Hi, not sure if this is the right place to post this, but hope someone can help.
I recently bought an el-cheapo 5.1 speaker setup, which comprised of an amp/sub-woofer, 4 satellites and a centre speaker.
My motherboard has the RealTek ALC850 codec, which gives 7.1 output. The connectors that come with this are Line In (Mic), Line Out (Normal Stereo Output), Rear, Center, Sub-Woofer, Optical and SPDIF (coax). The sub/amp has spdif(coax) input and a double-phono input.
I've got it all hooked up, but i'm having trouble getting the computer to output the 5.1 properly. If i connect the sub/amp through the normal speaker out on the sound card, i only get stereo. If i connect through any of the centre, sub or rear connectors i obviously only get those. If i use the spdif output, i still only get stereo output. There is a speaker setup wizard with the motherboard, which only lets you use 2 speakers if you are using the digital out (spdif).
How should i connect the pc to the amp to get the proper output? Do i need to somehow combine the normal stereo, center, rear, and sub outputs on the sound card into one connection that i can plug into the amp?
This is probably blatantly obvious but it's all new to me. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry again if i posted this in the wrong place.
Maybe im not reading your question correctly, but are you using only one connection between the computer to the amp?
First you should buy 3 or 4 mini jacks to r/l RCA converters. Then take one of these and run it from the line out to the front right/left inputs on the reciever. Then take another one of these chords and run it from the rear out to the surround R/L inputs on the back of the amp. Finally run one of these from the center output to the center input on the amp. The subwoofer (because it is powered) can either be connected directly to the computer or routed through the reciever.
I think the problem is that i have a crap cheapo amp/sub, it has all the speaker connections on it and only optical, aux and tv inputs (both rca), and you can only use one input source at a time (ie only i rca input at a time).
I could use my old amp for the front 2 speakers, but is it possible to combine the centre/sub and rear speakers output into one rca input that the sub/amp could take?