How-To connect my 51. surround sound speaker system?

TexasIndian

Anxious to replace my old beguiled desktop...all on my current shopping/comparo list state "have 5.1 Surround Sound capability"; yet pics of the rear panels ONLY show THREE ports (blue,geen,pink)?? Does this mean I actually need to revise my list to include desktops that state "7.1 Surround Sound"?? If not, how SPECIFICALLY do I connect my speakers? (LF+RF+LR+RR+center+woofer)??

PowerSpec_MikeW

@TexasIndian

When you see three ports on the rear and the system states it supports 5.1/7.1 surround sound, you can't on those ports being 'soft' ports. Which means they're programmable, the system will prompt you for what you plugged. For instance on a system with three rear jacks supporting 7.1 you could do the following:

Rear Green = Front Speaker

Rear Blue = Center/Subwoofer

Rear Pink = Rear Speaker

Front Headphone = Side Speaker

Now the cables likely won't reach the front, but you can add a 3.5mm extender.

TexasIndian

Thanks TSMikeW,

Whereas don't think "won't reach" will be a problem (replacing my old large tower with a much smalleer one...'mid-tower'?); shouldn't be a problem now since speakers AND desktop will all be 'table-top' this time. However, as much as I do NOT want to depend on a new unit with "7.1 audio" (which current one is) since it'll drastically shrink my list. Have SIX speakers: front x2 (left/right) + rear x2 (left/right) + individual Center Channel + seperate SubWoofer box?? ANY ideas on how/where to connect all these?? REALLY hope you do!! If not, gotta start my research/shopping list all over again from scratch 😖

btw: Any idea how pre-built desktop mfg's expect us to connect when they advertise "5.1 Surround Sound capability"? (lies??)

PowerSpec_MikeW

@TexasIndian

7.1 should be four cables. For PC's they'll use 3.5MM connector with two rings. So you can dl left/right or center/subwoofer on a single cable. 5.1 you could do on three.

Source for the picture: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-two-stripe-earphone-headphone-and-three-stripe-earphone-headphone

If you actually have 7 cables, they must be composite(RCA) instead of 3.5MM. You can purchase Composite to 3.5MM adapters that will combine them into a single cable for the PC.