How to enable 5.1-channel analogue audio in OS X

[thelostswede]

Article: How to enable 5.1-channel analogue audio in OS X

No, it might be possible to get some of the cheap 7.1-channel USB ones to work, but I really don't know if all the outputs show up in OS X or not.

 

[Pepetico]

Not Work..! in ALC-892 8Chanel, ASUS Z77-V .
But YES work only in STEREO....

 

[thelostswede]

Article: How to enable 5.1-channel analogue audio in OS X

Not Work..! in ALC-892 8Chanel, ASUS Z77-V .
But YES work only in STEREO....

So 1. Are you using the drivers we provide or Voodoo HDA or some other method of getting sound?
2. on that board, have you a correctly edited DSDT that gives you more than one output?
3. did you follow the guide step by step?

 

[andariego76]

Thanks a lot body I'll try as soon as I get home today, I'll let you know if work or not for me

 

[animalflynn]

I tried this and it seemed to have worked... The 5.1 device appears in sys prefs but now all of my sound outputs/inputs don't work. Everything is greyed out. Also, every time I try and open Audio MIDI Setup it crashes!

but whyyyy?

Pretty sure I can fix but I am interested if anyone else is having this problem.

 

[thelostswede]

Article: How to enable 5.1-channel analogue audio in OS X

I tried this and it seemed to have worked... The 5.1 device appears in sys prefs but now all of my sound outputs/inputs don't work. Everything is greyed out. Also, every time I try and open Audio MIDI Setup it crashes!

but whyyyy?

Pretty sure I can fix but I am interested if anyone else is having this problem.

What hardware are you using and what audio drivers do you have installed?

 

[navynone]

Thank you very much, you`re great

 

[smtips]

This is a great guide and I'm going to use it soon as I get some additional speakers.

I'd like to address a couple of the questions, I don't quite get it.

If each OUT supports 2 channels, and you plug in a USB 7.1 set to a single USB out, how would that work except for the separation in the speakers, not on the board? There is no USB specific speaker configuration here, only 3 outs (plus Sub) with 2 channels each. Kinda negates the need to do this for that setup yeah?

My Gigabyte board is labeled Side, Rear, C/Sub, and Out. That indicates a 7.1 system. Assuming I plug speakers into each one, does EACH set of speakers need to be powered speakers? Does the motherboard supply this power? I only have one set of speakers at the moment and they are plugged into the Out, so I have normal stereo on my Mac. Pardon me for sounding like a dunce here, but assuming each outlet needs to run a separate pair of speakers, would they not each need to be powered with their own separate volume for Side, Rear, Sub, and Out (Front Stereo I guess).

I must be missing the point of enabling 5.1 here. If I have no software control of the channels, and don't already have a set of 5.1 speakers that does the separation through its own amp, then I would need to do the above as I say...right? I used to have a 5.1 set of Monsoons that were great, and they were all controlled through the remote and the built-in amp on the Sub, not the computer. I plugged into the single Out and it did the rest.

I mean, if it's just a matter of wiring up some jacks and plugging them in, and having volume control from whatever app I'm playing in (VLC, iTunes, whatever) then that's okay as long as the speakers have volume. I could care less about Finder control for system beeps. If the volume is controlled through the app as an All-in-One volume to control all speakers, that's just fine. I'm just wondering here, because any time I've ever tried to plug in non-powered speakers to a computer, the volume was just really low because there was no amp behind it. So again, does the motherboard already supply the amplifier to each sound out connection?

I'd love to see a comprehensive guide for all this, but I'm probably barking up the wrong tree on that one and should be checking some audio site instead.

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[thelostswede]

Article: How to enable 5.1-channel analogue audio in OS X

I don't really understand some of your questions, clearly you don't understand how a lot of computer/audio related things work.

1. Yes, you need powered speakers, the jacks are standard 3.5mm jacks, there's no power coming out of them, just like any other device with a 3.5mm jack.

2. I have no idea about USB audio devices, but as far as I'm aware, 5.1/7.1-channel USB audio devices only show up as stereo in OS X.

3. I guess you've never seen multi-channel PC speakers then. Something like this http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/surround-sound-speaker-z506 uses three sets of 3.5mm jacks to connect to the front/rear/centre/sub jacks and that's it. You have volume control on the speakers. Alternatively as you said, audio can be controlled from within programs like VLC.

4. I presume your speakers used the digital out, that's not what this guide is for, it's about analogue audio and to make it work with "cheap" PC speakers.

5. In Windows you have control for each of the channels, as Apple doesn't really support more than stereo audio in its products, there's no such option in OS X. This is a kind of work around to solve that for people that don't have speakers with digital input. I'm sorry to say, but this is as comprehensive as a guide as you'll get and if you don't understand it, then I really can't help more.

 

[Pepetico]

Article: How to enable 5.1-channel analogue audio in OS X

So 1. Are you using the drivers we provide or Voodoo HDA or some other method of getting sound?
2. on that board, have you a correctly edited DSDT that gives you more than one output?
3. did you follow the guide step by step?

Hello.

YES..! i using the drivers provide for MULTIBEAST 5.0 and work only stereo, but you can make your settings you indicate in this tutorial..

I get only stereo and not 5.1 or activate any other

thanks..