How to Configure 5.1 Surround Sound
If you're utilizing a 5.1 surround sound computer speaker system, the speaker set will come with three audio plugs with green-, pink-, and black-labeled ends. The pink plug connects to the blue jack, the green plug connects to the green jack, and the black plug connects to the red jack. If your motherboard includes a set of six speaker outputs, you should be able to plug the color-coded audio plugs to the similar-colored audio input jacks on your motherboard, but consult with the owner's manual on the exact setup. Also note that you'll need to install another kext from MultiBeast to enable full 5.1 Surround Sound and set it up using the Audio/MIDI setup utility in the Utilities folder. Remember that not all audio is produced in 5.1 Surround Sound but can be primarily heard with movies and certain special edition CD sets.
To set up your 5.1 Surround Sound, ensure all the speakers are plugged in to their appropriate jacks and that the system is powered on. Launch MultiBeast, go to the Audio section under Drivers, then click on the check box for “Optional 3 Port (5.1) Audio” (shown under ALC1150), then click on Build.
Restart your Hackintosh, then go to Applications → Utilities → Audio/MIDI Setup:
The left pane will display your current list of audio inputs and outputs while the right side shows information regarding your selection from the left pane.
On the bottom left hand corner, click on the plus sign. You will be presented with the option to choose “Create Aggregate Device” or “Create Multi-Output Device”.
On the bottom left hand corner, click on the plus sign. You will be presented with the option to choose “Create Aggregate Device” or “Create Multi-Output Device”.
Choose “Create Aggregate Device” and it will get listed in the left pane:
Now that it has been created, you must tell it what jacks you're utilizing for the 5.1 audio. In the main area in the center, click on Built-in output, then click on each of the Built-in Line Output selections. Over to the far right there is a check box for each selection with the label “Drift Correction” (truncated to the right in the screenshot). Click on these for each of the three outputs:
Click on the bottom right of the window on the button “Configure Speakers...”
By default only the common stereo setup is shown. At the top of the window, click on each of the checkboxes where it shows Stream 1 has 2 channels (1-2), Stream 2 has 2 channels (3-4), and Stream 3 has 2 channels (5-6). Then in the center click on “Multichannel” (to the right of the “Stereo” tab, not the drop-down list), then to the drop-down menu on the right of it select 5.1 Surround:
At this point the 5.1 Surround setup is recognized and you should click each speaker name (location) to test it. When you click each speaker, a 2-second burst of white noise will be heard. Click on each speaker in the setup to test it and ensure that it is working and can be recognized.
When you are finished, click apply, then click done. Back at the window double-click on the name “Aggregate Device” and rename this to something better to reflect that it is your 5.1 Surround Sound system. Right-click on the the name of your aggregate device in the left pane and select “Use this device for sound output”. If you'd like to can also select “Play alerts and sound effects through this device”. These last two steps save you from having to go into System Preferences → Sound, and select your sound system. When you do go to the Sound pane in System Preferences, it will have the label you assigned to it.
At this point the 5.1 Surround setup is recognized and you should click each speaker name (location) to test it. When you click each speaker, a 2-second burst of white noise will be heard. Click on each speaker in the setup to test it and ensure that it is working and can be recognized.
When you are finished, click apply, then click done. Back at the window double-click on the name “Aggregate Device” and rename this to something better to reflect that it is your 5.1 Surround Sound system. Right-click on the the name of your aggregate device in the left pane and select “Use this device for sound output”. If you'd like to can also select “Play alerts and sound effects through this device”. These last two steps save you from having to go into System Preferences → Sound, and select your sound system. When you do go to the Sound pane in System Preferences, it will have the label you assigned to it.