Wow, that's a... pardon the pun, very unorthodox, setup.  Usually, you'd not 
have one cable to do both left and right channels unless it was a Y cable.  Let 
me ask you this.

The green cable you have for left and right... is it just one plug on each end 
of that cord, or two plugs?  I'm trying to get my head around how you're 
getting left and right separation in the stereo spectrom on only one cord.  The 
only thing I could think is it's a stereo balanced crossover cable.  If that's 
the case, then yeah, ok, I could see it.

What, however, I do! find really really strange though is why that red/orange, 
call it as you will, cord is doing your center and! your sub.  Normally, you'd 
want your center speaker to be totally on a seperet channel from your left or 
right, and you definitely! definitely would not want those lower end 
frequencies say around 80HZ and lower to be sent to your center.  Generally, 
your center should roll off everything on an average about 150HZ and lower.  
Your satellites should go about 150 down to about 80HZ, then your sub would 
crossover at that point at about 80 down to about 25-30.  Again, this is only 
an average estimate.  Each type of speaker will greatly vary in frequency 
response.  My point though is, If you're using one cable for the sub woofer, 
and that same cable/jack is powerring your center, then that seems really weird 
to me!  I'd think that would make your speakers sound horribly! out of phase.

Chris.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bill Holton 
  To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 1:56 PM
  Subject: RE: Need a bit of USB sound education


  Hi.

  Yes,  it screws up on the other Mac as well, so assuming it is a sound card 
issue.  My current speakers have three cables

  Black = Rear left and right. . 

  Green = Front left and right. 

  Orange = Center and Subwoofer.

  And I do not know what this type of sound interface is called.  Any 
suggestions appreciated.

   

   

  From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher-Mark Gilland
  Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 9:18 AM
  To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
  Subject: Re: Need a bit of USB sound education

   

  but your mac isn't what's producing the sound in this case.  The question 
isn't does your mac have optical, at which, the answer is no, by the way.  The 
question is, does your USB interface have optical out?

   

  I do agree that would give you a better sound.  Either that, or SPDIF, 
sometimes pronounced spiddif.

   

  I still however tend to think this is a bigger issue than your speaker setup. 
 It sounds more like there is something going on within the USB connection from 
your mac to the USB interface.  I don't think your speakers are the problem 
here, honestly, based on what you're telling us.

   

  Chris.

   

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Bill Holton 

    To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com 

    Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 8:02 AM

    Subject: Re: Need a bit of USB sound education

     

    I was told my mac mini didn't have an optical out. Is it the same jack that 
you would normally take audio out of?

    Sent from my iPhone


    On Jan 19, 2016, at 11:43 PM, 'Chris Blouch' via MacVisionaries 
<macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> wrote:

      If you are trying to get 5.1 out of your Mac, does your amp have an 
optical input? If so, it might be easier to skip all the USB stuff and just run 
optical from the mini to your surround-sound amp.

      CB

      On 1/18/16 9:57 PM, Bill Holton wrote:

        Hi.

        My wife says they are green, orange—red?—and black.  The USB cable goes 
into the box, those three cables go to my 5.1 system subwoofer, the subwoofer 
has the amp, I am guessing, and there are five audio cable jacks in it that 
lead to the left, right, satellite, and center channels.  The speakers also 
have a large cable with a volume know, a headphone jack, and dial for 
bass/treble, and another that does increased separation.  Does that help?

        The USB audio keeps dropping out, then coming back.  I thought maybe it 
was an OS issue, but I am running VM, and after a config change it started 
asking me where I want the device connected, Mac or Windows, so I am guessing 
it is actually disconnecting and reconnecting.  Tried three different USB 
cables;, didn’t help.

        From: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com 
[mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Christopher-Mark Gilland
        Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 6:50 PM
        To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com
        Subject: Re: Need a bit of USB sound education

        OK, do you know what color those cables are?  That would tell me a fair 
amount.  Are they blue green and black?  If so, I might have a possible 
solution.  If two of them are red and white, then I'll have to think about it, 
as that wouldn't exactly tell me much.

        red and white is generally your standard RCA, then of course yellow 
would be for video, so I highly doubt that is what you're working with.

        The green, blue, and black would be digital and probably would be like 
a composit cable.

        That's why I'm kind a wonderring.  We need just a slight bit more info.

        Chris.

          ----- Original Message ----- 

          From: Bill Holton 

          To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com 

          Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 5:15 PM

          Subject: Need a bit of USB sound education

          Hi.

          I am currently running a USB sound adapter to a set of 5.1 speakers 
on my Mac Mini, connected by three color-coded cables to the subwoofer, which 
in turn connects to the five speakers.

          The device is acting up, it keeps failing and restarting.  Tried 
different cable, same issues.  I want to replace the device, but not sure what 
I am looking for.  All the ones I see on Amazon show audio out.  What do I need 
to look for in one that will connect via the three color coded cables?  Hoping 
to get off fairly inexpensively, so if anyone can recommend one…much thanks.

          Bill

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