Vostro 1400’s 5.1 Surround Sound

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Believe it or not the Vostro 1400 does have built in 5.1 Surround Sound and can drive analog outputs for such a setup. The plug-order from left to right on the front of the laptop is front (green plug), center/sub (orange plug), rear (black plug). After plugging into the ports, go to your control panel, and open up the SigmaTel Audio panel. Under the “Jack Setup” tab right click on each of the jacks (which each should have a green check mark over if you have plugged something into them). In the pop-up menu select the appropriate setting. Then back in Control Panel go to the Sound Panel select the Speakers/Headphones option/device and click on the configure button, select “5.1 Surround” in the Audio channels list. Continue on through the setup and when done everything should work in full 5.1 surround goodness. Naturally, the on board sound isn’t as good as the sound from my X-Fi, but I don’t have the 5.1 breakout box for the X-Fi yet. Dell’s choice to place the audio jacks on the front of the Vostro isn’t the best of design choices as they get in the way of the keyboard a little bit. However, it really isn’t that bad.

I really wish all laptop manufactures would standardize on a common docking station interface which would consist of a PCI Express x16 connector plus an express card interface located in the port (plus power of course), which in the base station would allow for full sized x16 graphics card to be installed and either a normal PCI, x1 card, or express card to be installed as well, plus 4 or so USB ports on the dock. That way you can game with the laptop when docked (Geforce 9800GT anyone?) yet get the power benefits of having an IGP while mobile (I really enjoy my 5+ hours of battery life with the normal 6 cell battery).

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]

5 thoughts on “Vostro 1400’s 5.1 Surround Sound”

  1. Hello, John.
    What about a digital system like Logitech’s Z-5500 speakers? Would it work with this setup you mention? I also own a Vostro 1400.

    Best regards,
    Ricardo

    • The Z-5500 has analog inputs along with digital inputs, so you could plug the three analog cables into the Vostro 1400. Though, that really isn’t the way you really want to go about it.

      I assume there would be some sort of mini-jack to digital coax cable available somewhere. Then you’d be able to pipe digital audio out of one of the three ports (should check the port assigner to see if it allows you to assign one of them to SPDIF). For 9 months now, I have been running linux on my Vostro 1400 so I can’t just go and check out what the Windows driver supports myself.

      -John Havlik

      • I read your post again, John, and it made me wonder. Why is connecting the three analog cables into the Vostro 1400 not the way I would want to go about it? I mean, what’s wrong with setting it up like that?

        Thanks,
        Ricardo

        • Ricardo,

          You can do it that way, however you more or less lose the benefit of having a “digital” speaker system. The digital speaker systems have a dedicated module that convert the digital sound signal into an analog signal that drives the speakers to produce the sound you hear. These modules usually have extra features (THX certification, Dolby Digital decoding, dts decoding, etc.) and usually better DACs (Digital to Analog Converters). By connecting in the three analog audio connectors, you bypass the digital decoding module; rendering it useless.

          -John Havlik

  2. Thanks, John.
    I will let you know how it goes once I get my hands on those speakers.

    Best regards,
    Ricardo

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