Audio

[ChrisBMacon]

Hello,



We are designing an outdoor Christmas theme with music from movie clips that are surround sound. This being the case, we will be playing the movie sound tracks thru our PC, amped and speakers strategically placed in the yards with displays. My question is, we do not know what audio card to buy and for each speaker, are their separate speaker output jacks from the PC that we would simply run thru the amp then to speakers in the yard?

[Denny]

There are many sound cards out there that have surround sound capability. You might try a search on newegg.com to get an idea. If you are going through a separate audio amplifier, probably the easiest way for connections would be to get a sound card that has a toslink connection to your amp. That being said, I think you will be disappointed in the use of surround sound outside. You don't have the walls that reflect the sound and the distances. Also, the distances between speakers is too great, even for a small display area, to get the surround effect. In my experience, even using stereo, the sound doesn't sound natural because the distance is so great. I transmit stereo through my transmitter, but I set my receiver to mono for the display. Then I can use the receiver's speaker A/B switch to power four speakers throughout the yard and display. That way, anyone standing outside can hear the full audio and anyone listening in their vehicle can hear the music in stereo.