5.1 cable connectors

[BillShannon]

First, thank you so much for being here. I am sure this has been covered many times, but I did a search and could not find a thread.

I have inherited 5.1 surround sound speakers. I do not even know if they work. Each of the four satellite speakers plug to the sub-woofer.

The sub-woofer has a many-pin input that looks like a PS/2 input for mouse or keyboard on a computer. It is a bit larger. Underneath, it says "5.1 Channel Input."

How do I get my 3.5 jacks from the back of my computer to send to this input jack on my sub-woofer?

Thanks for your help.

 

[j_garcia]

It sounds like either a proprietary connector or a special cable is needed. Is there a brand or a model number on any of the speakers? (sub probably).

 

[BillShannon]

It says "Curtis DVD 5041" I am going to head to the Curtis web site, and I will keep you posted.

Later: I found no help. First, I cannot find the Curtis web page. Google is messed up - when I type in Curtis, it takes me to all these shopping pages.

I did find manuals for Curtis equipment on retrovo.com. It appears that DVD 5041 is a full DVD system. So, it must be proprietary attachment to that system. I also found the speaker manuals, but none of them match what these look like. Micro Center has a 5.1 speaker system for $30. I may just get that.

Thanks for your help. Any other suggestions?

 

[j_garcia]

I managed to find the Curtis site and your system is listed:

http://www.curtisint.com/web/category-Sub.asp?category=DVD/Home Systems&subCat=HOMESYSMJR&catName=DVD HOME SYSTEMS

Looking at the manual, it does show a single cable going from their receiver to the sub. The good news is that you should be able to at least contact them now and see if you can get that cable from them.

 

[BillShannon]

Again, thanks for your help.

It turns out that I DO have the cable. It is identical on each end. It plugs into the sub.

THe back of my computer has standard 3.5 jacks. Do you know how I can find a adapter to connect the two? I did not find one on the web page.

 

[j_garcia]

Since your card only has 3.5mm, you will probably need a 3.5mm stereo to RCA adapter like this: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3909619

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I checkout out (carefully) and it looks like your Curtis HTIB doesn't have 5.1 audio inputs (analog or digital) but has only stereo analog input for vcr
The cable you'll need is (like j_garcial said ,but incorrectly linked ) is 3.5mm to RCA like this one:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=5599&seq=1&format=2

To get real 5.1 you can try your luck by building correct cable by yourself

 

[BillShannon]

To get true 5.1, I need an adapter from 3.5 jack to the proprietary PS/2 like 5.1 Channel input on back of sub. I think that this is not available, and I do not want to make one. I think I am better off buying a new 5.1 speaker system at Micro Center for $30.

Are these going to be cheap speakers? They are made by Inland, which is a Micro Center brand. I have stereo speakers in my Samsung TV. Are these Inland speakers going to be any better than the Samsung speakers?

 

[j_garcia]

As long as your card doesn't have digital out, you won't get true surround. There won't be such a thing as a 5.1 3.5mm connector - they are either mono or stereo only AFAIK.

(sorry about the link, it looked right but it wasn't)

 

[BillShannon]

Thank you. I understand that there is no 3.5" jack for 5.1 surround sound. And, I don't actually have the DVD player, only the five speakers, including the goofy proprietary cable that looks like PS/2, only a bit bigger and more pins.

The reason I suggested an adapter is because there are six 3.5" jacks on the back of the computer, one for microphone input, one for line in, and the other four for various parts of the 5.1 sound channel. So, I would be looking for an adapter to take the four 3.5" jacks and rearrange signal to input to the sub.

Looking at the sound settings in control panel of Windows Vista, I have:

1) Realtek HDMI Output, which only delivers L R (and after I have written (3) below, it is probably part of that same card, because it says optical jack like below);

2) Speakers, which delivers 5.1 using four jacks;

3) Realtek Digital Output, which uses an optical jack and an RCA jack on my PCTV tuner cards (for which I could not find a Vista driver, so I am using the tuner card that came with the Media Center PC, which does not have these outputs).