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Explaination of audio ports on my computer

My custom built gaming system has full set of 7.1 audio ports on the back. Attached is a picture of the back of the motherboard and the various connectors it has.

I have a 5.1 home theatre system that used to be connected to by DVD player. It consists of two surround sound speakers, two front speakers, one center speaker and one subwoofer. Each speaker has a ground and a signal line coming out and all 12 wires would go into their respective springy-clips on the dvd player.

I'm looking for an explaination of exactly what each *wire* of each of those six audio ports on the motherboard are for. I'm looking to learn not only what the jack is for, but also what each contact on the stereo plug would represent (e.g. the sleeve, ring and tip of the jack). For example, which is the left channel? The sleeve or the ring?

I understand the configuration varies depending on the settings on your computer. The computer's audio device will be in 5.1 SURROUND SOUND SPEAKERS mode.

So to make it real simple, I need the code snippet filled out. :)

I assume the jacks color coding will be enough info to let you know what's what, but if it isn't and you need a high-res photo of the plugs so you can see the little engraved diagrams, let me know. Looking forward to your comments!

AUDIO PORTS WHEN IN 5.1 SURROUND SOUND MODE
=======================================================
 
GRAY PLUG
     Sleeve - ground...?
     Ring - ?
     Tip - ?
 
BLACK PLUG
     Sleeve - ?
     Ring - ?
     Tip - ?
 
ORANGE PLUG
     Sleeve - ?
     Ring - ?
     Tip - ?
 
RED PLUG
     Sleeve - ground...?
     Tip side Ring - ?
     Sleeve side Ring - ?   <-- not sure if this exists, Some mic plugs have two rings don't they?
     Tip - ?
 
GREEN PLUG
     Sleeve - ?
     Ring - ?
     Tip - ?
 
BLUE PLUG
     Sleeve - ?
     Ring - ?
     Tip - ?

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back.jpg
plug.gif

dbrunton

Sound card
      Pink       Analog microphone audio input.       3.5 mm TRS
      Light blue       Analog line level audio input.       3.5 mm TRS
      Lime green       Analog line level audio output for the main stereo signal (front speakers or headphones).       3.5 mm TRS
      Brown       Analog line level audio output for 'Right-to-left speaker'.       3.5 mm TRS
      Orange       speaker out / subwoofer       3.5 mm TRS

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dbrunton

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dbrunton

Black and gray are in the link I provided at bottom of page - what they do.

Frosty555

ASKER

Okay, so sleeve = ground, ring = right channel, and tip = left channel

So for the orage (or I guess, "Gold") plug, it is dual output, subwoofer and center speaker - which one is on the ring and which is on the tip?

dbrunton

Sorry, that last one I can't find.

Frosty555

ASKER

Okay, I figured it out by just plugging the thing in and doing some audio tests in windows, and just listening to what speaker comes out where.

... I don't remember what the result was... I think the ring (right channel) was the subwoofer. In any case it isn't difficult to figure out if you are setting up a system.

Frosty555

ASKER

I should probably note that it turned out my amp only had stereo auxilliary input. So due to technical reasons... I ended up using the digital optical audio port on both my home theatre box, as well as my computer, since they did support the full 5.1 set of channels. It was a heck of a lot easier to just go and buy a cable.