# Connecting my PC to a receiver for 5.1 sound.



## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

I sold my Z-5500's months ago and seeing a great deal on some speakers I decided to buy them.  







2 pioneer rear satellites and a pioneer center for $15 

Now I'm in the market for a receiver but I'm unsure of what inputs I'm looking for to have 5.1.

My sound card is this






.  

With the logitech system I just used the cable provided.  

From what I've been able to gather so far is that I would need 3






and a receiver with 6 inputs.  

Is this right and if so are there any other options?


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## Mussels (May 13, 2013)

Rowsol said:


> I sold my Z-5500's months ago and seeing a great deal on some speakers I decided to buy them.
> 
> https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...vPkXP6gcCZ2b1qZARfasIwuy-RYnLGd4u1_qiWtObyoPH
> 
> ...



if you have analogue outputs, thats it. you need an input per channel.


if your card does digital and supports DD live encoding (or DTS connect), then get a receiver that supports those.


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## Jetster (May 13, 2013)

If your buying a receiver just use HDMI if you can


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## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

I'd prefer not to have to buy a new sound card but I've yet to find an amp with 5.1 analog or just 5 minus a sub since I don't have one, unless someone can suggest one.  About HDMI, my video card has that but how would I go about doing that?  Cable from video card into receiver then out to the monitor?


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

im using the home theater. my sound goes through my video card to the a/v receiver via HDMI. once you boot your computer up via HDMI right click on the speakers icon in the taskbar and open playback devices then it should say your tv name or receiver at the bottom click on configure and the rest is easy. the sound card you got will not do 5.1 (sorda) but you will need a reciver that dose seprate analog 5.1 since you gonna mostly see (video L & R). make sure the reciver has optical if you can't use your analog setup and i would recommend sound blaster x-fi titanium. you can do 7.1 analog or optical but you got the download the dolby digital/DTS packs to do 5.1 optical or you will just get stereo. i think it's cheaper to go optical or HDMI for analog the receiver gotta have this
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/...8SpFO3UEoprlCGzSV_SzAgI9h5PeWNkWQ47Q10DlxjtqQ
so it's better to run less wires and HDMI audio is as good as optical just with HDMI you get video audio and 3D depending on cable version but most of then have v1.4 and HDMI can do all the decoding for you just use LAV audio or ffdshow audio decoder to use dolby digital-HD or DTS-HD if the receiver can't decode it you will see MPCM witch is fine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

yup from video card to reciver to tv unless your tv has optical out


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## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

Well I opened the playback devices window and under my current choice (Speakers, SB Audigy, Default Device) there's (Digital Audio Interface, SB Audigy, Ready).  So, this card outputs digital?  I'm really dumb when it comes to sound.


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## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

Here's a picture, don't know how to add to previous post.  Also, I'm guessing this would only be 2 channels anyway.


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## Dent1 (May 13, 2013)

Rowsol said:


> I sold my Z-5500's months ago and seeing a great deal on some speakers I decided to buy them.
> 
> https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...vPkXP6gcCZ2b1qZARfasIwuy-RYnLGd4u1_qiWtObyoPH
> 
> ...



Throw away the soundcard as it doesn't have digital connections. Your video card has HDMI output so you're better off using that. Most modern receivers will support HDMI too.


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## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

Yeah, I probably am.  I guess I'll have to see what kinda receiver I can find on CL.

I found this page http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=96220

Okay, nevermind, found out.  It's stereo


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

Rowsol said:


> Well I opened the playback devices window and under my current choice (Speakers, SB Audigy, Default Device) there's (Digital Audio Interface, SB Audigy, Ready).  So, this card outputs digital?  I'm really dumb when it comes to sound.



from the picture i saw no, optical or HDMI do digital and ya it's complicated when you look into the details of hardware well if you doing analog you would use speakers to do the 5.1 did you get the sound card drivers from the source site because it will give you a control panel to do the surround setup


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

Rowsol said:


> Here's a picture, don't know how to add to previous post.  Also, I'm guessing this would only be 2 channels anyway.



oh the black out put seays digital so it's probably digital to analog conversion witch is fine because you can do 24-bit/192Khz well the sound card is digital but it's going through an analog wire and it's only show left and right and your looking at Yamaha i got RX-1700 ($1000+) but it's outdated if your going new. if you can use all 3 plugs in your sound card (blue is line-in for recording or mic unless that pink/orange one is mic only) then you should be able to pick a surround setup.
my sound card
http://s11.postimg.org/g2frn9uoj/sound_card.jpg
if your "speakers" only show L R then you can't do surround on your sound card but your AMD video card can easly do it just buy a cheap HDMI cable don't go expensive it's a rip off. from a store/supermarket it will run you $30 or order from a site for less


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## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

Yeah, it's either an analog receiver, most likely old, from CL which would be ideal, or a couple HDMI cables and a receiver with that.  Thanks for the help.


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## Dent1 (May 13, 2013)

Rowsol said:


> Yeah, I probably am.  I guess I'll have to see what kinda receiver I can find on CL.
> 
> I found this page http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=96220
> 
> Okay, nevermind, found out.  It's stereo



The diagram it shows digital coaxial but it requires some sort of converter from 3m analogue to digital so I'm not sure it'll be able to correctly do pass-through. This soundcard goes back to when Creative used to do false advertising, they would advertise a card as SPDIF ready when infarct it wasn't and then they'll suggest a converter which meant Dolby Digital pass-through wouldn't work as intended.


But in all honesty I'd rather use the video cards HDMI output as the SB doesn't hold any benefit feature wise to merit keeping it. Also HDMI will allow for pass-through for the newer HD standards such as Dolby Digital True HD and DTS Masters which are found on certain bluray discs.


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

hey i just thought it over (doh) since your going for a receiver make shure it has HDMI (most do). for the monitor it's optional (only DVI/AVG) fuck the 5.1 analog stuff. iv only saw that stuff at a computer store and it's better to run one wire than a bunch. and the audio through HDMI is great unless the AMD HDMI drivers are fucking up. it comes with the video card drivers and it's strangely also on realtek.com.tw
some video card can have micro HDMI or non at all but AMD grabed the HDMI before nvidia did for the HDMI cord. i got nvidia 460 had 9600GT. (9600GT has s/pdif but it required a cord that plugs into the video card like thos pointy pins at the bottom of the mobo) stupid windows update installed a older version over the new drivers for HDMI audio


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

http://www.svp-team.com/ takes 24fps videos and turns it into 60fps it's great but you need a high end CPU to get the job done and a average video card. uses openCL. running AMD phenom II x4 965 3.4GHz. make shure your power profile is in high performance so it can detect best profile SVP will use. but if i go on this will lead to questions and i'll just end up doing a video tutorial.

fyi if new HDMI audio drivers get installed the settings go back to default like stereo & full-range speakers off

XD omg i was wounder why he was saying CL for creative labs. they don't sell receivers just sound cards and surround devices etc.. just stick with HDMI if you wants the speaker channels going to the correct ones then doing a virtual surround

find a receiver that dose the YPAO Reflected Sound Control (R.S.C.) sound optimization for automatic speaker setup. some sound cards can do it to "room correction"


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## Aquinus (May 13, 2013)

People, lets not overcomplicate something that should be simple.

Your best bet would be to go with a receiver with optical audio on it if you haven't invested in the receiver yet, unless you really need the receiver switching HDMI for you. You don't need an expensive audio card for digital output, but you would need a new one. Something like this: ASUS Xonar DGX Gaming Audio Card - Newegg.com

If the receiver is dedicated to the computer HDMI will be the better option if you have HDMI handy, which is appears that you do from your screenshot.

Pick one, simple, method. Don't go putting anything between the computer and the receiver.
Edit: Even more so when he hasn't purchased the receiver yet. In that case HDMI is a winner if it is to be dedicated to the computer.


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## tayga (May 13, 2013)

anyways if you need help getting the decoding to work or if you don't care about dolby/dts just make shure you open your high definition audio properties click on advance tab and put the default format at it's highest because it converts it. it's not gonna sound better it's just output at that quality. anyways gotta sleep. gotta pick up  BDPS5100 because of DSD output and i got pink Floyd dark side of the moon on SACD gonna sound dope on this 
http://www.paradigm.com/products/pr...rstanding/paradigm/monitor-series-7/monitor-9
center 1, surround 1 and
http://www.paradigm.com/products/products-by-category/subwoofer/paradigm/dsp-series/dsp-3100
bass is bloddy smooth and i can feel it through the couch.
gonna get a new a/v receiver soon so i can do 7.2 or so. yes i still have my old sub woofer energy 10" smaller it is the tighter it sound and has a better kick


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## Rowsol (May 13, 2013)

tayga said:


> XD omg i was wounder why he was saying CL for creative labs.



CL is Craig's list.


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