Q: How can I connect 5.1 speakers to Macbook Pro 13 bought Summer 2011

Well this is a involved subject.

First off it depends upon what sort of 5.1 system you have, is it a computer type system or a home stereo surround sound system?

1: If it's a computer type system,

Note that the MacBook Pro outputs stereo 2.0 channel analog sound from the stereo mini port, so your 5.1 system with all it's wires only one can be used as there is no card in the computer to do the 5.1 processing and separate the channels.

now some outside systems can take 2.0 and separate the bass and "pretend" to create 5.0 sound by doubling the stereo to four speakers. It's not true surround sound, rather it's just two sets of stereo channels.

2: If it's a home theater system or professional system

The MacBook Pro's stereo mini port doubles as a mini-Toslink optical outport with all channels 5+1 going out via optical. (set it in sound preferences)

So for that you will need a Toslink mini to standard optical adapter, a normal Toslink cable to go to the optical input of the receiver or professional device, then from that to the speakers.

If you have a program, 3D game, DVD movie that has a selection for 5.1, then you need to make that selection as a playback option and also match the type of surround sound encoding on the receiver if it has it.

Mac's only pass 5.1 playback through, it doesn't process it. Nor does the Mac amplify anything, just enough to power down the signal wire and perhaps light headphones.

Mac's have stereo analog plugs, so on the female inside there is three contact areas, one left, one right and one common ground.

saham wrote:

 

I conclude that I cannot use any 5.1 Computer Speaker sets that go with my Macbook Pro 13 and get a real Dolby sound,right?

"Computer speakers" Basically no. They mosty are either stereo analog (for music playback) or 5.1 gaming PC speakers that are married to a 5.1 sound card for PC towers.

You would have to have a stereo reciever and 5.1 speakers that can accept:

1: Toslink optical inputs

2: Decode Dolby Surround Sound

3: The media your playing back must have a Dolby sound option.

Most 5.1 computer speaker setups are for gaming PC towers and takes a sound card that does the processing for each channel, has three analog wires

Wire 1: Left and Right front channels

Wire 2: Left and Right rear channels

Wire 3: Subwoofer and center, common ground (returns all the used electrons to complete the loop)

Your Mac has none of these, it's just a stereo analog, 2.0, a left and right channel, common ground (three sections on the plug)

So no you can't use a PC based 5.1 system on a Mac, unless you bridge the first two wires either with adapters or splicing the cables. Then it's not true surround sound, just two stereo channels that fills the room with sound.

With true surround sound, you can hear people creep up behind you, bullets whizz by your face, planes flying past overhead. It's a more immersive experinece.

So unless the "computer 5.1 speakers" has it's own Toslink optical inputs and decodes Dolby (and other) surround sound formats, has a built in amplifier to power speakers, then no. As most 5.1 comptuer speakers are designed for PC 3D gaming, thus inexpensive.

The Mac market for 3D gaming is rather small, tiny in fact. I haven't seen any "computer speaker" setup with the required stuff to playback true suround sound.

Mac's are used for music and video production, that's why they have the better optical ports.

Your just going to have to buy a home theater system to playback Dolby 5.1

I have a Macbook Pro (Early 2011 Model)  and after reading all the articles and forums on getting 5.1 surround sound output, I went and purchased the optic fiber cable and mini toslink adapter and hooked up my MBP to my AVR 142 Harman / Kardon receiver.

But now I’m still not able to not get Digital 5.1 surround sound!! Additionally, in Audio MIDI Setup (under Utilities), I can only select Stereo from the drop down menu, as "5.1 Surround" and every other option, such as 7.1 surround are grayed out.

Is there anything that I have missed out in the setup? or do I have to try some other method to get the surround sound??

Please Help!!

I have the exact same problem. Im using a Macbook Pro Retina with a Logitech z906 sound system using a Mini-Toslink-to-Toslink Cable. When i open the System Preferences > Sound > Output it says that the current output is an Optical digital-out port. Thats good, right? But after doing some testing i realized i only had stereo sound. So i opened the "Audio MIDI Setup" application (as kb_myself did) and got the same problem.

It seems the Mac is not recognizing the Mini-Toslink cable as a multichannel output. I have searched almost everywhere on the web for a solution, but to no avail. So now i am just waiting for someone to save me from my distress.

I FIGURED IT OUT!

It turns out that the settings in the "Audio MIDI Setup" are irrelevant. Since the signal through the Toslink cable is digital, you don't need to select an output. If you play a song through Spotify, the song is played back in stereo and then a stereo signal will be sent to your sound system. But if you play a video or a dvd that can output 5.1 surround, the signal through the Toslink cable will also be 5.1 surround. The signal is sent digitally to you sound system where it is decoded into a fitting output. So as long as you make sure your sound source is surround sound, you will be able to play it without adjusting any settings.

Try a playing a dvd and listen to the rear speakers. Wait for a scene where there is dialoge and ambient sound (an office scene would be perfect). If the rear speakers only play the ambient sound, while the front speakers play both ambient and dialoge, you have surround sound. On some sound systems you can check you display for what kind of audio is being played. This will change wether you play a stereo song from iTunes or a 5.1 surround video.

TL;DR: Don't do anything, in spite of the "Audio MIDI Setup", you have surround sound.

I have the same problem with my Mac Mini 2011. When playing a DVD with dolby or dts under osx the Z906 recognize it as stereo and not a decoded multichannel signal. When I play the sam DVD under my bootcamp Windows my Z906 recognize it as dolby or dts. This means the hardware is capable playing multichannel, osx isn't.

There's another and cheaper way than a Home theater system.

What you need to do is get a small piece of hardware called Digital Audio Converter.

What this baby does basically is treat the digital sound that comes from your Mac and convert it to analog 5.1 signal that you can use with your speakers:

You can find it online almost anywhere!

You will also need to get a toslink cable to connect your Mac to this "Black Box".

After this, you're ready to go!

I hope I've helped.

Example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Audio-converter-5-1-Channel-DTS-AC-3-6CH-Stereo- Sound-Audio-Decoder-/190692985299?pt=US_CD_Players_Recorders&hash=item2c663009d3

Please note, I am not affiliated with this or any products. This link is just for your reference.

Ok so let's go py parts.

Fact 1 -  You lack additional connectors on your MAC for the 3 jacks of your analog 5.1 sound system.

Fact 2 - Your MacBook Pro outputs digital audio. 

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP619?viewlocale=en_US

Solution?

Make your MacBook Pro output digital sound, then convert it to analog so that your 5.1 speakers can play it.

Who will convert it? The Digital Audio Converter. So until the sound exits the Digital Audio Converter it is still digital, and because of that you need the Toslink Cable to pass the digital signal to the Digital Audio Converter.

All of this trouble if you want truly 5.1 sound coming from your speakers.

If you dont you can go with this simple solution. A 3 way audio splitter:

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/685/852/389/389852685_311.jpg

Cheers,