Rear and sub woofer aren't recognized on computer?

[lukey2k10]

I'm utterly useless when it comes to surround sound and any audio really.
I'm happy with standard pc speakers but I've been told to try out surround sound, my father's into audio but only uses two massive stereo speakers connected to his amplifier. I have 5 small speakers and also an 5.1ich Full digital amplifier.
This is how i've connected it all:
Green jack on pc to red and white Audio In on amplifier.
Then each speakers is connected via + & - wires which are then connected to the amplifier via some weird plug.
They all play when I'm listening to music or watching T.V but if that's surround sound, then it's the worst thing i've ever heard.
RealTek Audio HD doesn't recognize the rear speakers nor the sub woofer when testing them though.

Have I set them up wrong?

 

[ssddx]

my experience with realtek audio drivers is that they can be extremely buggy at times.

it could very well be driver issues.

==

you could plug the center into the headphone jack however i'm not sure that will do you any good. do you have any friends who have computers that you could test the set out with?

honestly this would be the best test to determine if it is your computer or the speakers. my bet would be that its an issue with your pc.

provided you had the right adapter cables you could use a dvd player, game system or other device. only if you had the cables laying around though (component to 3.5mm or hdmi to 3.5mm).

or you can try a new soundcard. one thing i forgot to mention is that you need to make sure that the soundcard is seated in your motherboard properly whether its an add on module or a seperate card.

i really do not think its the speakers that has the issue. i could be wrong but i havent seen a test you've done that proves it is coming from the speaker side (yet). this is why i wanted you to hook up to another pc.

 

[lukey2k10]

my experience with realtek audio drivers is that they can be extremely buggy at times.

it could very well be driver issues.

==

you could plug the center into the headphone jack however i'm not sure that will do you any good. do you have any friends who have computers that you could test the set out with?

honestly this would be the best test to determine if it is your computer or the speakers. my bet would be that its an issue with your pc.

provided you had the right adapter cables you could use a dvd player, game system or other device. only if you had the cables laying around though (component to 3.5mm or hdmi to 3.5mm).

or you can try a new soundcard. one thing i forgot to mention is that you need to make sure that the soundcard is seated in your motherboard properly whether its an add on module or a seperate card.

i really do not think its the speakers that has the issue. i could be wrong but i havent seen a test you've done that proves it is coming from the speaker side (yet). this is why i wanted you to hook up to another pc.

Nope, I can't take it round to anyones house to test it at this moment, I could wait until next week to do this though.
I've connected them to my Xbox and the centre speaker doesn't make any noise at all, nor does the subwoofer apart from what it should do. this makes me believe it is the speaker.

I think I might just keep them for now, they still work fine just without the centre speaker!

 

[ssddx]

alright. let us know next week what the results are. unless of course you wanted to try a new sound card now.

 

[thee_prisoner]

For movies, you will want the center channel since the dialogue comes out of that speaker.

 

[lukey2k10]

alright. let us know next week what the results are. unless of course you wanted to try a new sound card now.

My graphic cards overlap the 3rd pci port so a sound card is out of the question unfortunately.
although I could buy one just to test it I suppose.

 

[lukey2k10]

For movies, you will want the center channel since the dialogue comes out of that speaker.

Just found that out the hard way. Went to test Star Wars and got a unwelcome surprise when the dialogue was coming from the sub

I'm probably going to sound evne more like an idiot now but It's worth a shot.. I have a dolby digital decoder coming tomorrow, I got it so I can use these speakers with my Virgin box and Xbox 360 via optical port using the decoder as I can only connect them to both these boxes via stereo, if the centre speaker still doesn't work using these then surely it's the speaker/subwoofer that's the problem?

 

[ssddx]

provided that the box works as designed then yes if the center doesnt work its probably the speakers. i've just never seen or heard of your issue before as a hardware problem though it is possible which is why we are trying to test.

you could always get a cheap external soundcard for your pc to test (connects up via one of your rear usb ports) since you cannot use pci. i would personally go this route since i've never used the other conversion box before and dont know how well they work.

your call of course.

 

[lukey2k10]

alright. let us know next week what the results are. unless of course you wanted to try a new sound card now.

provided that the box works as designed then yes if the center doesnt work its probably the speakers. i've just never seen or heard of your issue before as a hardware problem though it is possible which is why we are trying to test.

you could always get a cheap external soundcard for your pc to test (connects up via one of your rear usb ports) since you cannot use pci. i would personally go this route since i've never used the other conversion box before and dont know how well they work.

your call of course.

So something like this? http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/External-6-Channel-5-1-S-PDIF-Optical-USB-2-0-Sound-Card-Audio-For-PC-Laptop-/190826293819?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_SoundCards&hash=item2c6e222a3b
I doubt this matters at all but my optical port is faulty on my PC, Could this have affected the orange port at all? It seems unlikely but thought I'd give it a shout

 

[ssddx]

something like that. i would buy locally if you can so that you can return it if you didnt want it (or it didnt fix the problem). not sure why it says spdif....but it looks like it has usb.

your call. or you could keep it and use it to connect your laptop to your new 5.1 speaker system (since laptops only have a headphone jack typically).

i wouldnt think having a dead optical port would affect it but i've seen stranger things. this is why i said for you to test on another pc if you had a chance to eliminate that variable.

 

[thee_prisoner]

I didn't re-read the whole thing but did you check the box(or uncheck it if needed) swap center/subwoofer output in the RealTek software. If it is checked, the center will play out of the sub.

ssdx, it is USB to connect to the computer then outputs to spdif.

 

[ssddx]

nice catch with the realtek checkbox. i dont use realtek (anymore) so i forgot about that. that very well could be the issue.

alright. i was thinking it may have been optical output but there wasnt much of a description for the product.

 

[ssddx]

nice catch with the realtek checkbox. i dont use realtek (anymore) so i forgot about that. that very well could be the issue.

alright. i was thinking it may have been optical output but there wasnt much of a description for the product.