Whatever activity you are doing on your computer, you will definitely need some sound. That’s why you must have some computer speakers or headphones. Usually all the computers come with some simple stereo speakers, and the laptops come with some integrated speakers, but usually these are not so good and powerful. So if you want a great audio experience you should buy some new computer speakers. There are a few options for you: you can get some more powerful stereo speakers than the ones you already had, you can get a 2.1 system (that means it has an extra speaker – a subwoofer), but for the best sound, get a surround system! There are 2 kinds of surround systems, the 5.1 which has a center channel, a subwoofer and 4 satellite speakers and the 7.1 which has two extra speakers than the 5.1 These kinds of systems will give you some thrilling sensations whenever you are watching a movie or listening to some music, but to benefit from their maximum capacities you will have to install the speakers correctly and also to have a good sound card.

When connecting the system to the computer you must see what kind of connection your computer and system supports. There are 3 kinds of connections: the analog, digital (coaxial) and digital (optical). The analog connection is the standard connection, that most of the computers have. The digital coaxial connection uses a single RCA – RCA cable. Because it is digital there will be no noise, that means a better sound quality. The digital optical connection uses a fiber optic and it is the best connection available. The digital connection is also known as SPDIF but it is not available on all the computers. This is how the analog and digital connectors look like:

SPDIF (which comes from Sony / Phillips Digital Interconnect Format) is a digital audio format. It is used for transporting stereo digital audio signals on computer sound cards, CD or DVD players and other devices which transmit or receive stereo digital audio. For the SPDIF two 192 bit blocks are divided into 12 words of 16 bits each. The first 6 bits of the first word are a control code.

All the computers are having analog audio output, and digital outputs are optional. Coaxial digital audio output uses a female RCA connecter and it is usually labeled as SPDIF out or Digital out. Be careful not to confuse this to the yellow RCA output from the video card. As you can see in the image above, the digital output is located on a different metallic plate, and not on the video card. The other two connectors beside the digital output are the blue and orange ones, that are the center / subwoofer and the rear outputs. They are used by the analog surround systems.

To check out if your home cinema system has digital input, search on the back of the receiver (usually subwoofer) for inputs labeled “digital”. In this picture the system has both coaxial and optical digital inputs.

If you don’t find them that means you don’t have digital audio and you will have to use the analog input. If the receiver doesn’t have an input called “Aux”, you can use any other input for example “DVD in”, “CD in”, “MD / Tape in” or others.

In a previous article we presented how to connect a system that uses the analog connection and now we’ll talk about a system with SPDIF input. First we’ll talk about the Coaxial digital connection. For this connection you will need a simple RCA – RCA mono cable that looks like this:

Usually all the home theaters come with a spare cable of this type, which can have any color. Plug one end of the cable in the receiver, in the connecter named “Digital Coaxial In” , “DVD in” or something like that.

Then just plug the other end into your computer, on the plug that we talked about earlier which is called “Digital output”. It is as simple as this!

The optical digital connection is also very easy to make. If both the computer and the receiver are having this technology, you should definitely use it because it will bring you the best quality. For this you will need a fiber optic cable, that looks like this:

Plug this cable in the receiver, in the input called “Digital optical in”, “Digital DVD in” or something like that. Then connect the other end to the computer, in the black and squared jack. But first be careful to remove the black squared peg that protects the connecter.

Like we told you, it is very simple and everything should work just fine. Probably you will have to make some setting from the audio software, but the cables are all connected and ok. Now you can enjoy the great sound from a surround sound system, and also the quality of the SPDIF (or digital) connection.