Surround Sound With Triple Monitor Setup?

[wax147]

i am wondering if i can set up some kind of surround sound setup with 3 monitors with built in stereo speakers. can i hook them up someway to my pc with the 7.1 audio out built in on the motherboard.

i dont care about rear sound just some kind of surround with the 3 stereo speakers

any suggestions?

edit0: sound is going to monitors thru 3.5mm jacks, each monitor has a 3.5mm stereo jack in.

 

[bryonhowley]

That would depend on how your monitors are getting the sound if it is though HDMI/DisplayPort the there would be no way. If the monitors have RCA jacks then it would be possible.

 

[wax147]

That would depend on how your monitors are getting the sound if it is though HDMI/DisplayPort the there would be no way. If the monitors have RCA jacks then it would be possible.

the sound is going thru 3.5mm stereo jacks and the video is going through DVI

 

[batuchka]

Do surround right : get a used coax/optical DD/DTS capable receiver and hit fronts, center and rear speakers with an active sub? if cheap/used is not needed hit a current HDMI DTS-HD/Dolby TrueHD AVR and pass HDMI out of your PC to AVR

 

[thee_prisoner]

Assuming the mobo or sound card has analog outputs( it sounds like it does) This will be a little confusing but basically, run the left output mains to left monitor, center outputs to the center monitor and right mains outputs to the right monitor. Having never done this, I'm not sure what would happen.

True surround sound(not simulated/virtual) deals with discrete channels of information going to each speakers. In your case and I'm not sure but I assume that you will get sound coming out on each speaker for each monitor, in other words, 2 left mains, 2 center and 2 right mains. Which should be fine for the center channel but the inner main left and right will probably muddy the surround a bit. I've never owned a monitor with speakers so I'm not sure how much control you will have will volume of each individual speaker. The sound quality won't be great but you might as well try it out.

Tell us how it turns out, the Prisoner...

 

[ssddx]

as thee_prisoner said...

if your monitor audio inputs are via 3.5mm then you can likely get it to work....

run the center 3.5mm output to your center monitor.
split the front speaker 3.5mm output to the left monitor and right monitor splitting the cable with left going left and right going right
split the rear speaker 3.5mmm output to the left monitor and right monitor splitting the cable with left going left and right going right.

speaker output would be something like this if done right...

{left rear}{left front}------{center}{center}------{right front}{right rear}

you would need to figure out which wire on the cables is the left and which is the right. spliced together right you should be able to get some semblance of surround sound however its not exactly going to be a good solution. the effect might be pretty cool though and cable costs are not that expensive if you wanted to try.

i would highly suggest getting a true surround sound set instead though.

 

[thee_prisoner]

ssddx: Problem is I don't know if he has that much control over his monitor speakers. It would be nice if he would respond.

 

[ssddx]

@thee_prisoner

on paper it should work fine. 3.5mm plugs have dedicated areas for left and right channels. the monitors do not know if this signal is coming from a rear, center or front sound output. they only see an analog signal coming in and play it.

wiring may get a little fancy (you can buy 3.5mm plug ends for re-wiring) but it should be technically possible. i'm just not sure its the best way (you can get surround sound speakers for $50).

@OP

please respond with your thoughts.

 

[thee_prisoner]

It isn't so much that. for example. {left front}{no sound}------{center}{center}------{no sound}{right front} would be better. Or if anything use the a monitor for center and buy 2 speakers for the mains.

 

[ssddx]

i had a 5.1 logitech set on my desk for years with the speakers arranged how they would be with the monitor idea (all in a row) and they sounded fine. not true surround sound by a long shot but it worked.

the op could make a 3.0 out of the set

{left front}{left front}------{center}{center}------{right front}{right front}

but i think the whole idea was trying to make a semi-surround sound setup similar to what i did with my first 5.1 speaker set.

again, we need some input from the OP.

 

[thee_prisoner]

Yeah, I was thinking the inner speakers close to the center speaker might muddy the surround. Oh well, maybe he will respond. hehe.