5.1 audio on an M1530

I've been looking to get the "Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 Speaker" from newegg, but I don't know if there is any way to hook up a 5.1 speaker to the M1530. I've heard of connecting the speakers via HDMI, but are there any HDMI ports on the speakers? Thanks for all the help.

 

its possible, i have the same speakers hooked up to my m1530. you need a audio cable that has a red and white plug on one end, and a single black plug on the other (to go into the headphone port). THe red and white plugs will go into the "game console adapter" that has a port for the red and white plug. The adapter has 3 ports on the opposite side for the green, black, and orange plugs that lead from the speaker system. you dont need hdmi for this.


*edit** the game adapter should come with the speaker system, as mine did.

 

thanks, that just about answers it

BTW, how are the speakers?

 

just a quick FYI, that connection method will not get you 5.1 audio, it will get you sound, but 5.1 is a designation for six discrete audio channels which is only available if you connect via HDMI or plug all three connections into the laptop's ports. In the sigmatel control panel app, you will then need to configure the connections on the laptop to output the individual signals for each port. You will get two per port. The first headphone port will be for front left and right, the second for center and LFE, and the third will be for your rear left and right.

 

Ahhh thank you

 

So even if you just got the basic sound option aka HD 2.0 audio the chip will really output 5.1 when you use all three of the plugs on the front?

 

I have the same speakers, but it didn't come with the adapter. It came with a splitter like thing where I plug in the red and white plugs from a console and then the green plug from the subwoofer on the other side. Will this work somehow?

 

well hey when i tried it, i was getting 5.1 sound when i watched dvd's or played games like CoD 4. So i say it gives you 5.1

 

Sorry about the horrible quality. Couldn't find my camera so I just used my cellphone. I've been trying to figure out if this cheap little thing that came with my speakers will work, but I can't figure anything out.

I'm guessing I need to buy a few things? lol

 

yea thats completeley different than what i have. check my above post for pics.

 

I don't see how there is anyway you can get 5.1 when you start out with a two channel analog source. I am sure all the speakers are putting out sound but I doubt if you really have 5.1 discrete channels. I would go to the into the sound options and they have a speaker setup section and you can send test tones to each speaker individually. I would try not using the adapter and plugging them directly into all three of the plugs in front of the laptop and trying to get it setup that way.

 

You don't need any splitters, you simply need to plug the three cables from the speakers into the three ports on the laptop. From there you'll use the control panel app to configure the ports to output the six discrete sound channels. I believe this is included in all 1530s.

 

But wouldn't that still give you the same sound? It would just be through more speakers, not 5.1.

 

Oh, didn't know I could do that. Don't quite have the laptop yet, so I can't really try anything out.

I think the sound card in the 1530 only has 2.0 output, so you might not get 5.1 anyways, but if it's the x-540 speakers you have, there's a button that turns on matrix mode. It basically turns a 2.0 source into 5.1. I've only tried it out briefly on my 360, but it worked pretty well. It's probably the closest thing you can get to 5.1 without buying an external sound card.

 

read l7777 post again. The M1530 does has full 5.1 output through three distinct analog headphone jacks:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3886326#post3886326

Yes you may do that as well. Matrix mode = Dolby Surround:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Surround
Though sound is played through all 5.1 (= 6) channels, matrix mode has only 4 channels and the channel seperation is not very good. It does give surround experience however worse then the 5.1 from above. It also requires to matrix encode you audio while playing back. AC3filter can do that and I think ffdshow-tryouts as well.

 

oh dam haha, i stand corrected. i tried to change the speaker settings to 5.1 but it wont work . You guys say i should try matrix mode while plugging all 3 speaker plugs into the front ports of the laptop? (isnt one a microphone outlet?)

 

^ just what I was thinking

 

The matrix mode is for how you have it connected now. It just uses the speaker systems processor to try an fake 5.1. Supposedly if you plug into the microphone plug and the other two headphone plugs you will get real 5.1 when you set it up on the computer. It has been posted here before. I think one of them is the front channels, one is the rear channels and one is the digital with the center and sub woofer or something like that.

 

Walmart sells a (not so good) unit that takes a 2 channel analog input from a laptop and turns it into 5.1

I bought it and use different speakers and sub on it ... works and sounds much better than before.

 

would you happen to know what it's called, or how much it is?

 

Man, you guys are killin' me. It's not hard. 5.1 = movies style sound, you can get sound from any one of the speakers or all of them depending on how the sound is encoded. If you use any other method other than connecting all three speaker jacks to the laptop, you will not have 5.1 sound. You may very well have sound from all five speakers, but it will most likely be faked, ie the sound from the front speakers simply mirrored to the others. If you connect everything up and go through the config steps attached, you will be ready for 5.1. Click the test button in windows and you should be greeted with a tone from each of the speakers individually. If you don't, something else is up. If you do, then it is up to your applications to spit out 5.1 surround sound. If they don't do that, then you probably won't hear sound from all five speakers. Best way to test is with a DVD as most movies are encoded in 5.1 surround. Your DVD player app may need to be told that you have 5.1 speakers connected before it outputs the signals though so keep this in mind. All XPS 1530s have this capability with the drivers installed. As you can see from the attachments, the jacks on the laptop can be configured for multiple uses. Good luck!

 

you are a godsend

 

you're welcome.

 

So pretty much what I said but since I don't have my XPS yet I couldn't get the idiot guide screen shots.

 

i have a 1530 as well as a 1730, so the same configuration seems to apply, but the problem i'm having is WHAT TYPE OF WIRE DO I NEED? i have a line in on my receiver as well as several rca and other in's on my actual lcd tv.
the only things i've found are very expensive coverter boxes that say they can use sound from my s-videp, spdif adapters, and other more expensive more complicated items.


HELP!!