5.1 to MBP Unibody

[the advisor]

I am trying to connect an analog 5.1 logitech speaker setup to my unibody MBP to produce the highest sound quality. Currently I just have the green plug of the three component cables plugged into the notebook. The quality is OK and in stereo. I know that the unibody supports optical sound, so I wanted to know if there was a 3-to-1 converter I could purchase to make use of the other sound channels? Is it perhaps worth it for me to just upgrade to a high end 2.1 speaker setup?

All help is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[harry454]

get a express 34 5.1 sound card, that works wicked as well.

 

[Sesshi]

All Macs support sound encoded in 5.1 only - i.e. you don't actually have any control over how the 5.1 is presented, because all it's doing is passing through the encoded Dolby data on a DVD for example to optical.

Therefore, you need a Dolby decoder to actually get 5.1 from your Mac, and as I said it'll only happen with 5.1 encoded material.

Your cheapest likely option is to Craigslist a home theater receiver / speaker system with optical input. The Logitech Z-5500 is a 'computery' way of doing it and it'll do simulated surround from stereo (i.e. as explained before, everything on your Mac which isn't encoded as 5.1) as well, but it's comparatively expensive for most.

 

[macleod199]

I use a Griffin Firewave to attach 5.1 analog speakers to my 2006 MBP:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave

It's unfortunately discontinued, but you may be able to find one. It plugs into firewire (does the new MBP still have a firewire port? I forget), which may also be a problem.