going to try again tonight after work and also look in windows to see if there's a setting I'm missing. If I don't get anywhere right away I'm going to pick up that SB Live Value 24bit 7.1 card I was talking about in an earlier post. It's very reasonable locally and I'm tired of messing around with this issue. I'm ready for it to work!

Thanks for your help Stranger and I'll let you know how it turns out.

Jim

remember that unless you are playing a game or a movie which uses a surround signal it will not play out of all the speakers without some sort of upmixing technology. normal stereo signals e.g music will sound best in a 2.1 setup. go into the control panel of windows, then the sound options then advanced settings for speakers and make sure it is the same as your own setup i.e 5.1.

I have my computer running throgh a receiver like you and I currently have it set up for stereo because I prefer listening to music in stereo. In one of your post I think you said it is your receiver/amplifier that decodes the signal, i.e., determines if the sound goes to 2 speakers or multiple speakers. Your sound card (computer) is just another source to your receiver, the same as a DVD player, TV, or CD player. If your using RCA plugs into your receiver, I believe the signal is analogue, which the reciever converts to digital. If you are using an optical connection, the signal is sent and received as a digital signal. If this is the case, I think you would set up your sound card for 2.1 and use the primary output plug on the sound card, usually the green one. Once this signal goes into the receiver, the receiver will either separate into 2 or 5 signals, i.e., stereo or surround. So it's your receiver not your sound card that determines if you are listening to surround and not your sound card. If you have output from the sound card plugged into the primary out and running this into the receiver, then you would have to set up your receiver to play surround, same as if you connected a DVD player or TV. If you are doing this and not getting surround, then the problem is either with how you have your speakers connected to your receiver or, more than likely, the settings on your receiver. Most receivers have a setting to "fake" surround if it's not getting a surround signal. To make a long winded post short I 'd suggest the following. Use the Green output on your sound card and set the card for stereo, that should ensure all of the sound is being sent out. Connect this to the receiver using the 2 RCA plugs, do not conect this to the Phono in if your receiver has this, then play around with the settings on your receiver. You could also try different inputs into your receiver. Also keep in mind the .1 is nothing more than the subwoofer and again your receiver not your sound card will handle this. While I don't like to admit it publicly, I have resorted to reading the manual that came with my receiver

i know i'm not the original poster but ive been trying to help him and you have not even read the whole post. he originally bought a home theater sytem for his pc thinking they were the same as pc speakers. he has now decided to get some logitech 5.1 pc speakers. true surround anaogically has to be done through multiple stereo signals. yes digitally you can