[aishkani]

Does either the iMac or mini support a full 5.1 surround sound stereo setup, and if so, how? Also, has anyone found the need to upgrade sound cards to get decent movie/music sound, or is the stock card good enough?
Thanks a lot.

[nJm]

The iMac G5, iMac intel and mini intel support 5.1 output via its analogue/digital dual purpose audio out socket. Plug in a regular stereo miniplug and you'll get analogue 2 channel. Plug in a fibre-optic cable and you'll get 5.1 channel digital. All you need is an amplifier that can accept a fibre-optic digital input.

[jamil5454]

The digital out will send a digital signal, which can be converted to 5.1, 6.1 or even 7.1 surround. It really depends on the digital decoder you buy.

Since I've already got a set of 5.1s, I bought the Creative DDTS-100, and it's perfect. Not too expensive, great quality, comes with remote, upconverts to 6.1, lots of inputs, etc.