hooking up pc speaker to tv?

[hi-revs]

need some serious help connecting pc speaker to my tv

my pc speakers have 4 male output plugs that needs to be plugged in (somehow to the tv):
1. front speakers
2.rear speakers
3. subwoofer
4. mic
how can i convert all of these to be able to plug into my tv?

on the back of the subwoofer theres also 2 AUX inputs (front and rear). If i buy RCA/AUX wires and fit them in behind the sub and into the tv, im afraid that the 5.1 surround sound option wouldnt work.

theres no optic audio support for these speakers, which kinda sucks.

any ideas on making these work?
Theyre Logitech G51 speakers by the way.

Before you start flaming me about cheaping out on HT system. I got these off a fellow RSer hoping to connect them to my Macbook pro. but i thought wrong, theres no way i can get 5.1 out of them.


Thanks a bunch.

[Great68]

You will not be able to "convert" those speakers to get surround sound out of your TV.

[tacobell]

You need an audio receiver, receivers can range from $99 - many g's. go to a store and check em out

[Tapioca]

An audio receiver won't help you either, if your goal is to obtain true 5.1 sound. The auxilliary input on the speakers is only a 2-channel input meaning the most sound you can get is stereo, or some sort of simulated surround mode like Dolby Pro-Logic, DTS NEO, etc.

You can connect these speakers to your TV by using a simple RCA cord from your TV's audio output jacks to the auxilliary jacks on the sub. You might be able to get sound from all 5 speakers if the system supports some kind of "all channel stereo" mode.

The lesson from this is: never use speakers designed for your computer with your home entertainment system.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

or some sort of simulated surround mode like Dolby Pro-Logic, DTS NEO, etc.

Actually he won't even get that, those speakers don't have a surround decoder in them, they're meant to hook up to line level outputs from a sound card which does all the decoding work.

If he hooks up his TV L&R RCA's to the "Front" L&R inputs on the speakers, he will only get sound out of the two front speakers.

The best he can do is get some RCA Y splitters, and split the sound from the TV RCA's into the front & rear L&R inputs on the speakers, then at least he has 4 speaker stereo sound.

[GLOW]

i just bought a logictech 5.1 game console adapter



plugs in to RCA and i think you only get L & R, but it beats TV speakers

[ddr]

a receiver will work if it support multi-chanel analog input. not all do, but it was something pointed out to me when i was purchasing my amp many years ago.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Great68

Actually he won't even get that, those speakers don't have a surround decoder in them, they're meant to hook up to line level outputs from a sound card which does all the decoding work.

If he hooks up his TV L&R RCA's to the "Front" L&R inputs on the speakers, he will only get sound out of the two front speakers.

The best he can do is get some RCA Y splitters, and split the sound from the TV RCA's into the front & rear L&R inputs on the speakers, then at least he has 4 speaker stereo sound.

I know some older TVs do have on-board surround decoding, but it's been years since I've actually paid attention to sound on TVs so maybe newer TVs don't include this anymore.

I looked at some pictures of this unit and there's a "matrix function" on the remote which might mean that the amplifier has some kind of DSP/surround circuitry on-board which may produce sound through all 5 speakers.

a receiver will work if it support multi-chanel analog input. not all do, but it was something pointed out to me when i was purchasing my amp many years ago.

You actually need a receiver with audio-preouts to use this system. The receiver will process the audio signal (from the TV, or cable box) and pass it along to the sub to amplify and play through the speakers.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

I know some older TVs do have on-board surround decoding, but it's been years since I've actually paid attention to sound on TVs so maybe newer TVs don't include this anymore.

I looked at some pictures of this unit and there's a "matrix function" on the remote which might mean that the amplifier has some kind of DSP/surround circuitry on-board which may produce sound through all 5 speakers.

Your TV would have to have 5 discrete line-level RCA outputs for each speaker if it actually decoded "Dolby" surround.

The "Matrix DSP/Surround" is just an effect it does on the stereo speakers to make the soundstage sound wider. It's not true 5 speaker surround at all.

The adaptor GLOW posted is probably your best bet to at least get sound out of all your speakers, but it's not going to be true surround sound.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by Great68

Your TV would have to have 5 discrete line-level RCA outputs for each speaker if it actually decoded "Dolby" surround.

The "Matrix DSP/Surround" is just an effect it does on the stereo speakers to make the soundstage sound wider. It's not true 5 speaker surround at all.

There are different types of Dolby Surround.

Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro-Logic are 2-channel stereo modes which simulate a surround speaker (rear) and a center channel (in the case of Pro-Logic only). One of my dad's TVs had this codec on-board. Dolby Pro-Logic isn't bad which is why the codec has evolved into its current incarnation - Pro-Logic IIz for use with legacy stereo recordings.

Dolby Digital, and Dolby TrueHD are discrete 5-channel surround modes.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Tapioca

There are different types of Dolby Surround.

Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro-Logic are 2-channel stereo modes which simulate a surround speaker (rear) and a center channel (in the case of Pro-Logic only). One of my dad's TVs had this codec on-board. Dolby Pro-Logic isn't bad which is why the codec has evolved into its current incarnation - Pro-Logic IIz for use with legacy stereo recordings.

Dolby Digital, and Dolby TrueHD are discrete 5-channel surround modes.

I know how Pro-Logic and Dolby Digital work.

The speakers need FIVE input signals. One for each speaker.

The TV outputs a stereo signal, that's TWO output channels: Left and Right.

It doesn't matter if the TV decodes Pro-Logic (4 channels) to its own INTERNAL speakers, you can only get TWO channels (stereo) from the RCA's out of it.

[hi-revs]

now how would i make 3 of the 4 cables be able to connect to my macbook headphone jack?

right now im able to plug the FRONT speaker cable into the macbook headphone jack and have them all working, but just wondering how necessary is it to have all the other cables connected as well.

[underscore]

TV -> optical out -> receiver with 5.1 analog out -> cable adaptors to your speaker.