Whether if you are watching a movie at your personal computer, or playing a video game or listening to some music, you will definitely need to have some computer speakers too. Usually any new computer comes with some kind of default speakers and these are usually some small stereo speakers. They don’t sound that good and they are not powerful either, so that’s why many people prefer to buy a new set of speakers.



There are many options for you, depending on what are your musical preferences. If you don’t even care about music, and you want just some simple speakers for your day to day activities and to listen to a radio station, then you can stay with the default speakers that came with your computer, because it will be enough for you.

If you want something just a little more powerful then you can choose a 2.1 system. This one also has two small stereo speakers, but besides them it also has a subwoofer. This device will focus on the deep and low sound frequencies (in another words – the bass) and it will make the sound quite different and a lot better. We can say that it will bring a new dimension to your music. The 2.1 systems are usually not that big and they are not expensive either.

If you are looking for something even better, and you want to enjoy some powerful music and some great surround feelings when watching a movie or playing a video game, then you must buy a 5.1 surround sound system. It is composed out of 4 satellite speakers, a subwoofer and also a center channel. All of these speakers combined will bring a great and complex sound, through all of the sound ranges and it will also offer you great surround feelings. There are also the 7.1 sound system which have 2 extra satellites, but they are not so popular, and a 5.1 system is quite enough for your room. But a 5.1 system has 6 components, that need to be placed all over the room, and that will have a lot of wires.

So in case you don’t want speakers all over your room, but you will still want a powerful sound, then you must choose some floorstanding speakers. These are really big and heavy, but they also offer a great, complex and powerful sound. They have all sort of drivers included (some for high frequency sounds, others for mid range and others for the bass) so the sound will be full, just like on a 5.1 system. But in this case you will have just 2 speakers instead of 6, so you won’t need to worry about cables anymore.

So these were some options that you can choose for your computer, and today we are going to discuss about how to switch between 2 stereo and 5.1 speakers. It is not that difficult so you should be able to handle this alone. The only thing you need to worry about after buying the 5.1 system, is to check if you have an appropriate sound card. If you have a new computer, it probably already has a 5.1 sound card, that is integrated on the main board. But you don’t have one, you might need to buy one.

Don’t worry because it is not that expensive. Of course you can connect the system to your regular sound card, but the sound quality won’t be so good. The next step is to arrange all of the speakers around the room. Place the satellites speakers in each corner of the room, and be sure to place them correctly. For example the front left speaker must be in your front left side, the rear right speaker must be behind you in your right side and so on. Then place the center channel in front of you on the desk, and the subwoofer in a corner under the desk. This is the recommended placement for a 5.1 system and it will offer you the best sound quality. So after placing all the speakers in their place, take all of their wires and get them to the subwoofer. You will have to insert each speaker in the subwoofer, in its specific place (that is usually written on the back of the subwoofer).

After that there is one more step to do…to connect the subwoofer to the computer. The subwoofer will have a wire with 3 connectors (that are colored different, usually pink, green and black). Just connect these 3 connectors into the computer, on the sound card, into the jacks that have the same color. Now the system should work, but in some cases you will need to change some settings on the audio driver software or in the “volume control” from the Windows. So good luck and enjoy your new 5.1 system!