Anyone know anything about sound systems and hardware in here??

So, I came up with a conceptual idea based on what I know of my experiences with editing music over the years with software, but I decided I want to take it a step further, only I'm not entirely sure how because I'm not familiar with hardware and because it's expensive, I'd like to not do this and fresia up heh...


I have a Lenovo Y5070 laptop...The specs are:


Processor:4th Generation Intel Core i7-4710HQ Processor (2.50GHz 1600MHz 6MB)
Operating system:Windows 8.1 64
Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
Memory:8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display:15.6" FHD LED AntiGlare Backlight (1920x1080)
Hard Drive:Hybrid 1TB 5400 RPM+8GB SSHD
Battery:4 Cell 54 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion
Bluetooth:Bluetooth Version 4.0
Warranty:One year
Optical Drive:None
Network Card:Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160


No, I know Windows isn't ideal for audio editing and recording, but I'm not doing this for professional reasons, I'm doing this as a hobby, mostly for myself.

Anyway, what I want to do is get either a 5.1 surround sound system, or an entertainment center sound system, and hook it up to a subwoofer, and add channels to tracks, and split certain parts of a song off to specific speakers in the room, sort of like, emulating a PA system in a way, only, well, really without a PA? If that makes any sense???

I'm open to ideas and researching. I can't seem to find a lot of consecutive information online about this sort of a thing. But basically I want to be able to send one section of the sound through one speaker and another set of sounds through another speaker, and so on. I can separate the dual channel mix through a decompressor. It'll sound kinda warbly, but, like I said, I'm doing this as a hobby for myself, not for professional reasons.

So my question is, hardware-wise, what would I need to be able to do that??

Niantiel said:

So, I came up with a conceptual idea based on what I know of my experiences with editing music over the years with software, but I decided I want to take it a step further, only I'm not entirely sure how because I'm not familiar with hardware and because it's expensive, I'd like to not do this and fresia up heh...


I have a Lenovo Y5070 laptop...The specs are:


Processor:4th Generation Intel Core i7-4710HQ Processor (2.50GHz 1600MHz 6MB)
Operating system:Windows 8.1 64
Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
Memory:8.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3L SDRAM 1600 MHz
Display:15.6" FHD LED AntiGlare Backlight (1920x1080)
Hard Drive:Hybrid 1TB 5400 RPM+8GB SSHD
Battery:4 Cell 54 Watt Hour Lithium-Ion
Bluetooth:Bluetooth Version 4.0
Warranty:One year
Optical Drive:None
Network Card:Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160


No, I know Windows isn't ideal for audio editing and recording, but I'm not doing this for professional reasons, I'm doing this as a hobby, mostly for myself.

Anyway, what I want to do is get either a 5.1 surround sound system, or an entertainment center sound system, and hook it up to a subwoofer, and add channels to tracks, and split certain parts of a song off to specific speakers in the room, sort of like, emulating a PA system in a way, only, well, really without a PA? If that makes any sense???

I'm open to ideas and researching. I can't seem to find a lot of consecutive information online about this sort of a thing. But basically I want to be able to send one section of the sound through one speaker and another set of sounds through another speaker, and so on. I can separate the dual channel mix through a decompressor. It'll sound kinda warbly, but, like I said, I'm doing this as a hobby for myself, not for professional reasons.

So my question is, hardware-wise, what would I need to be able to do that??

Click to expand...

I daresay it's possible providing your computer has an HDMI port that can directly link with your stereo system much in the same way as my laptop, the splendid Asus N550JV that has Bang & Olufsen MAXXAudio 3 software and that nifty HDMI port. It depends entirely on what you are intending with such a 5.1 setup and how much you intend spending. Are you, for example, want to dabble with DJ'ing software and manipulate sounds to build up a song track album with view to posting a You Tube video? I take it you are a bass head.

I use MIXXX but go further in using it to loop beats and ramping with MIXX's splendid crossfader control to enhance my vinyl collection. Or, to produce a professional sound backing for my young girl's charity performancies.

Now. for conventional computer use, I hook my Asus laptop up to a mlovely pair of Creative Gigaworks T40's as revewed Here Or, I unhook those speakers to take my laptop to my audio room and hook it to my HiFi system whose speakers are a hairdrying pair of Sonus Faber Extremas. I'll hook up my Stax Omegas (they have a separate energizer unit) if my family want peace and quiet without having a loony mouse going rampage playing Natalie Gioia's The Reason, or some female trance singer my girl likes dubbing over.

Look on Amazon for deals on Logitech 5.1 sound systems and for a sound mixer. Like the Behringer Eurorack UB1222FX-Pro Mixer, or, their X1622USB Xenyx 16 Input 2/2 Bus Mixer. They even make a nifty USB mixer -

This One

I have the use of my family's recording studios, but for professional use. But if you want to make a really good start, then Behringer is your way forward and your finding a decent 5.1 surround sound system.

By the way, I recommend you splash out on a decent DAC. Like the inexpensive FiiO10 to enhance your headphone listening to 96K and a pair of (equually inexpensive) Koss PRO4AA's.

Come back to me later on your thread and I'll see if I can help you further.


ETA: Your Lenovo should have a headphone jack output into which you can jam in a 5.1 surround sound system, though I expect you can get updates for its Realtek sound drivers if you look online.