breakfstincluded

Thanks a lot firewave, that clears things up a bit, I was previously looking up if there's a purpose made device for connecting such multimedia PC speakers to a TV, but your explanation is sure to work better I think.

Hi, noob here. I love my promedia 5.1's on my computer, but I think they'd go to more use in the family room TV. So my question is, what's the best and/or easiest way to connect my Promedia 5.1 speakers to my 1080p costco acquired westinghouse HDTV? It has composite and component, HDMI, VGA, a 3.5mm audio input. I have a feeling I'll have to buy a receiver of some sort, which makes me hesitant on the whole idea because of extra expenses, but I'm open to ideas. We mostly use the TV, for 360 and Wii, though I'm not so worried about having them both connected to the TV at the same time. Retaining 5.1 sound would definitly be a plus.