ac97 and 4.1 speaker

[nepenthe]

hi i have just bought asus a25h notebook which has reatek ac97 audio.. it has only 1line out 1linein and 1 mic. jacks. it has sound effect manager. in this program under speaker configuration it has an option " 4-channel mode for 4 speaker output. when i select this option it changes line out to front speaker out and line in to rear speaker out. when i connect my 2 channel speaker to line in and line out jacks i can get the sound but rear sound is not as goog as front sound. my first question is how can i fix this problem.. my main question is i will buy a new sound system and i want to buy creative 4400 which is a 4channel speaker.. how will the performance of the speaker be with this sound card and may the not good rear sound creates any problems? what is your suggestions?
thanx

 

[Big B]

The AC 97 audio is the basic audio solution, so having the poor rear sound isn't surprising. Other than trying different drivers until you find one you like, you can just stick with 2.1 channel sound or buy Creative's Extigy, which is basically the Audigy in a box. I was at Circuit City and saw something Creative had that was like the Extigy, but smaller and seemed to use the SB Live! chipset instead.