BurbMan wrote:
Bob your laptop should have the same "audio out" or headphone jack as your desktop did, so that same "triple mini" plug will work the same way. You don't need to buy anything else.
For 2 channel "stereo" audio you would be correct.
However, Bob is attempting to connect a "5.1" Surround sound speaker system to his laptop. I don't know of ANY laptop which has the additional front and rear plus subwoofer outputs built into it.
Many old desktop PCs USED to include a multi channel "surround sound " decoder and the extra output connections on the rear output panel for front/rear and subwoofer (IE "5.1" surround"). All you needed was enough speakers with amps for fronts and rears plus subwoofer and plug into the correct jacks.
SO, to get front/rear and sub decoding done with a laptop, one MUST use an EXTERNAL USB "sound card" dongle which will have all channel connections needed to get full surround decoding.
IF Bob didn't care about having surround sound, he could have just simply ignored the front or rear speakers but that would leave him without the sub... The fix there would be to use a 1/8" stereo (three pin) break out cable..
Like this..
Subwoofer would have worked since it will only reproduce the low frequencies and ignore the high frequencies. The front speakers would have worked since they will reproduce the frequencies above what the subwoofer can.
Just would not have the "rear speakers" in this case.
If Bob wanted all five speakers to work and not caring about soround then he could simply "stack" two of the "Y" connectors together and plug in all of the connections to the stacked "Y".
Not "ideal" but is workable solution.
