iMac with Surround sound...

Hi,

I have recently got a new 20" Intel iMac, however I can not seem to be able to use my existing 5.1 system. My speakers are the Creative P5800.

I have been looking at the various ports on the back of my iMac and I can't find a digital out, there are only two outputs for sound -- Input & Headphone port.

I have been reading the forums and various posts suggest that the "Belkin PureAV Digital Optical Cable with Mini-TOSLINK adapter" will do what I need, but I can't see where I would plug it if I should get one.

Thanks
Simon Thulbourn

the iMac's do not support surround sound but if you get the belkin item you were talking about it may work. but i dont know anything about the belkin item so you would have to research that.

There is Griffin Technology's FireWave.

Hold on 1 second while I step in with some corrections here...

Firstly... the iMac DOES support surround sound, it just doesn't support the direct generation of surround sound in software. If I play a 5.1 DVD on my iMac I most certainly DO get Dolby Digital 5.1 (or dts depending on the disk) output!!

Secondly, the port for the Mini TOSLink cable is the headphone port - it's a dual purpose analogue / optical digital port. There's a small LED right at the back of the socket and an optical cable with the correct Mini TosLink plug certainly works as I have one hooked up at the moment to my Sony 5.1 amp.

I am not positive, but I think Firewave will allow you some surround sound in games or mixing your own sound but certainly for normal surround output from movies you don't need it.