surround Surround sound splitter?

[gcole]

I want to use existing speakers i have as speakers behind me and i was wondering if there was a product of some kind that splits audio into different channels like front left/right and back left/right. I'm not too well versed in all of this and don't want to spend an arm an and a leg for a whole setup. Sorry if this sounds weird or anything just hoping for the best. thanks for any help

[Psittac]

So there are 3 thing's that come before a speaker or headphone, a source meaning mp3/flac etc, a dac meaning digital to analogue converter (from 1's and 0's into an analogue signal) and an amplifier which takes that very low level signal and turns it into something that can power the speaker or headphone.  Many items contain a dac and amp like a phone with a headphone jack, wireless headphones, your computers audio out etc etc.

 

What you are looking for is a little more complicated because you need a source with multiple channels to it like a movie, then you need a dac that can turn that digital file into several analogue signals and then an amp for each of the desired speakers.  Typically this is done with what is called an AVR or Audio Video Receiver, think the big black box under a TV with a bunch of speakers on it, it takes the audio signal from the hdmi cable and passes the video to your TV/Monitor and it processes the audio signal so it knows which speakers to send which sound.

 

Now all of that last part assumes you want surround sound, if you just want stereo sound (left and right) infront of you as well as the same stereo sound behind you then you could just double up on what you already have.  I'd need to know how you're powering everything and how it's connected to a source to comment on that.

 

But if you want surround sound your best bet for budget would be a used AVR.

[gcole]

26 minutes ago, Psittac said:

So there are 3 thing's that come before a speaker or headphone, a source meaning mp3/flac etc, a dac meaning digital to analogue converter (from 1's and 0's into an analogue signal) and an amplifier which takes that very low level signal and turns it into something that can power the speaker or headphone.  Many items contain a dac and amp like a phone with a headphone jack, wireless headphones, your computers audio out etc etc.

 

What you are looking for is a little more complicated because you need a source with multiple channels to it like a movie, then you need a dac that can turn that digital file into several analogue signals and then an amp for each of the desired speakers.  Typically this is done with what is called an AVR or Audio Video Receiver, think the big black box under a TV with a bunch of speakers on it, it takes the audio signal from the hdmi cable and passes the video to your TV/Monitor and it processes the audio signal so it knows which speakers to send which sound.

 

Now all of that last part assumes you want surround sound, if you just want stereo sound (left and right) infront of you as well as the same stereo sound behind you then you could just double up on what you already have.  I'd need to know how you're powering everything and how it's connected to a source to comment on that.

 

But if you want surround sound your best bet for budget would be a used AVR.

thank you for the explanation I appreciate it, would I be able to connect speakers that have a 3.5 jack?

[Psittac]

51 minutes ago, gcole said:

thank you for the explanation I appreciate it, would I be able to connect speakers that have a 3.5 jack?

I'm not certain, do you mean to your computer?  I think this is going to come down to what your specific onboard audio is capable of, at which point I can't give any advice because I don't know enough about onboard audio.  My understanding is that you would need some way to tell each speaker what sound to produce which might be some kind of software decoder or something, and that's even if you can provide two line level outputs from your computer. Line level outputs are what powered speakers take in as an unamplified signal, it's the computer putting something out straight from the dac.  Sometimes these are configurable.  What speakers do you have now and what speakers are you planning on getting?  That will tell us more about actually hooking them up to the computer.  The decoding process and/or speaker assigning is another issue.

 

Basically this isn't a common thing that I'm aware of so you will need to be creative if you want to do it esp on a budget.

[Omon_Ra]

1 hour ago, gcole said:

thank you for the explanation I appreciate it, would I be able to connect speakers that have a 3.5 jack?

Depends if you want true surround sound (Dolby/DTS) or just multi-channel stereo. The easiest route would be getting an AV receiver. You can still connect stereo devices to it, and most (even older receivers) can take the stereo and send audio to all 4 (front left/right, surround/rear [depends on the receiver as how it's labeled] left/right) channels. On Yahamas it's called 'All Channel Stereo,' or sometimes 5/7 channel stereo. On other brands, Sony, Onkyo, Denon, etc, it's usually 'multi-channel stereo.' It basically just takes the stereo signal and doubles, or repeats it, for the rear/surround speakers. On my Yamaha receiver, you can still do a Dolby Surround mode from a stereo source. It kind of fiddles with things and makes it sound like 5.1 surround sound, but it won't be 'true' Dolby 5.1. You'd need to use HDMI or optical to pass-through the Dolby/DTS encoded audio (movies or TV shows) from the source to have it send the correct signals to the corresponding channels. In college I won a cheap 'surround sound' speaker system and it only had RCA stereo inputs. It worked fine, and while it wasn't 'true' Dolby surround sound, just having audio from behind you does result in a more immersive soundstage.

[gcole]

19 hours ago, Psittac said:

I'm not certain, do you mean to your computer?  I think this is going to come down to what your specific onboard audio is capable of, at which point I can't give any advice because I don't know enough about onboard audio.  My understanding is that you would need some way to tell each speaker what sound to produce which might be some kind of software decoder or something, and that's even if you can provide two line level outputs from your computer. Line level outputs are what powered speakers take in as an unamplified signal, it's the computer putting something out straight from the dac.  Sometimes these are configurable.  What speakers do you have now and what speakers are you planning on getting?  That will tell us more about actually hooking them up to the computer.  The decoding process and/or speaker assigning is another issue.

 

Basically this isn't a common thing that I'm aware of so you will need to be creative if you want to do it esp on a budget.

I got two google home max speakers for cheap, I think they look and sounds great to me at least and I like the extra smart speaker functionality. but the wireless pairing seems to have a delay according to people online so I want to use them wired with the 3.5 mm jack and have two on each side of my tv and then have some other wired 3.5 mm speakers sit behind my couch on each side. And the output would be from either the optical port or the 3.5 mm jack on my TCL tv.

[cmndr]

On 4/11/2023 at 6:23 PM, gcole said:

thank you for the explanation I appreciate it, would I be able to connect speakers that have a 3.5 jack?

Into an AVR... usually not. 

More expensive AVRs ($200ish for a 6ish year old one used; $1000+ new) will have pre-outs which are usually larger than 3.5 (6.35mm I believe). Some of the even higher end ones will do XLR though this doesn't matter a ton. 

Most units do NOT do wireless out


Be aware that having a 3.5" jack on a speaker is usually a sign that it's a very low end device. Most people are better off focusing on getting 2 GOOD speakers first, positioning them well and dialing them in, before trying to add more to the mix. You have 2 ears, stereo imaging, when well done can be very satisfying. More speakers on top of that should be seen as a cherry on top, not a starting point. 
 

 

Also be aware that smart home speakers generally don't work well for surround sound use. I'd consider smart home speakers as standalone appliances, not things that integrate well into non-standard uses. They're well engineered and a solid value for the money, but getting surround sound out of most smart speakers is like trying to fit a square peg through a round hole.