I am trying to set up surround sound on my macbook pro

[wroachbarrette]

alright, i have six satellite speakers all in pairs of two and all using 3.5m jacks, and one ilive 2.1 speaker system "thats an all in one boombnox type device with an srs true base system', and i have the Griffin 4019-FIRESS FireWave Surround Sound for Macs http://www.amazon.com/Griffin-4019-FIRESS-FireWave-Surround-Sound/dp/B000A09IUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261928802&sr=8-1 and i am wondering if i can somehow use these products to hook up a surround sound system to use with my 13'' macbook pro

 

[fpnc]

I can't help you with the Griffin box but your 13" MacBook Pro can pass multi-channel audio through its optical audio output. As far as I know, however, the only built-in software that works with that multi-channel output is Apple's DVD Player. What I mean is that you'll probably need third-party software and/or drivers to enable multi-channel audio with any other equipment and/or playback application (which is, I suspect, also true with the Griffin box).

 

[wroachbarrette]

I can't help you with the Griffin box but your 13" MacBook Pro can pass multi-channel audio through its optical audio output. As far as I know, however, the only built-in software that works with that multi-channel output is Apple's DVD Player. What I mean is that you'll probably need third-party software and/or drivers to enable multi-channel audio with any other equipment and/or playback application (which is, I suspect, also true with the Griffin box).

thanks, so what you are saying is that the optical drive supports multi- channels audio, how would i convert that one optical drive into the many ports needed to hook up a surround sound system or in other words, i thought that you need 3 ports one for the left one for the right and one for the sub/ center speaker

 

[fpnc]

It's not the "optical drive," it's the optical audio output port on your MacBook. The 3.5mm headphone jack on the MacBook is a combined analog audio and digital optical audio output port. Thus, when using Apple's DVD player you can pass the multi-channel audio from the DVD disc through the MacBook's optical audio output port to a multi-channel decoder that is external to the MacBook (such as to an AV receiver or a set of external speakers that support multi-channel optical inputs). However, those external devices need to support the decoding of the multi-channel output (that is to say that the MacBook doesn't decode the multi-channel audio, it merely passes the audio signal from the DVD to the external decoder). Also, you need a small adapter (less than $5) to get the optical signals out of the MacBook's 3.5mm audio port.

Here is a link to such an adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/Toslink-To-Optical-Mini-Adapter/dp/B0002MQGRM/ref=pd_sim_e_6

 

[wroachbarrette]

It's not the "optical drive," it's the optical audio output port on your MacBook. The 3.5mm headphone jack on the MacBook is a combined analog audio and digital optical audio output port. Thus, when using Apple's DVD player you can pass the multi-channel audio from the DVD disc through the MacBook's optical audio output port to a multi-channel decoder that is external to the MacBook (such as to an AV receiver or a set of external speakers that support multi-channel optical inputs). However, those external devices need to support the decoding of the multi-channel output (that is to say that the MacBook doesn't decode the multi-channel audio, it merely passes the audio signal from the DVD to the external decoder). Also, you need a small adapter (less than $5) to get the optical signals out of the MacBook's 3.5mm audio port.

Here is a link to such an adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/Toslink-To-Optical-Mini-Adapter/dp/B0002MQGRM/ref=pd_sim_e_6

thanks you have been allot of help I will do more research to be sure i have everything figured out, my only other question is. are all the input jacks 3.5m that you use in a sound system, or are there different types of jacks for the various speakers, left, right, ect

 

[fpnc]

thanks you have been allot of help I will do more research to be sure i have everything figured out, my only other question is. are all the input jacks 3.5m that you use in a sound system, or are there different types of jacks for the various speakers, left, right, ect

The audio ports on the MacBook are all 3.5mm mini plugs. However, external devices can have several different types of connections/plugs. Note, however, that there is a significant difference between digital optical inputs/outputs and standard analog audio ports.