W5A - supporting 5.1 speakers? QUICK ANSWER NEEDED

hey guys,

i've got a W5a (which i might add is excellent)!!!

i've got speakers I plan to buy soon on ebay. they are 5.1 speakers. just wondering if my laptop supports 5.1? and if it doesn't, what will happen to the 2 extra speakers?

w5a has a Azalia compliant audio chip with 3d sound and full duplex. have no idea what that means.

i read somewhere you can use the mic hole for 5.1

any help please?
thanks!

 

Although I am not an expert on the w5a, and I cant find anywhere the specs of the integrated sound card, I would have to asume that your 5.1 system will not work as a surround sound system.

If you plug them all in (if you figure a way, which I doubt), you will hear sound from all of them, but not in a surround sound fashion, they would all be playing the same music, sound effects, etc.

Anyway, theres an easy fix to your problems. You would need to purchase an external or internal sound card.

They range in quality, size, interface and price.

I personally have experience with the cheaper turtle beach Audio Advantage Micro:

It has its pros and cons. It sounds fine, but it uses a USB slot. This can be a problem if your lacking usb ports. (Which the W5a is)

However I hear great things from the creative PCMCIA integrated sound card. It is more expensive, i'd expect great sound, and it is internal. This way it wont stick out like the USB one does / hog your USB ports.

here are some newegg links for ideas:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118107

 

Depending on what speakers. If it has the regular 4 jacks, 1 for subwoofer, 1 for center, 1 more sides and 1 for rears, you definiately need a sound card which supports 5.1 SS. However, if you have a speaker system with S/PDIF optical output, I'm not sure, but you may get to bypass that and take advantage of the Azalia sound chip.

 

I don't think it supports 5.1 audio, but you can pick up a sound blaster audigy 2 zs Notebook PCMCIA sound card, the latest one seems to work with the RICOH black listed controller on our Z70Va's.

You can also check out the Sound blaster audigy 2 NX, which is a USB soundcard.

Cheers,
Mike

 

You can output 5.1...... the problem is you need to have speakers that could read it, which means you need to have a decoder betwen your notebook and the speakers (a lot of computer 5.1's have a decoder built into them....... but the system is capable of outputting it.