I currently have a m9700 laptop from Alienware. It has three 3 audio output ports fro surround sound: "Front", "Surround", and "Center" Currently I have a 2.1 speaker set which has a single audio cable that connects the "front" port to the sub-woofer. This works fine, but I would like to upgrade to a 4.1 system. I see I can buy a 4.1 speaker set, but do I really need to since I already have 3 excellent speakers? If I was to get 2 speakers (like those that come most desktop PCs), can I just connect these to the "Surround" output jack and have 4.1 sound? Ignoring the quality of the individual speakers, is there an advantage to buying a 4.1 set (where the front and rear outputs of my computer are routed to the sub woofer before being directed to the satellite speakers) as opposed to just adding two more speakers to my current setup? -Ryan Adams http://ryanadams.blogsite.org

The surround one is probably for a subwoofer itself. There is no surround port. There's front, center, and subwoofer. Connect a separate set of speakers to subwoofer or center and you won't get any audio from them. You can connect more additional sets of speakers to the front port with an expander, but will not get the surround sound, EAX effects, bass redirection, equalizer, etc. from it unless your sound card has the software support.