How to configure the 5.1 surround sound in Mac

[tHeDa!]

I have been using the 5.1 surround sound system with my Windows computer and it was working perfectly. This year I have got a new mac computer and along with this I also bought a usb surround sound hub in order to connect the 5.1 multimedia speaker system. But it was not working at all. No matter how I do the connection, I can get sound from only one speaker but not all 5. How can I fix this issue? I have only limited knowledge with my Mac system.

[Amadou]

Currently I am using the Bose companion 5 and it works fine on my Mac. I can hear the sound from all 5 speakers but the problem is, I am not getting the true surround sound. The sound quality is good but it seems like I am hearing sound from the small speakers. I am also now confused about the 5.1 channel system in Mac now.

[Dabert]

For your issue the answer is the Audio MIDI Setup. This program is presented in the Utilities folder and with this setup page you can easily enable the .1 surround sound on a USB sound card:

• First of all choose the sound card under the Properties For: dropdown
• Now set the number of channels in audio output format
• Click on Configure Speakers> Multichannel.
• From the dropdown menu choose the 5.1 speakers. (Make sure to choose the valid one)
• Now assign channels to speaker individually. Do not enter the number is wrong order.

[Gameli]

You can connect any multichannel audio device to Mac similar to the USB or FireWire device. It is not a complicated task. While you connect to Mac, the OS X will detect the device as a 2 channel output. Most surround systems as either triple 1/8" jacks, or individual RCA jacks. If there is 1/8" jacks, you must find 3 1/8" to stereo RCA male cables. Now connect the 1/8" jack a and RCA plugs to amplifier / receiver. Now the grouping is as follows:

• Front Left & Front Right speakers as on one output.
• Surround Left & Surround Right speakers as another output.
• Centre & Subwoofer on remaining.

If you have any doubts about the configuration, you can go for different set of manuals.

[JErastus]

As far as I know that all the new Macs integrated with an optical S/PDIF output. It may contain either a combined optical digital output/headphone out (minijack) or a dedicated one. With this the playing 5.1 sound is very simple. Connect the optical output of Mac to the optical input of your 5.1-savvy amp.

[Faiyaz9]

If you are really looking for to configure the Mac to a surround sound system, I suggest you to go for a standalone 5.1 decoder. You can easily connect it any Mac system by the use of an optical cable (with a 3.5mm jack adaptor), and after that configure the media player to pass through the AC3 or DTS stream. This is the only easy and hassle free setup now. This kind of configuration works on any players and avoid unsupported bugs regarding the multi-channel sound cards