Thread: It is possible t use 5.1 to have different stereo sources in front and rear?

Anything's possible, but I think you may want to have a plan together before you start working out this type of set up. Do you have any idea of what your set up is going to be? I also have another question why would you want this again? I mean think about it you'll be trying to listen to the GPS and the kids will be listening to music. It's not like you're in seperate rooms or that they'll have headphones.

Anyways a simple unexplained answer to your question is yeah you can do it. You'd have to have an a/v switch in between your two inputs and your amp or hu.

@falconey: your questions could be answered in a simple way. I plan to implement two jacks in the rear to connect headsets to it. So the sound for kids is comming over headsets and it will be possible to hear a different source (of course not to loud) in the front.

Your suggestion is a sort of "Hardware solution".

I was thinking about a "software solution" which uses the 5.1 out of the motherboard/soundcard to play different sources on the front and rear speakers.

I use some DJ software (PCDJ) that does just that. If you have 5.1 output on your comp, it outputs seperate audio streams to the front stereo/rear stereo channels.

However, I don't know of any programs that implement this on an OS-wide level.

God of CPU said it best... two soundcards, apps that let you choose sound output, or write your own.