5.1 Surround Sound On A Mac: How To Connect

This is what I have for my Logitech speakers...

http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-4019-FIRESS-FireWave-Surround-Sound/dp/B000A09IUS

been using it for several years.

There is a cd that comes with it and I installed that software at first but stopped using it as OS X handles 5.1 sound....use your Audio MIDI Setup utility to configure your speakers

If the sound source is recorded in 5.1 then it is played back in 5.1

AS I mentioned I don't use the software and I don't believe it has been updated for a while now

My understanding was just not enough sales to continue produceing it

It is FireWire 400

No volume control on the device....use either the Mac's and/or the speaker's

Not that I can tell

and it has 1 additional FireWire 400 port on the back so you do not lose the use of the one on the MacBook

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave

Nate I just checked to see if it works with Snow Leopard and I have not been able to so .....don't order one with SL!!

It works with Tiger and Leopard no problem..

I was able to get it to be recognized in Audio MIDI but not to broadcast sound...sorry I should have checked that before I said anyhthing

For playing back movies with DTS / Dolby Digital tracks you could do that with your Macs integrated digital audio output.

However since your speakers don't have a digital input you would have to buy an extra external decoder.

For example the Creative Decoder DDTS-100.
It has 3 optical digital inputs, and 1 coaxial. On top of these it features 3 stereo RCA inputs.

Nate I have it working now under 10.6.1 ....I needed to go into System Preferences and then to Sound and select the FireWave as the Output...works fine now

It will only work with DTS or Dolby Digital encoded material because only that kind of material can be transferred directly through your digital output.

If the 6 audio channels are created on your computer, or are not encoded in DTS or Dolby Digital it won't work with this solution.

The term is something by the lines of "digital audio decoder". Most HiFi receivers have something like that built in, however buying a Receiver is a bit of an overkill for your set up probably. The problem is that standalone decoders are very rare. The Creative DDTS-100 is one exception but I think even this has been discontinued.

You might get one on eBay though, it shouldn't be more than $150. On the other hand you can probably get a low end HiFi Receiver for almost that already.

Sadly it doesn't matter that all you need is one input. The market for these devices is tiny. 😟

You will need adapter cables to hook it up. In your specific case what you would need is a cable with the optical mini plug at one end (computer end) and the Toslink optical plug (DDTS-100) on the other end. You would need this same cable for almost all other devices too, all HiFi Receivers also use the Toslink plug.

One thing here might not work, I can't answer that without knowing your speakers a little bit better. They probably accept 3 mini plugs as inputs right? 1 for front left/right, 1 for surround left/right and one for center/lfe. If you play music with all cables except the front left/right unplugged, do you still hear any bass? If you do it will work. If you don't then your computer and not the speakers are doing the bass management which nothing in my set up would do, so it won't work (well it will, but the bass will be missing).

It includes DVDs but not the new sound formats on BluRays for example. On the other side, you can't play back those on a Mac anyway. It only applies to encoded DD / DTS streams.

It does not apply to 5.1 sound generated on your computer that is not encoded because in that case you would need to have 6 analog outputs.

Logitech also sells a more expensive speaker set for $399 that includes the decoder and all that stuff. You have analog only speakers so hooking them up to digital sources naturally requires more equipment.

Your statement about what you need is a bit wrong still:
You always need the adapter, but you can either go with a pure Decoder or a Receiver (which is a Decoder + Amplifier + Radio + other features in one device)

You said it should be a lot easier. The problem is that those Logitech Speaker sets are meant for devices with 6 analog outputs. PCs have those (not Laptops). Since you only have 2 analog outputs on your Mac, the only way to get any kind of 5.1 sound is by using the digital output which is capable of passing 5.1 Dolby Digital or 5.1 DTS encoded audio. If you are passing non-encoded audio it also can only pass 2 channels like the analog output.

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spdif



You have two options here:
-use the internal soundcard which offers digital output via SPDIF for encoded Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 streams to get out of the computer, go into a decoder (either standlone or in a Receiver) to get that decoded to 6 analog outputs, go into the speakers to play it back
-buy a new external soundcard as has been mentioned here before that has 6 analog outputs and is fully Mac OS compatible to get out of the computer, go into the speakers to play it back

The complicated part in my suggestion is just that you need to go to your speakers digitally, but they don't offer any digital inputs. The 'normal' and easy way would be to go to your speakers the analog route with 6 seperate channels but your Mac doesn't offer outputs for 6 analog channels out of the box.

Is it more clear now?

Message was edited by: Hachre

No problem, happy to help 😉

When you are going the Receiver route you need to make sure that the Receiver offers 6 outputs with the decoded analog material, since this is where you will hook up your speakers.

They are typically called Pre-Out or Processor-Out or something like that and are offered as 6 RCA outputs.

Here is the back of a Yamaha RX-V765 receiver:

http://seattlecontent.s3.amazonaws.com/YAMH9/09/08/RX-V765/rxv765blbacklarge.jpg

On the lower right you can see the "PRE OUT" labeled section, with the 6 outputs you need. (This model features 9 outputs, because it offers 7.2 playback, it's also out of your price range, but just as an example of what you are looking for)