I have a Dell ADA995 5.1 speaker system, and it is hooked up to my Dell Dimension 8300. The cords that are plugged into my computer from the speakers are three colored cables: a yellow one, a lime green one, and a black one.
I am also planning on buying an LCD TV to replace my computer monitor. It is a Samsung 26" LN-R268W LCD TV. It will serve as my screen for the UPCOMING (not current) Xbox 360 and my computer screen.
My question is, can these cables be plugged into anything other than a sound card? I have not seen any other converters that have these three colored plugs(green, yellow, and black).
MY GOAL: I want these speakers to multifunction as both my computer speakers AND my LCD TV/Xbox speakers at the SAME TIME.
The answer is simple Mike, Buy a 5.1 surround sound card.
your new surround sound card will have a stereo front pair (light green) a stereo rear pair (black) a mono center channel (yellow) and depending on your speaker manufacturer your subwoofer will be a mono cable like the center (purple) or RCA (purple).
in some cases the subwoofer will take a usb or firewire plug and all speakers will plug into it.
none the less the key is having a 5.1 sound card.
With regard to having your Xbox 3whatever plug into your pc, it will have to be stereo unless you buy a D/A converter or unless the xbox3whatever has a digital audio output, in either case you will want to make sure your new 5.1 sound card has a digital audio input.