Sound configuration K7N2G-ILSR & 4.1 Klipsh

Question

I am trying to hook up my Klipsch 4.1 speakers to the onboard audio of my new K7N2G-ILSR motherboard. I have tried every combination possible to get sound the front and rear speakers, including the subwoofer. I can get them to work, but not all together like they should. I have tried connecting to the digital SPIDIF connector, as well as the analog connectors on the mobo itself. I have successfully downloaded the latest drivers for the Nvidia Nforce Control Panel. I even downloaded the latest drivers from Realtek and tried them... no worky.
The manual shows the hookup with three connectors: The front speakers (one jack), the back speakers (one jack), and the subwoofer (one jack). The problem is that the Klipsch 4.1 setup only uses one connection for both the front and rear speakers, and one connection for the subwoofer. It appears that this configuration is not supported by the Nforce drivers.
Should I give up and go to a digital sound card or is there a way around this? Your help is massively appreciated!
Mike

Answer 1

Here is how I did it, let me explain what I learned first. Though the Klipsch speakers are some bad a$$ sound, they are not digital, they are all analog. So, with this in mind, a digital connection is not possible. Here is what you get with the k7n2g-ilsr:
The motherboard back panel has three mini-jacks for sound;
1 microphone (analog)
1 line in (analog)
1 line out (analog)
The SPIDIF bracket; or S-bracket (as named by MSI), has two mini-jacks:
1 LR/RR (left rear & right rear) (analog)
1 CEN/SUB (center & subwoofer) (analog)
It also has these outputs:
1 coaxial out (digital)
1 SPIDIF jack out (digital optical)
So, because the Klipsh speakers use two jacks; one for the front pair and one for the rear pair, you can't plug the front pair in to the SPIDIF bracket, because the only other analog jack - supports the center and subwoofer channel for 5.1 surround only. The only other way to cover the front channel is to do what Mooncrater said, plug it in to the line out on the motherboard back panel.
The thing that was stumping me on this whole setup is that in the Nvidia Nforce Control Panel, when you configure an analog surround group, the "test tone" does not make a sound for the subwoofer, which made me think it was not receiving a signal. This apparently is a flaw in this configuration program. However, after you successfully get the "test tones" to the four speakers, exit and try the system out anyway. It should work.  If i had known this, I could have saved hours of frustration.
I disagree with Mooncrater on this part though (nothing personal man, I think you are great); I could not get this config to work with the "digital output" and "Dolby digital encoding" boxes checked. If you think about it, these are analog  speakers, it wouldn't do you any good to check them anyway.
With all of this figured out (the hard way), I still think I am having problems, but not with the configuration. Sometimes my right rear channel works, sometimes it doesn't. I have tried switching cables and speakers, but the problem lingers. This one I may have to take up with Klipsh.
Thanks for all of your help! You guys rock! Now, I do too.  
Mike