Connecting a 5.1 Creative Speaker System with another Creative System

September 1, 2023 1:06 AM

So I was gifted with a 2 speaker (wired) Creative system (woofer and 2 speakers) and now I want to connect them to my 5.1 (wired) Creative system, somehow where both woofers and all, speakers work. Can it be done? Has anyone ever hooked this kind of system up to a computer? I have a regular 5.1 Creative audio card. Am running an old PC FWIW. Would like some input on what's needed in terms of parts, splitters, software and wires. Thank you.
posted by watercarrier to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Most computers will default to selecting just one audio output device or another. On a Mac you can setup a multi-output device which will play to several at once or you can use SoundSource to send different outputs to the two devices.
On Windows there is Virtual Audio Cable which can share output between devices.
posted by Lanark at 3:36 AM on September 1, 2023

Response by poster: @Lanark - I still need to connect the plugs of the 2.1 to the card somehow, get them all connected to each other and PC. There are only 5 plug inputs on the card.
posted by watercarrier at 5:07 AM on September 1, 2023

This question is a bit hindered by lack of info I'm afraid, both in terms of the goals and details of your current specific setup. I'm assuming from the update that your 2.1 system has three inputs, and so needs something else to be providing the sub input? The simplest thing to try if the cable types make it easy is to use three passive splitters (somewhat arbitrary example that I can't vouch for, for mono 3.5mm jacks; a stereo splitter would also work) on the left, right, and sub outputs of the 5.1 card. However, if you are using the 5.1 speakers in surround mode, you will have audio mixed for 5 channels and the 2.1 outs will not have all audio (probably in particular it will sound bad with missing center channel audio, if this is for example going to a different room). If you are using the 5.1 outs primarily in some sort of stereo mode to listen to music though, or only plan to use the 2.1 extra set in that case, then taking just these channels might be fine (the rear channels would probably be off or doubling L/R, and center would be off or some kind of mix of L/R). It's at least very cheap to try. Maybe doubling the L/R channels is even what you're after. (There is a further caveat which is that you would get a slight gain loss on those channels, which I suspect won't matter in practice or can be actively adjusted for at the source, but the amount depends on the specifics of the sound card and both sets of speakers, probably ~3db...it may slightly mess up the 5.1 mix without adjustment.)

More complicated would be to have either an active mixer of some kind (perhaps a receiver with 5.1 inputs and multiple outs) or to simply have two sounds cards (mixing in software, using OS settings perhaps). If my initial assumption based on the update is wrong, you may be able to connect the 2.1 system directly to the computer's regular audio out depending on its setup, and then you do essentially have two sound cards, built-in and the 5.1 one. I suspect this is the setup that Lanark is thinking of -- this at least used to be standard for computer 2.1 systems, where the filtering to the sub is part of the speaker system, and the input to all three speakers is just a single stereo 3.5mm jack.
posted by advil at 6:55 AM on September 1, 2023

So, the first thing that comes to mind is that the amplifiers in these systems are not particularly robust. Speakers all have an impedance rating, matched to the amplifier's outputs. If you connect additional speakers in parallel (which is what any off-the-shelf "splitter" cables would do), you lower the impedance on that channel, and may overdrive the final stage and damage the amplifier.
posted by xedrik at 4:55 PM on September 1, 2023