I got Logitech's x-540 speakers for christmas, which is a 5.1 audio system. I have the last generation 15" MBP and there is only the headphone slot, so I can only play sound through 2 speakers, unless I use the active matrix feature which simulates 5.1. Is there any way I can play true 5.1 or do I have to upgrade the sound card? Any suggestion if for a sound card if I need one?
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5.1 speakers
- Thread starter crazypilot48
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I'm not familiar with the speakers you got but if they have an optical port you'll be able to hook them up to the optical port on your MBP. With the optical set up you'll be able to get your 5.1
Your speakers only connect via analog minijacks, which means you cannot connect them directly through the computer and get surround sound. The only way you'll be able to do that is by connecting them to a USB or Firewire interface that will send sound out through minijacks; an interface such as Griffin's Firewave. Miglia makes another as well, but you're looking at $20-$60 added cost to do that. It's the only way you'll get it to work.
you could if the speakers have the correct input. the speakers the original poster got for christmas do not have one.
Also...It's also somewhat rare for you to find one that does work it seems; and most the ones that do offer it, one would think that investing in an external sound card would be worth it, given the more expensive nature of those speakers...
You can use this external sound card: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave
It's $24 if you use the coupon code STOCKING and free shipping. Very straightforward to setup up too.
It's $24 if you use the coupon code STOCKING and free shipping. Very straightforward to setup up too.
I've got my Sony 5.1 home theater system connected to my 24" iMac by a toslink cable and it works perfectly. I'm not sure what you were referring to with the "rare" comment.
As always, it's a case of you get what you pay for. But a good quality home theater will work just fine with an iMac via toslink.
speaking about speakers. how would i hook up a pair of studio montor speakrs to a macbook. they have the 1/8 jack,xlr and a phone jack.i dont care which inputs i use as long as i get sound.im thinkn i might need an external device but wot would i need
home theater != computer speakers. you have a receiver with a 5.1 decoder (dolby/dts) that takes the signal output through the toslink cable and decodes it. most computer speaker setups don't have that, even the 5.1 setups. almost every desktop pc out there has 5.1 sound output, but this isn't the case with laptops (even the windows laptops i've owned). i know logitech has (had?) a set of 5.1 speakers with built in dolby digital decoding, but that's not the norm.
that's what he is referring to by "rare", computer speakers, not home theater setups.
you should be able to go to the phono jack, but a manufacturer and model would help confirm that.
OK, I see the confusion now. I knew about the Logitech Z-5500 (which you mentioned above) and I guess I mistakenly thought that most other 5.1 speaker systems for computers included hardware decoding.
f1sh3r got it right. The Z-5500's have it, I'm pretty sure Klipsch Pro Media 5.1's had it...but even Dell's Altec Lansing 5.1's didn't have the decoding capabilities. You definitely get what you pay for however...