Member Avatar for Ste

Hey, I have a laptop, which I want to buy some 5.1 speakers to connect to it. I have a Realtek'97 Sound Card inside, and I've been told by my friend, who's a big speaker-fan, he has two MASSIVE Bose ones in his room, that it should be ok, and it should work. But I need a second opinion? Will it work or not? Any info would be great :mrgreen:

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Good follow-up from — the important point is that the chip inside (Realtek AC'97) is only part of the story: what matters is what the laptop vendor actually exposed at the ports and what the speaker system can accept. The same codec can be capable of multichannel in principle, yet a laptop may only provide a single stereo jack or a digital out — and that determines whether a pair of powered 5.1 speakers will ever get discrete channels.

Quick, practical checks and tests to clarify support:

  • Inspect the laptop ports for multiple analog outs or a labeled digital output (TOSLINK / S/PDIF) or HDMI. Multiple 3.5mm jacks or explicit digital ports are the signal that discrete 5.1 is possible.
  • Open the audio control panel/driver on the laptop and look for a “speaker configuration” or “speaker setup” option; run the OS speaker test and see which channels actually respond.
  • Try a known multichannel source (DVD or a player that can bitstream Dolby/DTS) and check whether an attached decoder or receiver reports a multichannel input. If the laptop only ever shows “stereo,” the outputs are limited to stereo.
  • Check the speaker system’s inputs: does it accept a digital multichannel feed or only a stereo input and perform its own upmix/matrix? The box/manual will say.

A brief technical note: matrixing (Dolby Pro Logic-style) derives center/surround information from stereo and can make a sensible room-fill effect for some movies, but it is not the same as discrete 5.1 where each channel carries independent content (front/rear/center/LFE). Discrete 5.1 requires either a multichannel analog output or a digital bitstream sent to an external decoder (AV receiver or speaker amp with a decoder).

If the ports are inadequate, the remaining options are external audio interfaces or a speaker set with its own digital decoder. When testing, update audio drivers and use the driver’s speaker-test tones; swapping cables can help isolate a bad jack or cable.

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Member Avatar for nizzy1115

The answer is yes it will work, but you will not get "true" surround sound. It will be matrix mode (giving your speakers support it) which would mimic 5.1 at best from a stereo source ie your laptop which is only 2.0. If your speakers do not support matrix mode, you may be stuck with a 2.1 speaker setup.

You do, however, have an option to upgrade your sound to support true 5.1 dolby. You can do this in one of two ways. You can buy a pci sound card that slides in a slot on the side of your laptop like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102185 which will give you the best overall results, but it is kindor pricey.

You can also get a usb sound card, but it will draw a but more cpu power to operate, but it is cheaper and will do the trick as well. It wont sound as crisp compared to the other one but it is half the price and is still pretty good output. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102174

Hope this helps some, and just remember if your going to spend money to get some 5.1 speakers, spend the little extra to get the most out of their sound :)

Member Avatar for Ste

Wicked man, thanks so much :) I understand now, I got told by my mate, after posting this, a diff friend, that it uses 3 ports and I only had one, anyway, thanks a lot man :) It's helped loads :)

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