Realtek ALC 650 5.1 onboard audio with home theater setup?

[Fausto]

I'm considering putting together a Shuttle SFF box as a dedicated HT rig. Can I run the onboard audio out right into my amp and get 5.1 sound or is it more complicated than that?

 

[Dman877]

I think if you use the 5.1 analog outs (front/center/rear miniplugs) its ready for amplification, you'll just need miniplug-to-rca adapters. I don't know how the digital works, you might need an external decoder for that.

Hmm... on further inspection, it appears that those shuttle's only have 5.1 out digitally, there's no analog output for 5.1. You can't run a digital signal to an amp I don't think so you'll need a processer in between. Kinda sucky imo, most sound cards have 3 or 4 analog outs, front, rear, and center/sub out. The shuttle looks like it only has stereo analog output.

I've always wondered how the digital out works compared to the analog out on a 5.1 card with non-game (dvd) material. Do sound cards have dd/dts decoders on them? or are those 5.1 analog outs just for eax-type gaming?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Dman877
I think if you use the 5.1 analog outs (front/center/rear miniplugs) its ready for amplification, you'll just need miniplug-to-rca adapters. I don't know how the digital works, you might need an external decoder for that.



Hmm... on further inspection, it appears that those shuttle's only have 5.1 out digitally, there's no analog output for 5.1. You can't run a digital signal to an amp I don't think so you'll need a processer in between. Kinda sucky imo, most sound cards have 3 or 4 analog outs, front, rear, and center/sub out. The shuttle looks like it only has stereo analog output.



I've always wondered how the digital out works compared to the analog out on a 5.1 card with non-game (dvd) material. Do sound cards have dd/dts decoders on them? or are those 5.1 analog outs just for eax-type gaming?

Depends on which Shuttle SFF you are lookin' at brudda 😉 My SN45G has dedicated ports for everything, a Soundstorm certification requirement. To hook mine up to my A/V reciever all I did was connect the SPDIF cable to each and viola' Soundstorm Dolby Digital goodness. If you connect analog and you don't have dedicated ports you will need to remap the mic and line in ports as LFE/Center and rear out using the audio properties.

I was just looking at mine and I don't think I could get 5.1 from my analog because there's no place to plug the LFE/cEnter channel into on my A/V 😕

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: Dman877
I think if you use the 5.1 analog outs (front/center/rear miniplugs) its ready for amplification, you'll just need miniplug-to-rca adapters. I don't know how the digital works, you might need an external decoder for that.



Hmm... on further inspection, it appears that those shuttle's only have 5.1 out digitally, there's no analog output for 5.1. You can't run a digital signal to an amp I don't think so you'll need a processer in between. Kinda sucky imo, most sound cards have 3 or 4 analog outs, front, rear, and center/sub out. The shuttle looks like it only has stereo analog output.



I've always wondered how the digital out works compared to the analog out on a 5.1 card with non-game (dvd) material. Do sound cards have dd/dts decoders on them? or are those 5.1 analog outs just for eax-type gaming?

Depends on which Shuttle SFF you are lookin' at brudda 😉 My SN45G has dedicated ports for everything, a Soundstorm certification requirement. To hook mine up to my A/V reciever all I did was connect the SPDIF cable to each and viola' Soundstorm Dolby Digital goodness. If you connect analog and you don't have dedicated ports you will need to remap the mic and line in ports as LFE/Center and rear out using the audio properties.

I was just looking at mine and I don't think I could get 5.1 from my analog because there's no place to plug the LFE/cEnter channel into on my A/V 😕

My amp is a Denon AVR1603 with following specs:

Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS A/V Receiver
Dolby Pro Logic II, with Cinema and Music Modes
Dolby Digital and DTS decoding
32 bit Analog Devices DSP processor
5 equal power amplifier channels
80 watts per channel into 8 ohms, <.08%THD, 20Hz - 20 kHz
110-watts per channel into 6 ohms, 1kHz, <.7%THD
Discrete power amplifier stage
5 Channel Stereo
Personal Memory Plus
Virtual Surround (for use with 2 speakers)
24 bit, 96 kHz DACs
24 bit, 96 kHz digital interface receiver
24 bit, 96 kHz stereo PCM digital playback
Speaker A/B (front) selector
Front Panel A/V inputs, including Optical Digital with cover
6 Channel External Input (for DVD-Audio) with wideband (100 kHz) frequency response
Addressable digital inputs, 2 optical, 1 coaxial
One Optical digital output for recording
Component, "S" &amp; composite video switching
Banana plug compatible speaker terminals all channels
Subwoofer Pre-amp output

Full specs here (.pdf).

Am I good to go if I pick up an SN45G?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Yes sir, you will be good to go since your Denon has optical and coaxial digital inputs. You just plug the cable into the coax or optical out on the SN45G and the input for the A/V. You can use the nvmixer to tweak everything to your liking.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Yes sir, you will be good to go since your Denon has optical and coaxial digital inputs. You just plug the cable into the coax or optical out on the SN45G and the input for the A/V. You can use the nvmixer to tweak everything to your liking.

Sweet. Thanks for all the info. I've been meaning to put a SFF HT box together for a while since I bought that amp. 🙂

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I dug up in old review of the soundstorm in which he uses an a/v hooked up via coax so you can have a look at how he set it up and what he thought of it link :beer:

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I dug up in old review of the soundstorm in which he uses an a/v hooked up via coax so you can have a look at how he set it up and what he thought of it link :beer:

Excellent! Thanks again. I look forward to surround-sound por.....er......Disney movies. 😛

 

[DAPUNISHER]

One last thing, if you have any problems or questions there is a great resource here for all things Soundstorm related.