5.1 sound from media centre

karltimber

Hi folks,
my old 5.1 setup was with a dvd player and an RCA cable from this to the back of the surround sound amp/dialogue box.
all worked fine etc

now, my new setup is a media centre with this mb with on-board sound.
I need to cennect this media center to the surround sound system & the lcd.
How will I do this.
do I need a sound card - what cables are needed - is it possible to connect both lcd & surr sound system ??

I really am a noob on the sound side of things, so please help,
ordering some gear from komplett monday - so want to save on shipping if possible

thx

K

ps-my mb does not have an optical out !!

Conar

karltimber wrote:

Hi folks,
my old 5.1 setup was with a dvd player and an RCA cable from this to the back of the surround sound amp/dialogue box.
all worked fine etc

now, my new setup is a media centre with this mb with on-board sound.
I need to cennect this media center to the surround sound system & the lcd.
How will I do this.
do I need a sound card - what cables are needed - is it possible to connect both lcd & surr sound system ??

I really am a noob on the sound side of things, so please help,
ordering some gear from komplett monday - so want to save on shipping if possible

thx

K

ps-my mb does not have an optical out !!

I had a quick look at the Komplett link for your board.
It says that you have 5.1 support.
"Audio Output Sound card
Audio Codec AD1888
Sound Output Mode 5.1 channel surround "

I checked the MSI website for the manual but it seems to link to the wrong board as it shows 1 audio output in the manual.
Can you confirm what outputs you have on the back?
It would help us know what to advise.

Sometimes you have front left and right on the same output for example. You would need a cable that splits the output if thats the case.
Even a photo of the outputs would help a lot.

subway

does your mobo have spdif out - digital rca?
it doesnt need to be optical out.

if you have that, and nearly all mb's should, you can just plug into the back of your amp.
youll find details of how to enable spdif out in the manual, and youll probably need a mono 3.5mm to mono 1/4" adapter - 2.50 in maplins.

karltimber

here is a photo of the back of the media centre.

thx

subway

does the manual say that you have spdif out?

karltimber

No , but if the mb supports 5.1 - how the hell is it meant to be connected.

here are the specs off Kompett.
1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
1 x mouse - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
1 x audio - line-In - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x audio - line-out - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm
4 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A
1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45
1 x storage - floppy interface - 34 PIN IDC
1 x parallel - IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP) - 25 pin D-Sub (DB-25)
1 x serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9)

8T8

Not sure it can be...

Your photo the of the I/O section of the motherboard matches up with the manual from MSI's site.

No optical or coax SPDIF for digital audio
Line out/in and mic for analogue audio

It seems to lack the connections for analogue surround sound even though the onboard chip is capable.

I'll have another look over the manual in case I missed something.

Edit: Okay well the manual is painfully brief & does not reveal anything hidden away so to speak. I also found out the MSI 915P Combo F is the board that comes with the actual outputs for surround sound. So it doen't look good at this point you may need to consider getting a sound card.

karltimber

is there A PCI sound card that would give me the necessary spdif out.

thx folks

8T8

Yeah is your connection of the TosLink/optical kind or the coax version of SPDIF ?

Some cards feature only one or the other.

subway

pick up an audigy zs from ebay,
should be about 20eu

karltimber

8T8 wrote:

Yeah is your connection of the TosLink/optical kind or the coax version of SPDIF ?

Some cards feature only one or the other.

the 5.1 amp has a "optical" square jack.
the optical cable I have fits it ok. It just looks like an optical cable with a sq jack on the end.

not sure what a Toslink is

thx

8T8

Toslink is the real name for the optical connection.

Like subway says an Audigy 2 ZS would do if it comes with the additional Toslink bracket for those cards, Creative tend to only put the coax kind on the cards own I/O output. Not all versions came with the Toslink bracket however it is possible to get adapters that convert from Toslink to coax SPDIF.

Creative also sell a little dongle on their site which will give Toslink connections on most of their sound cards.

But it is probably easer to get a card that simply comes with Toslink in the first place. The cheapest one on Komplett is this card it uses a VIA audio chips which are fairly decent and you can read a review here.

subway

yeah, stay away from audigys if you need optical.
most amps should have a coax which is cheapre to set up in terms of cabling.
1m optical can cost up to 30euro
where 2 or 3 meters of coax shoudl be about a tenner

karltimber

hi lads,

am I right in saying that I could use a card with a dig coax out to the coax input on my amp ??
The same input that was used with an RCA cable from my old dvd to the amp ??

Saw this on elara ??

or am I better off waiting for a Toslink instead.

thx

subway

cant see any faults with that.
card has spdif rca out so meets your requirements.

i dont know of any benefits to be had in a mid end home setup by using optical over rca

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1144964
the creative does the same thing at a cheaper price and better brand name - imo

8T8

I wouldn't go with the trust branded card they offer ****ty drivers for the C-Media chip that powers it and I recall reading about all sorts of problems with making 5.1 work properly.

The Audigy SE doesn't have the coax SPDIF output unless you get that dongle I mentioned from Creative.

On-Board Connectors

* Line level out (Front / Side / Rear / Centre / Subwoofer) or Headphone out
* Line In / Microphone In / *Digital I/O
* Aux Audio in

* Supports SPDIF Out for Stereo Digital Speaker/ connection with Creative Digital I/O Module (sold separately)

Creative have always focused more on the analogue side of sound than the digital which is why only the higher end Creative cards come with the actual connections for SPDIF included in the box.

subway

but im not 100% on the actual specs. all creatives i have had have come with spdif out ove rca built in
from what i understand the i/o module acts as a plug in converter to optical/rca from 3.5"
the coverters can be bought for about 2 or 3 euro

the spec sheet im reading goes like this
Supports SPDIF Out for Stereo Digital Speakers or SPDIF In/Out with Creative Digital I/O Module (sold separately)

i dont know about c-media drivers, but in this case its only being used for passthough of spdif so the cards capaibilities are moot since it wont be decoding anything?

kaisersose77

got one of these off the creative ebay site:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Creative-Soundblaster-Live-24-bit-External-Soundcard_W0QQitemZ150071143887QQihZ005QQcategoryZ75518QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

worked out at 30 euro's including shipping but someone might be lucky with the one above.

Only have 2 pci slots in my pc, and 2 of them are being used so this is a handy option. It has spdif out and have it connecting to my dvd player with spdif in. Works great!