Surround Sound System Controller Replacement Includes Home Automation

[Neoxy] always wanted surround sound for his computer, and one day he managed to get a hold of a dead 5.1 system. Why buy one when you can repair someone’s rubbish, right? That turned out to be easier said than done, but after several false-starts he managed to resurrect the audio system by replacing the microcontroller.

We find his trouble-shooting technique interesting. The amp would power up without a hitch but no sound would come out of it. So he took a headphone cable and used the L and R conductors as probes. That cable was fed from an MP3 player, and by touching the probes to the audio inputs for the pre-amp and amplifier circuits he could get great sound out of the speakers. Reasonably certain that those boards were working fine he narrowed down the troubles to three chips that mix, select inputs, and control the system.

A lot of prototyping with an ATmega328 and an Arduino led him to the functionality you see in the video after the break. Not only did he get the system working, but he’s using the Arduino to add Internet control for the device.

3 thoughts on “Surround Sound System Controller Replacement Includes Home Automation

  1. I can’t believe there are no comments on this awesome hack! Great job! This is the sort of thing I like to see on here. I find myself needing more inputs on everything. Awesome write up with many details as well.

  2. A very interesting hack, and a good write-up too.

    I love that he’s gone so far beyond what the original equipment was capable of doing.

    Really rather impressive. Good work Neoxy

  3. Excellent hack!
    I have the same speakers and was planning for a long time to do a little upgrade… Now that Neoxy has figured out how to control the sound chips with an Arduino I will be able to do my hack in half the time I planned.
    Good work, Neoxy!

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