How do I hook up my 5.1 computer speakers to my television?

I’ve been searching google but the info seems limited. I’d like to be able to switch back+forth between the 2 easily. Any help would be finely appreciated

What type of speakers are they, Armand? Do those PC speakers connect with 3.5mm jacks?

Do you have an amp?

Another question would be what exactly powers your tv source. Is it a cable box, dvd player, or antenna?



The quick answer: you don’t. Steps to remedy:

  1. Buy a receiver.

  2. Plug the PC S/PDIF (optical or coax) into receiver.

  3. Plug television/cable box audio out (preferably optical or coax digital if necessary) into receiver.

  4. Push button on receiver remote to switch. You are done.

rather than attempt to muddle my way thru terms I’m not confident with, here are fotos, sorry for their size.

I don’t have an amp(I don’t think). I think my computer acts as the amp for the speakers. Though the subwoofie is what connects to the wall socket.

What powers my tv source? Again a wall socket I guess? I only use my tv set for xbox360 right now.

thanks for listening

So you have a home-theater-in-a-box from the look of it. I see from your first picture that there is an area marked “input” which looks like it has a black cable (with three wires) coming out of it. What does that have on the end?

The input (to the speakers) should be the three two-channel mini-plugs which plug into the back of the computer that he shows in the third picture. I don’t think that is a home theater in a box, just a pretty standard set of 5.1 computer speakers.

That looks like the standard dell speakers to me. You need a receiver that has the correct outputs and a couple adapters to take the 1/8in jacks to RCA.

Run your television audio through your PC. Plug an RCA stereo to 1/8" connector from your TV’s audio out to the blue line in on your PC. The computer will have to be on, but that’s really the most elegant solution.

You basically need something like this: http://gear.ign.com/articles/355/355752p1.html

Either that or you’ve got to use your computer to pass your TV’s audio back out to the speakers, which works assuming your PC will be in the same room as this setup.

Does such a thing even exist? Receivers with S/PDIF line-out? I haven’t seen them yet (and my dad recently bought a high-end premium receiver which still uses analog audio for line-out, my own receiver too is analog audio line-out). I always end up having to fuss with the 5 analog wires + the subwoofer RCA.

In which case he would need to buy converters for his speakers rca -> banana jack or just cut them up and tie them around.

Even if one gets the Digital Decoder, there’s still the problem of connecting it to the receiver.

If a receiver enters into the situation, you’d basically ignore its amplification capabilities and connect it to the PC speakers by the 6 channel analog out. But if you’re at the point of buying a receiver you could either just buy a better PC speaker setup with multiple source inputs, or get new speakers to use with the receiver.

You wouldn’t need digital out on the receiver, just a 5.1 receiver with two digital inputs, optical or coax. Most newer tv’s have at least coax S/PDIF out, and all cable boxes I’ve seen have optical out. My setup at home is exactly like this: my HTPC optical out plugs into one input, and my DVR plugs into the other. Then I just use the remote to swap inputs on the receiver.

Coincidentally enough though, mine does have an optical out. For the price, it’s probably the best you can buy. The video scaling features and connectivity options are spectacular.

Remember Armand points out he only uses this for the Xbox 360.

I’m unfamiliar with the optical / 5.1 sound for the Xbox so tell him what he would need. I run analog cables for each input.

Here’s an alternative device that basically will do what you ask.

Realistically these were selling for ~$110 a few years ago before Creative discontinued them. You might make an offer of somewhere in the neighborhood of $110-$140 for it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CREATIVE-DECODER-DDTS-100-GIGAWORKS-PC-SPEAKERS-INSPIRE_W0QQitemZ120329157864QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Speakers?hash=item120329157864&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A2|240%3A1318

If you go the route of buying a “real” receiver, you’d probably be spending significantly more than you’re looking to spend for the purpose you’re planning on using this for (low-end receivers start at $300). You could buy a brand new decent 5.1 PC setup WITH DD and DTS decoding capabilities built in for less than that (something like a Logitech Z-5500).

Bill makes a good point.

Huff a bunch of compressed air and you won’t really care if your tv is stereo or 5.1.