Mobile Phone to a 5.1 System

[Andrew Guider]

Hello people,

I am not very good with audio setups, nor with how they work, so forgive my lack of knowledge and possible ridiculous questions in advance.

I am interested in efficiently connecting a smartphone to a 5.1 Logitech sound system, using it to play audio at my workplace.
The connection is made using a 3.5mm to stereo adapter, that goes from the phone to the sub-woofer. All speakers seem to be working, however very quietly (apart from the main speaker, with the volume control on it, being a bit louder than the rest), when it is supposed to be a 75 RMS system.
Could this be because the cable used is limiting the system to stereo only, not utilizing all channels well?
I have also tried several different phones and cables (still stereo only), with no major changes in the volume or quality.
For comparison reasons, I have a 35 RMS Creative 4.1 system at home connected to my PC, and there is a substantial difference in sound quality and volume between the two - the 4.1 system at home being much better.
I am guessing this has to do with the amplification done by the sound card in the PC affecting the signal, whereas the phone connected directly to the speaker system does none of that?

So, like I said, I have no actual idea why it may be happening.
If anyone could further explain this and help me out with what to do in order to let me use the full potential of the speakers, if possible at all, I would be very grateful!

Thank you!


Andrew

 

[Rob Spence]

Well, 5.1 is six channels. The phone puts out two channels, aka, stereo. There is no 5.1 encoding in the audio so you get stereo.


Sent from my iPad HD

 

[Andrew Guider]

Re: Mobile Phone to a 5.1 System

Thanks for the information, that explains it.

Is there a way I can solve this, or enhance the signal so that it uses the full potential of the speakers?

 

[Robert Lofgren]

Re: Mobile Phone to a 5.1 System

Thanks for the information, that explains it.

Is there a way I can solve this, or enhance the signal so that it uses the full potential of the speakers?

The simple way to do it is if your smartphone is hdmi-capable, as most samsungs and iphones are.

Use a hdmi-->dts demuxer (or similar device depending on audio content encoding) to convert it into lightpipe or coax. From the demuxer you then take the digital stream into a surround decoder that gives you line level out to your 5.1 speaker system. The decoder must probably be able to down-convert 7.1 into 5.1 otherwise you might lose some audio.

There are recievers that do this already but then your 5.1 system will be of no use...