How do 7.1 ports work?

[Myntekt]

Can someone explain me how the 7.1 ports work? I know those are the ports: Front out/Side out/Center-Subwoofer out/Rear out. But all of those need to be split in two right? So how is that done? Thanks

 

[ShadyHamster]

There are 2 channels in each port like any other standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

Each port has a left and right channel. Th sub and the center share a port because their sound is on directional.

 

[ssddx]

soundcard colors and channels.

example of the green front speaker connector (also used by headphones).

any pc speaker system will hook up with 3 or 4 3.5mm plugs depending on if it is 5.1 or 7.1
if you intend to hook the pc up to a system which has 6 analog inputs for 5.1 (8 for 7.1) then you would need to adapt and split them (generally to rca cable ends).

 

[Myntekt]

I understood everything besides the last part. How do you split the cables? There is one right/left port, but there are normally two cables. How do I connect both? Something like this?

 

[ssddx]

read this in bold carefully and be sure you absolutely answer these questions as without the answers i am only guessing what you are trying to do.
-i am assuming you have a pc soundcard and are referring to the outputs on it and how to split them and not 5.1 outputs on some home theater. clarify.
-i am assuming you want to connect said soundcard to a 5.1 receiver or speaker system that has 5.1 analog inputs (normally rca). clarify.
-i am assuming you are not thinking of connecting bare speaker leads (unpowered speakers) up to your pc directly (this will not work). clarify
without these answers all i can do is try and guess what you want to do and what you need.

i'm assuming here that you have some sort of 5.1 receiver with analog inputs or other 5.1 speaker set that has analog style separated inputs and want to use your pc as the source of audio.

such as

generally most of them use RCA type jacks, so you would use cables like below to connect pc to the system

although given that you did not say WHY you wanted to split them in two or even what sources were involved so i'm guessing here what you mean.

 

[Myntekt]

read this in bold carefully and be sure you absolutely answer these questions as without the answers i am only guessing what you are trying to do.
-i am assuming you have a pc soundcard and are referring to the outputs on it and how to split them and not 5.1 outputs on some home theater. clarify.
-i am assuming you want to connect said soundcard to a 5.1 receiver or speaker system that has 5.1 analog inputs (normally rca). clarify.
-i am assuming you are not thinking of connecting bare speaker leads (unpowered speakers) up to your pc directly (this will not work). clarify
without these answers all i can do is try and guess what you want to do and what you need.

i'm assuming here that you have some sort of 5.1 receiver with analog inputs or other 5.1 speaker set that has analog style separated inputs and want to use your pc as the source of audio.

such as

generally most of them use RCA type jacks, so you would use cables like below to connect pc to the system

although given that you did not say WHY you wanted to split them in two or even what sources were involved so i'm guessing here what you mean.

Oh that's it yes. I had no idea, I'm pretty noob at this and I created this thread just to have an understanding of how these things work. Thank you.

 

[ssddx]

however, realize that what you asked is the "old way" of doing things. not many systems hook up in such a way anymore.

nowadays systems use hdmi and optical.

 

[Myntekt]

however, realize that what you asked is the "old way" of doing things. not many systems hook up in such a way anymore.

nowadays systems use hdmi and optical.

And where do you connect those?

 

[ssddx]

optical supports 2.0 uncompressed audio. if both devices support 5.1 over optical (compressed audio, and on pcs will often be called dts-connect or dolby digital live) then you can play 5.1 over this connection as compressed audio.

hdmi supports uncompressed audio and would be output from your video card along with video to the hdmi input on a receiver. if your receiver does not support video passthrough (hdmi out) or you can not hook your tv/monitor up to the hdmi out for various reasons (unsupported resolutions, 120/144hz panel, etc) then you could instead hook up both separately to the video card using different cables. the receiver would show up as a "second monitor" on your pc however would not output any video (its just a placeholder so you can change settings)

 

[ssddx]

why all the interest in home audio to pc connections. perchance are you thinking about upgrading to a home audio system?

 

[Myntekt]

why all the interest in home audio to pc connections. perchance are you thinking about upgrading to a home audio system?

I'm just curious because I like to be informed and I might do something in the future. Thank you

 

[ssddx]

well, this is what most standard receivers look like nowadays. a b it different from the above, but you can use the labels to find the jacks.
http/www.pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/Custom%20Install/Detailed%20Product%20Information/AV%20Receivers/SC-61_Back.jpg

please note: home theater in a box solutions are different and are often very iffy when it comes to auxilliar inputs. some support 5.1 over optical, some only 2.0. some support hdmi input, some do not and some only 2.0 on hdmi (silly i know). some only accept aux input. if buying one of the all in one box solutions you need to be careful and make sure if it supports what you want to do. a full receiver does not have any of these limitations.

perhaps the best bang/buck speakers are the energy classic 5.1 take or (copycat product) monoprice 10565. for the money spent you would be hard pressed to find better. of course if you spend more you can get nicer speakers, but on a very tight budget they are great.

also, if you can access your walls from below/above to run speaker wire through them you may want to look at wall plates http/ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-5323690727015_2268_71926273 which make removing connections to clean when you have speakers nice and it hides wires in the wall. if that is not an option, they make speaker wire that is flat that you can paint over http/cdn.soundandvision.com/images/archivesart/GoRetro10.jpg so it hides it from view. if that again is not an option they make wire covers you can run along baseboard to hide it http/www.d-line-it.com/images/Products/Trunking/1608/16x8_insitu1.jpg