Need help with rotating sound 90 degrees

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bonkrowave

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Oct 12, 2004
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I am trying to set up a surround sound system that will function with both my PC ... and my TV. I already have the speakers and receiver and all that good stuff. Where I run into problems is how the room in my apartment is laid out. Effectively I would like to be able to use a series of switches to rotate the speaker layout 90 degrees without moving the speakers.

Are you lost yet ? Well it is hard to explain so I have created a Diagram.

I am aware of a COAX cable line selector where you can select between two sources that get pumped to your TV. What I am looking for is the same sort of switch selector for speaker wire. Does such a device exist ? should I just mod COAX cable line selectors ?

Any help would be appreciated.

spk4hd.jpg
 
Since you need to use analog output for everything but ac3 from your computer, the easiest solution would be to just rotate the rca connecters comming from your computer, ie: connect the front left rca into the front right jack. If you use digital output for ac3 you can rotate the signal by using AC3Filter.
 
siliconnerd said:
Since you need to use analog output for everything but ac3 from your computer, the easiest solution would be to just rotate the rca connecters comming from your computer, ie: connect the front left rca into the front right jack. If you use digital output for ac3 you can rotate the signal by using AC3Filter.
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I have an optical out comming from my Computer to the reciever. So all speaker lines start from the Reciever, beside the TV in the DIagram.
 
What sound card are you using? If its a soundstorm then I think you can use the AC3Filter program.
 
siliconnerd said:
Do you have optical comming out from your tv too?
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I have 2 optical inputs .... one is for my XBOX (which plays my DVDs) the other is from the sound card on my computer. I have the TV going into the reciever through RCA cables. All three of these devices are on seperate lines.

EDIT : I Have the Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2

Is it possible to switch speaker positions through software ? This would make it so much easier as I would not have to find switches or install additionla wiring.
 
If you make a switch yourself you might be able to use a few simple toggle switches and wire everything in a project box. As for making it a 1 switch type thing you may need something mechanical. As for a non-mechanical solution, you could probably wire up some kind of interesting MOSFET switching circuit.
 
bonkrowave said:
I have 2 optical inputs .... one is for my XBOX (which plays my DVDs) the other is from the sound card on my computer. I have the TV going into the reciever through RCA cables. All three of these devices are on seperate lines.

EDIT : I Have the Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2

Is it possible to switch speaker positions through software ? This would make it so much easier as I would not have to find switches or install additionla wiring.
Click to expand...

Not with the audigy2. All thats passed through the digital out is a stereo signal, (presuming you'll not watch films on the pc) so theres no way you could tell the amp what to put in the rear channels.

IMHO the best solution would be just to use analogue conections from the PC to the amp, and plug the cables into the modified speaker inputs. ie Front right into fornt left, etc...

This way, you'd actually get surround sound for gaming. Also, you wouldn't have to switch anything.
 
The only way to get surround sound from the digital out on the audigy is with pre-encoded sources such as DVDs.
 
Osiris said:
The only way to get surround sound from the digital out on the audigy is with pre-encoded sources such as DVDs.
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I am really only concerned with games capable of surround, working through this setup.
 
bonkrowave said:
I am really only concerned with games capable of surround, working through this setup.
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You wont get 5.1 sound from games if you are using the digital out on your soundcard going to your receiver.

Only way you would is if you have SoundStorm, or use the analog outs from your soundcard to your speaker
 
Stanley Pain said:
You wont get 5.1 sound from games if you are using the digital out on your soundcard going to your receiver.

Only way you would is if you have SoundStorm, or use the analog outs from your soundcard to your speaker
Click to expand...

I dont understand that at all ? There is a digital optical out on the back of the soundcard? How can a digital optical out not give surround sound ?
 
bonkrowave said:
I dont understand that at all ? There is a digital optical out on the back of the soundcard? How can a digital optical out not give surround sound ?
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Well here's the quick and dirty about Digital out to a receiver from your computer:

1. You will get 5.1 output, if and ONLY if the audio your are playing is pre-encoded in 5.1 (DVDs, DVD-As, etc)

2. You will NOT get 5.1 surround with sources that are stereo (MP3s, games, etc)

3. Your receiver probably has a whole ton of pseudo surround options (dolby surround, Neo6, etc) which will take the stereo source and try to mimmick 5.1, or what have you.

4. The ONLY "soundcard" out there that can encode to dolby digital on the fly so that you get 5.1 sound when using digital outs is the Nforce 2's Soundstorm.

The Audigy card also has something called CMMS 2 (I think that's what it's called) that does the same pseudo surround.

Now if you want true 5.1 output from your games you need to use the analog outs from your soundcard to the receiver. There is no other way around this.


Hope this helps.
 
Ok so really ... only soundstorm nforce 2 boards have ac3 encoders ?
Well I was taking a look at the ASUS A7N8X-E and it says it has soundstorm. The motherboard comes in cheap too at 100 CDN. Oh well I guess I will have to switch out my MSI-K7N2-Delta-L then.

EDIT : One last question .... Taking a look at the ASUS A7N8X-E, SPDIF connection ... it is not an optical out .... so I can only assume that it is a mini-plug adapter for my optical cable ?

So Im assuming I will need one of these ---->http://www.mycableshop.ca/sku/GCTOSMINIFM.htm?x=26&y=18

Am I correct on this ? or is it a different type of connection all together ?
 
If you bought the motherboard you'd still have the switching issue, why not just use analogue cables and forget about buying anything new and having to use switches?
 
Osiris said:
If you bought the motherboard you'd still have the switching issue, why not just use analogue cables and forget about buying anything new and having to use switches?
Click to expand...


So I have something to do =)

The line selector switches, im looking at say 2 75 ohm inputs and one output ..... is this too much resistence for speakers ? or does this just mean the max resistance ?
 
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