Play itunes through surround sound

Hi,
just wanted to ask if anyone knows how to play itunes through all 5 speakers of a surround system, and not just the front two (i.e. stereo)?
Many Thanks

I bought an iMac instead. Much better/easier solution.

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How do I play iTunes through my HiFi system ?

I'm new to Apple support communities having just bought my first Macbook Pro (a 17" 2.5GHz i7 model) and this is my very first iTunes post.
I’m a bit of a Hi-Fi enthusiast, so, with my new MacBook Pro I've taken the opportunity of completely reloading my iTunes library to disk in high quality Apple Lossless format. Took a while but now I've completed the task I’m really pleased I've done it.
My question is, what is the best way to connect a Macbook Pro to a high quality Hi-Fi preamp so I can play iTunes through my high quality Lounge HiFi system ? . . . my Hi-fi system is by Musical Fidelity, and the pre amp a Musical fidelity A5cr, this is a very expensive and good quality pre-amp, which has superb audio quality, but, only has analogue RCA phono inputs.
I'm guessing one option must be to use the MBP headphone output, either as an analogue or digital source, but I suspect its analogue headphone output will be totally incompatible with the RIAA requirement of the pre amp phono input ?
I’ve also read some comments about using digital connection – USB DAC’s appear to be an option but I don’t know anything about these or which models (available in the UK) are recommended – anyone got any experience ?
I've also read in an archived post here that MBP's have an optical output so maybe that could be used as the input to a DAC ? . .again any advice on which is the best way to go much appreciated ?
Apologies if this question has been asked lots of times before but I've looked through some previous posts and can't find any answers in simple and straightforward language concentrating on the issue of connecting a MacBook Pro to an analogue phono pre amp input ?
Thanks in anticipation of some advice.

Apple TV is the right solution for this.   I'm also a hifi fan who now has a giant itunes library in the cloud... and I wanted to play it through my hifi.
Get Apple TV for $99, and make sure you have an optical cable (avail at Walmart for maybe $10 I bet). You also need to buy an HDMI cable but it is beside the point for the hifi purpose.
Now my setup is Apple TV with optical out to my very decent (not ultra high end) AV receiver Denon 2802 - which gives me DA conversion AND bass managment.   This goes out to my high end integrated amp using RCA cables from the receiver to the integrated amp.    Now just calibrate the subwoofer using the AV receiver's bass management and I am VERY much in business. It sounds GREAT.
The receiver acts like a preamp (I keep my integrated with the dial at 12:00 most of the time... sort of like a stand alone power amp with a little gain left over... for TV this powers my fronts and the receiver powers the rest - works very fine).
Now if I want to be a little more purist about the whole thing, I might buy a separate outboard DAC to go between apple TV and my Integrated amp - cutting out the receiver.   I would cut down the signal path a bit.   But I would lose some bass management - I'd have to work harder to integrate my subwoofer using the subwoofer's dials which is tough...or else abandon the sub and play my speakers on large (which in my experience is never best... psychologically it seems best but it does not sound better if you are pretty good at dialing in your sub).
Anyway I probably lost you by talking on too long ... but in short - the Apple TV is perfect for this purpose - at least in my setup.   One of the best $99 I have ever spent.   My CD's are all ripped to itunes and are now nothing more than coasters. I sit in my chair - toggle to the assigned input on my receiver with the remote, use the receiver's remote for volume control, my macbook pro/iphone/ipad) to choose playlists, and enjoy pretty good hifi with my expensive integrated amp, sub and speakers.
Most of the time, my Apple TV has nothing to do with my TV... ironically. If I knew ATV would work this well for me I'd have been wiling to pay $250 for it.
Good luck.

Playing iTunes Through Airport Express (PC)

I am looking for advice to have success playing iTunes through my stereo speakers. The environment is PC and I have an Airport base station attached to my modem. The airport express is plugged in downstairs and I have the connection to the receiver to play through the stereo. My question is for the Express, am I setting up a new base station, or changing the config of the curent one? If so, what do I need to change on the configuration of the base station? I have reset it a number of times, but it continues to flash amber. It is an unsecured network----thanks for any assistance

I’ve been using Airport Express 4.1.01 (AX) for several years for the sole purpose of wirelessly playing iTunes thru stereo system which is in a different part of the house from my Dynalink Modem-Router.
I have recently bought a new Toshiba L/T with XP Prof OS and when I attempted to install AX I got an error message “A later version of iTunes is already installed on this machine. Installation cannot continue”. Current iTunes is V7. When I clicked OK on the error message I got the AX Introduction Window with the 3 icons (Internet, Music and Printer) appeared and over the top of the AX window another error message. “An error occurred while trying to use the wireless internet system” and the Next button on the AX window was dimmed. Once I clicked OK on error window Next button was available and clicking it I chose the “Set up a new AX” option and next the “Create a new wireless net work network” option.
No Airport Express base station was found despite rescanning and also being in the same room barely 2 metres from the AX and in the same position where everything had worker OK on my previous L/T. Tired of rescanning I had no option but to cancel. However, AX seems to be installed.
At this stage I followed Tesserax’s advice to thiels 17 (June 9th) pressed the reset button, connected my L/T to AX with an Ethernet cable and opened the AX Admin Utility. This opened Base Station Chooser. There are NO Tabs for either AirPort or Music Settings. Instead there are 3 Menu items – File, Base Station and Help as well as two buttons – Other and Rescan. I don’t have the information for the information asked by pressing Other.
Maybe the AirPort and Music Tabs are on a later AX Version? When I attempted to update AX after downloading Airport V5.0.14 I was got the message “This update requires Airport V 5.0 to be installed. I can’t find V 5.0 to download if that is in fact the answer to my problems.
Toshiba L/T Windows XP Pro

Wanting to connect an older G4 Powerbook running OS 10.4.11 to a Marantz SR4023 receiver amplifier with only RCA inputs to play iTunes through it on stereo speakers. Can anyone advise how to do this?

Wanting to connect an older G4 Powerbook running OS 10.4.11 to a Marantz SR4023 receiver amplifier with only RCA inputs to play iTunes through it on stereo speakers. Can anyone advise how to do this? Not tech savvy at all here, and will be happy with a simple hard wired connection. The Powerbook is old, and I no longer want to use it for anything but connecting iTunes radio, and my iTunes library to my stereo system.

Hi,
There were many PowerBook G4 models (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3065) with different ports (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2369).
If necessary, a manual can be found here:
http://support.apple.com/manuals/#PowerBook%20G4
Generally speaking, the output of a headphone port can often be used for the connection to an amplifier. You would need an appropriate cable (typically, 3.5 mm stereo plug to two RCA plugs). Choose a suitable amplifier input (high level). Do verify the allowed amplifier input voltage levels and the impedance before you connect.
Jan

Sound no longer playing through Surround Sound via TV

I have had my Mac Mini for about a year now and recently purchased a new 3D LG TV. Prior to that I had another LG hooked up through it and have a Panasonic surround sound system set up with I believe it's a Gefen digital to analog converter, because unfortunately LG only makes digital and alls that is available is analog through my surround sound. I have always been able to listen to my computer through the surround sound, however, since I purchased this new TV I have not been able to. The sound plays through the TV speaker but will not play through the surround sound yet when I change inputs over to my PS3 or DirecTv I can hear everything else except my computer. This is why I am convinced it is the computer and not the TV. I don't know if I'm missing a setting or something needed to change for this type of TV or what. I am pretty technical when it comes to electronics so I have tried changing all different types of settings and played around trying to fix this but so far no luck so who has an idea or ever heard of this before?

@mndwgz and Lousyfool
Sorry for the delay, however, I was out of town and just getting back to this issue. I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the computer settings or something of the sort because like I said prior to me switching tv's it has worked no problem, both of which were connected the same exact way. Both LG tv's only have an optical digital output port on it while my Panasonic surround sound only has an A/V input. To solve this I have a Gefen Digital to Analog converter in between the connection from the TV and the Surround Sound, so my computer is not connected anything in between the computer and HDMI connection to TV. Sound comes out of the TV through the computer but will not bypass through the TV to the Surround Sound. However I know it's not the TV settings because my PS3 regardless of the HDMI input plays sound through and over all my speakers. I have not tried rerunning my computer through the old LG LCD tv connect the surround sound as well to see if it worked because all the way up until I switched to an LED tv, it had. It's weird how this is a problem but have tried switching settings, changing inputs, problemsolving etc. but just don't see how my PS3 is converted through the tv to the converter to the surround sound and my mac mini is not!
Old LCD TV- LG model 42LH30
New LED TV- LG model 47LM6200
Surround Sound- Panasonic model SA-PT950
Converter- Gefen Digital to Analog Converter

ITunes 11.3 no longer plays AC-3 surround sound / audio.

I run iTunes in Windows, and upon updating to 11.3, the surround sound option (AC-3) no longer plays audio. Stereo works fine, but no surround sound plays at all. It worked in 11.2, but when upgrading to 11.3 it no longer works.
Possibly related: even in 11.2 it would work "inconsistently", meaning sometimes I would select the surround option and iTunes would either freeze or the sound would not play. 11.3 it won't work at all
Help?

I have had this same issue, and my problems started about the same time (three weeks ago). When I started experiencing the program I updated to the latest version of QuickTIme, but it has not helped the problem. Seems I have no audio on MPEG1 files. I can open them in iTunes and they play fine. QuickTime doesn't even show that there's an audio file when I look up movie properties. GeneLC65, have you found any solutions yet?
Oh, also the audio files embedded in Director presentation files are broken. Anyone got a clue on this?

Qucktime and iTunes Can't Play 5.1 Surround Sound

So I undarstand qicktime is used to adjust iTunes audio and in the control panel of the qicktime there is an option for 5.1 sound. However when I click this option (5.1 sound) I still get stereo sound out of my two front speakers while other speakers remain quiet.
Does anyone know the way to fix this?
Oh and my WMP plays my music in full 5.1 surround sound so it's qicktime that's not working properly.

well a lot of stuff on HBO is 5.1 like true blood was, so if you have hbo on demand look for some true blood episodes, they should show (when you click on info) the DD logo. I can't think of much more other than the movie stations off the top of my head. I'll check tomorrow for some, and then you can try it, and if it doesn't work you can look at some of your settings on your revceiver. Randy was right - fios doesn't alter the sound that comes from the stations, so if it is delivered in 5.1 then you should get it.
boston1 wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I can't find any programming that states DD in the guide. Does my setup look correct? Do you know of any programs that come in on 5.1? Randy from FIOS stated that Verizon doesn't change the audio format from the broadcasters so supposedly if they send out 5.1 then Verizon delivers 5.1 but I can't find anything in 5.1. All of my channels state Dolby Digital 2.0 or PCM 48 KHz on my receiver.

ITunes and surround sound internet streams

Hi all,
I'm looking to broadcast internet streams in surround sound and I want to select an audio codec which iTunes will play.
Does anyone know which surround audio codecs are supported for internet streaming?
Best regards,
Daren.

Thanks for your reply Dave.
I had suspected that this was the case. I've been exprimenting with iTunes and haven't even been able to receive a stereo AAC stream. AAC and AAC+ only seem to be supported for files and not internet streams.
If anyone disagrees, please feel free to correct me.
Does anyone know if there are plans to support AAC and AAC+ in internet streams? ..and in particular for surround sound broadcasts?
Best regards,
Daren.

Apple TV 2 through Surround Sound

I just bought Apple TV 2 as my Dad wants to stream football games onto our New Hisense SmartTV. My only problem is that I want Apple TV to play through the LG DVD reciever surround sounds speakers instead of the inbuilt internal TV speakers. The surround sound speakers already works with normal TV channels and I want to keep it that way but want able to play it also with ATV2. At the moment ATV2 is only playing through the internal speakers, making me having to change the sound settings on the TV, so that internal is on again. The DVD receiever doesnt have HDMI only analog ports and an optical in. If i buy an optical fibre cable and run it from the ATV2 to the dvd receiver will that make the sound work through the speakers?
What's the best / easiest way to go?

Yes, Toslink Digital Optical cable is cheap from Amazon and connects from Apple TV into your audio receiver (the device to which your surround sound speakers are connected). BUT Make sure you have the Audio & Video setting in your Apple TV right (Doby Digital, etc.) and that when you are playing Apple TV through your surround sound speakers. If no sound comes out, make sure that your surround sound device (DVD/Blu Ray player, etc.) is set to the right function: TV, not DVD or regular audio.
This blog has a short tutorial about this too: http://www.caramooneydesigns.com/blog/2015/01/12/how-to-connect-your-apple-tv-to -surround-sound-speakers/
Hope this helps!

Playing iTunes through my AppleTV

Here is my issue. I have an AppleTV hooked up through HDMI (for video) and Optical (for audio) to my pioneer tuner. The tuner is then attached to my Sony TV via HDMI. I try and play music through my AppleTV and visually it shows up on my TV, but I don't get any audio through the tuner. If I turn the volume up on the TV I can hear it, but I have surround sound and never have the volume up on the TV.
Just to add a little more, if I play movies or TV shows the audio comes through the tuner. Also if I go to my albums through my AppleTV audio plays through the tuner.
If anyone out there had any ideas it would be greatly appreciated.

Keebler wrote:
I want to sit on my couch, choose music and then choose photos to play in a slideshow?
don't i understand that
and so it works ! you need to pair your library with TV, then use the remote to navigate via your TV screen (or Apple's +remote app+ on your iPod Touch/iPhone).
see this usertip.

Playing iTunes through Bluetooth Speakers

Hi, i'm trying to play my itunes thorugh my new Dr Dre Beats Pills, bluetooth is connected, everything seems fine but as i hit play no music plays, not at all the track wont even starts, its like its paused?? please help!

You posted about another audio issue in a separate thread, and it might have been easier to post them together. Because they are actually related.
If you don't care about surround sound (and it sounds like you don't), then the easiest solution is to use analog audio.
One suggestion I would offer is to connect a 1/8" (headphone) to RCA stereo cable into the Mini, and then feed that into a pair of RCA splitters. Feed one splitter output to the TV and the other to your external speakers.
Or, you could just use the external speakers all the time and not bother with the TV's internal speakers, which are probably not that great anyway. In my system, whenever the TV is on, the receiver is on. The TV's internal sound is disabled and my speakers provide all the sound reproduction -- be it music, movies, or TV. I would not want it any other way.

Trouble getting sounds through surround sound

I recently bough new Apple TV, I have Samsung TV, Samsung DVD surrounds sound system and PVR. Have tried to connect Apple TV to the current setup but only way to get sound is by plugging the optic cable from PVR into Apple TV. Can anyone possibly run me through setting up from scratch? Thanks

This is something you need to configure though your TV and or "entertainment/surround sound system". It has nothing to do with AppleTV. So no one on this fourm would be able to help you.

Hum When Playing iTunes Through Airport Express

I have recently rewired my surround system, and now I am getting a hum when I play music through my Airport Express. I made no changes to the A/V receiver as it pertains to the Airport Express. I get no hum when watching the TV, only when listening to music though the Airport Express. Any suggestions?

Might it be possible that you may have some form of Wi-Fi interference in the area that may be the source of the hum that you're hearing from the AX?
I suggest you perform a simple site survey, using utilities like AirPort Client Monitor (a part of AirPort Management Tools), MacStumbler, or iStumbler to determine potential areas of interference...and either, eliminate them or attempt to significantly reduce them.

Playing iTunes through 500gb Time Capsule

Is it possible to play my iTunes through the wireless connection just on my mac? I'm looking through reviews and stuff on the web and its all really confusing...

In order to stream iTunes, the host (PC or Mac) must have iTunes installed. The iTunes music library may be located on a different device: external hard drive, Time Capsule, etc. iTunes could then be streamed from the host, using AirTunes, either wirelessly or by wire to the AirPort Express Base Station (AX).

Live TV through Surround Sound

I reciently purchased a 47in LG. I am trying to connect it to my Sony 6600 surround sounds system and to my HDDVR box. I think I have everything figured out except I can't get the live tv sound through the surround sound. I have an digital optical audio cable but can't figure out which two ports to plug it into. I have tried TV to reciever and cable box to reciever but can't get either to work. Any advice?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Thanks that fixed it. Never would have thought of that.

Play itunes through surround sound

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