connecting pc 5.1 to av receiver

lunacyfoundme

Im planning for a home cinema and Ill be connecting a pc to an av receiver. The image will transfer fine by hdmi cable but how can I connect the 5.1 card in the pc to the receiver and still get 5.1 to the speakers.

L31mr0d

your motherboard will more than likely have an SPDIF header on it, connect an optical/coax bracket to that and connect that to your pc.

Alternatively, just use the 5.1 channels and plug them directly into the receiver via 3.5mm to 2xphono adapters.

A model number of the receiver you will be using would help as getting this to work will hinge on whether your receiver has assignable inputs for the audio.

The Ritz

how can I connect the 5.1 card in the pc to the receiver and still get 5.1 to the speakers.

L31mr0d's point about spdif on the motherboard is correct but if your pc has a regular soundcard then you should still be able to connect via spdif. Check in the setup software for your sound card and among the options for speaker set up you should find an option to output a digital or spdif signal only (this is a common feature on soundblaster cards and plenty others, as well as on some motherboards which don't have optical out - if you're using the motherboard the option should be available in the bios). If you go this route, you should use a 3.5 to RCA convertor, looks like this:



These cost a few blps from Maplins. Then use a regular digital interconnect to link to the digital-in of the av receiver. I and countless others have been using this approach for years.


The only circumstances where you would use the audio outs of a soundcard and amplify them is where you don't have an av receiver, or where the processing of the soundcard is superior - there are high-end cards (made by Onkyo and others) and I know some enthusiasts use these outputs directly to powered studio class monitors (Genelecs, for instance) as an alternative to using an AV Receiver, but this is by far the exception as opposed to the rule.


Ritz