Connecting 5.1 Altec Lansing to Laptop

Hi,

I have recently bought a new Lenovo laptop but already have a 5.1 Altec Lansing speaker system (Altec VS3251) with five small speakers and a subwoofer.

On the speaker system, there are three cables: green, yellow and black; however, I only have a red (output) and a green (input) on my laptop.

Does anyone know how I can connect the speakers up to my laptop?

I don't know much about this so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Other than for your speakers, what are the jacks on the speaker system?

 

i'm pretty sure this'll help out though i think it was sent with the product

http://alteclansing.com/images/quick/VS3251-QCC.pdf

congrats on your purchase! and good choice with Altec Lansing

 

I am planning to buy a 5.1 speaker system w/ 5 speakers + subwoofer.

DutyHunter: So if i am right:

1. Altec Lansing would be a great choise.
2. I can manage to connect the laptop (1 input + 1 output) jacks to the 3-cables 5.1 system by connecting 2 of those cables to 1 (transmitter?), resulting only 2 that fits to the laptop, right?

Thanks in advance.

 

Looks like it has input and headphone jack on the front of the subwoofer, which means yes, you can just connect to it without any 5.1 cards, but it recommended. just connect headphone jack from laptop to the input source on the front where it would be used for cd players or mp3 player mostly, and it would work fine.

 

hello!
1)If you're on a budget, yes, altec lansing is a great choice!

Question #2 and #3 i'm lost.

Are u talking specifically about the model that the Original Poster purchased?

if yes, then the PDF file i linked states to plug the GREEN male 1.8mm into the AUX jack on the BACK of the subwoofer. and the other end of the GREEN male 1.8mm goes into the jack of your laptop. -THIS ONLY APPLIES IF YOU HAVE A STEREO SOUNDCARD and NOT MULTICHANNEL, 5.1 SOUNDCARD.

 

Yup...and you'll lose the 5.1 sound...

 

Hey! Thanks for all the replies! But it sounds like a plan.

I'll have a look in the loft for the box and tell you the results after

 

Ok. thanks for the anwers. So, I can do it but w/o a external sound card i will lose 5.1 sound, and I will have only stereo?

 

Yes Only stereo.

 

hmm...

I have tried to plug the green male into aux jack and it does not seem to work...

There is some sort of Dolby Home Theatre Surround Sound in my laptop. Could that be stopping it from working?

 

Hello So you tried the green male into the aux and the other end into the jack of the laptop.

And the specific version of DD is Dolby Home Theater

http://www.dolby.com/consumer/pc/pcee2.html#HT

I would suggest toggling with the Dolby Digital sound program and see what you can do. i'm not familiar with the program. i must go... i'll try to help out more this evening.

EDIT: Hello, according to the PDF Manual, if you've connected the green to AUX and and the other end to the output jack of your laptop, you should be getting sound. I suggest you review the instructions that came with the product and read more into the Dolby Home Theater... Make sure things are on, toggle with and test it out. This is as far as i can go...
Good Luck!

 

Hi, I have tried changing the settings on the Dolby Home Theater settings but it does not seem to work either.

Anyone know why this is or if i'm doing something wrong

 

hello, trying to get to the bottom of this, may you tell me if headphones work with the laptop? i have no experience with this DD Home Theater.

if the headphones work then it might be the way the Altec Lansings are wired.

 

yea regular headphones seem to work.

I can get either two small speakers (front two or the back two) or the sub woofer and a small speaker (as I can only put in one cable) does anyone know if a splitter will do anything to help?

 

ah. if regular headphones work then its the wiring... so you can get a total of three speakers to work is that right? either the front stereo or the surround speakers.

another configuration that works is the subwoofer AND a SINGLE satellite speaker is that correct?

-It seems as if theres a stereo/surround button on the wireless remote. have you tried toggling with that too?
-try activating the surround mode and try setting the dolby digital home theater program for surround mode.

a cheap last effort would be to purchase two adaptors and source all wires from the one laptop audio jack. my father did that with a Logitech Z640 and it works but isnt as effective as one set up correctly. its hooked up to the Tv.

 

haha this might sound so stupid; but, I found the solution.

I found the remote and pressed the Aux In button.

I'm sorry for all your trouble and thank you for all your help =)