Audio question PC to receiver.

[Dennisch]

This is my motherboard:
Asus P5KPL AM SE

And this is my receiver:
Sony STR-DB940 QS, strange, but it's not listed on the Sony website, yet older models are. But here are the specs:

• DVD/Blu-Ray/LD; Coax digital input (Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM)
• DVDBlu-Ray/LD; Toslink input (Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM)
• TV/SAT; Toslink input (Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM)
• MD/TAPE Toslink input (Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM)
• MD/TAPE Toslink output (PCM only)
• FM coax input
• AM spring clip
• Phono: RCA input and ground screw
• CD: RCA input
• MD/DAT: RCA input/output
• Tape: RCA input/output
• TV/SAT: RCA audio/video and S-video input
• DVD/LD: RCA audio/video and S-video input
• Video 2: RCA audio/video input and output
• Video 1: RCA audio/video and S-video input and output
• Monitor: RCA and S-video output
• Control: A1II minijack output
• 2 Control S: Minijack inputs and 2 Control S minijack outputs
• 5.1 CH Input: Consisting of Left and right front and rear, center and subwoofer RCA inputs for use with external multichannel decoders (for video use it is used with any of the Video inputs on the unit)
• RCA Preout outputs for front and surround, left and right, center and two subwoofers (total of 7)
• 2ND Audio Out: Stereo RCA preamp outputs for use with an optional amplifier
• Impedance selector switch (4/8 ohm].

What would be the best way to connect them, for audio?

 

[nick09]

Your motherboard only has 6 channel analog sound output. I don't know if your receiver can use those analog sound output connections. I'm no expert but could it be possible to use an adapter on the analog sound output and hook up the computer to the 5.1 input?

 

[TB]

Looking at your motherboard, that's definitely your bottleneck, not the receiver. Short of buying either a new sound card or USB based audio device, a simple cable would do the trick. Just don't expect stellar surround sound from it.

 

[bevo]

Just use your 5.1 CH Input: Consisting of Left and right front and rear, center and subwoofer RCA inputs for use with external multichannel decoders, with the anolog outputs on your MOBO. That will get you 5.1 surround sound, but I think it will just let your MOBO do the decoding instead of the receiver. That should work just as well as any other way of doing it. It should give you the same sound as using optical, or HDMI. You shouldn't need to buy anything else unless you need more RCA cables.

It says your MOBO has 6 channel audio I/O. I'm assuming that it should have 6 RCA jacks on it somewhere for that, but I don't see them anywhere in the picture, I only see 3.

If it doesn't have those RCA outputs, then you'll just have to buy a cheap sound card, with an optical out. Since you're using a receiver, just buy the cheapest card that does pass through audio, over the optical and let your receiver do the decoding. You should be able to find one for around 20$ or so.

 

[Dennisch]

Looking at the options, the PC has to stay stereo sound then, for now. Thanks for helping, guys.

 

[MatskiMonk]

It says your MOBO has 6 channel audio I/O. I'm assuming that it should have 6 RCA jacks on it somewhere for that, but I don't see them anywhere in the picture, I only see 3.

Motherboard link doesn't work for me.. but usually they use three stereo 3.5mm TPS jacks instead of 6 mono RCA jacks.. saves a lot of space.

 

[bevo]

Motherboard link doesn't work for me.. but usually they use three stereo 3.5mm TPS jacks instead of 6 mono RCA jacks.. saves a lot of space.

That explains it. How would that work though? What could you possibly hook up 3 stereo outs to, to get surround sound.

 

[Dennisch]

3,5 mm jacks are 2 channel. When you have 3 of them, you have 6 channels. 5.1. And I actually have a 5.1 input on the receiver. So, I could hook it up with 3 cables going 3.5 jack to RCA plugs, but that bundle of wires would be quite the hassle to get rid of.

 

[bevo]

3,5 mm jacks are 2 channel. When you have 3 of them, you have 6 channels. 5.1. And I actually have a 5.1 input on the receiver. So, I could hook it up with 3 cables going 3.5 jack to RCA plugs, but that bundle of wires would be quite the hassle to get rid of.

Which inputs would you use on the reciever though? It's made for the RCA jacks to be receiving a mono signal for each channel. I may be wrong, I really don't understand how you would hook up 3 stereo jacks to anything and get surround sound from it. I've never seen a receiver that has 3 inputs for surround sound. I don't know why they would make them like that on the MOBO. I understand that someone on here said to save space, but what type of receiver could you use them with like this. Every receiver I have ever seen has 5.1 mono inputs, not 3 stereo inputs, to actually get dolby, DTS, PCM etc.

 

[TB]

Which inputs would you use on the reciever though? It's made for the RCA jacks to be receiving a mono signal for each channel. I may be wrong, I really don't understand how you would hook up 3 stereo jacks to anything and get surround sound from it. I've never seen a receiver that has 3 inputs for surround sound. I don't know why they would make them like that on the MOBO. I understand that someone on here said to save space, but what type of receiver could you use them with like this. Every receiver I have ever seen has 5.1 mono inputs, not 3 stereo inputs, to actually get dolby, DTS, PCM etc.

The inputs would be mono but the output is stereo. See this for an example of a receiver's inputs and this for the description. 👍

 

[nick09]

You are confusing yourself. The motherboard has the three 3.5" jacks for surround sound(They have the left and right connectors in them), the receiver has 6 AV cable jacks for the 5.1 surround sound, it would easily work. If you actually looked up the receiver you'd already know this(Google image search it).

 

[Casio]

Was mentioned already. I had the same issue when I was hooking an old PC to my second reciever. I found the easiest and best solution was to get a Creative USB sound card with Optical Out and hook that directly into the receiver.