Hi, I'm new here and I hope I'm not asking something too obvious. I did a bit of research and haven't found any obvious solutions.
I recently installed a MacMini as a low-level Home Theater system. I had it connected to my amp (Sony, model number at home) via a mini-jack and it worked fine, in stereo. The macMini comes with a minijack/optical combined outlet and I bought an optical cable. Now, when I go through the optical cable, sound only comes out through the center speaker.
I switched back to the minijack and it did the same thing?!
The MacMini system seems to be adjusting to the jack I plug in (it switches between digital and stereo sound outputs in the control panel), though it still could be the computer causing the problem (I trust noone).
When I plug it into my girlfriend's stereo with a regular minijack, stereo comes out fine.
Sounds like you might be having a problem with ur receiver getting the right kind of connection. I encountered a problem like that where it was reading the audio signal but the proper inputs were not set up on the receiver to get the correct line of signal. Play around with the settings on the receiver and check to make sure u have it goin into proper inputs. If that doesnt work, check the settings on your computer as the speakers setting may be set for stereo analog instead of SPDIF digital. Hope it works for ya.
I have suspicions about my receiver. I haven't been happy with it on many levels. I will play around and see if some setting has gotten changed. Thanks.