What do you think of this surround sound system?

How many channels do I need on a sound card for 5.1 surround sound?

• I recently set up a home theater system in my living room which consists of an old Dell computer which I upgraded a bit, my Maganavox LCD HD TV, and a Logitech surround sound system I picked up at Tiger Direct for about $50. Basically, the computer was an old low-end Dell Dimension series that my father didn't want anymore, so I put a Video card in it (previously only ran on board video), added a TV Tuner card, and hooked it up to the TV via a DVI-HMDI cable. So far the setup is working great, and I get good video quality out of the system. But I can tell the audio is lacking. It's a cheap surround sound system, but surround sound nontheless, and you can't even hear audio out of the back speakers unless you're right next to them (and I know it's not the speakers, I've checked every aspect of them about 20 times already). In addition to this, sometimes when I go from listening to music on the computer to watching TV, the sound on the TV is off and has a really high treble pitch which will come and go for several hours. Right now the computer is running off of on board audio, and from the research I've done, a sound card looks like it might fix these problems. But I'm not much of an audio guy, so I don't know exactly what I'd need in a sound card. i have a 3.5mm connection going between the TV tuner card (Line Out) and the on board audio (Line In), then I have one (because that's all the on board audio will support) surround sound connection plugged into the on board audio Line Out connection. The surround sound system has three male plugs though (two of which are not currently being used). So how many channels do I need in a sound card? Three, to support the three surround sound connections? Four, because I need a Line In from the TV tuner card? I'm so very confused!! If someone would feel like recommending a sound card, I would be very appreciative. Although I don't really expect anyone to go through all that trouble. PS: I am pretty good with computers (no expert I'll admit) but I just suck when it comes to audio stuff for some reason. PSS: I don't think it matters much, but I'll throw it out there anyway: I have one open PCI slot left for the sound card.

• Answer:

  You need a left and right channel, that's all. The surround sound comes from the processor in the receiver, not from the computer (or broadcast). Getting a low volume from the surrounds is not uncommon, they are mainly used for fill-in background sounds. With an A/V receiver, you can adjust the surrounds to be louder but they shouldn't be too loud and with one made for computers, you may not have this option at all. As for sound cards, Encore ENM232-6VIA is a good one