5.1 Surround Sound Altec Lansing with Macbook Pro

I am sure this question has been asked many times before, but I couldn't find an answer. I have 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound Altec Lansing speakers that came with my Dell Desktop from several years ago, and I recently switched over to mac by purchasing a macbook pro. I would like to know what the best way, if any, would be to get the speakers working with my macbook.
The 5 surround sound speakers plug into the back of the subwoofer, and the subwoofer has 3 cables (I'm guessing right/left/subwoofer) that connect to the back of the desktop. Are there any adapters that would allow me to use them with my macbook pro? Is there any way to just stream whatever sound I want to those speakers? Is it even possible? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Is there a way to identify which computer outputs support 5.1 sound?  It is a media center PC, but I can't find that information anywhere.

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