5.1 Surround Sound - How to set it up

...need an optical cable,

...a Surround Sound Reciever with optical audio input, 5 speakers and one amplified Subwoofer....

BTW: you shouldn't have any sound if you don't have those audio hookups plugged into your set. Component video only does video....afterall. So... I suggest plugging in those audio L/R cables into your TV. As for surround sound... those L/R cables can only do stereo.... only does 2 channels of sound. Your Left and your Right. Only an optical cable can handle more than 2 channels.

For 5.1 surround sound with a ps2 it is important that you have a receiver which is capable of decoding Dolby Pro Logic II, as this is how surround sound is encoded in ps2 games (I think there are also some games that use Dolby Digital during cut-scenes.)

Pro Logic II will give you full 5.1 separation even when using the standard red and white composite audio cables, but since all ps2s have built in optical digital audio output, you might as well use that as it will offer better sound quality, and is capable of sending Dolby Digital and DTS signals which are used in DVD movies.

One more word of advice if you are looking to buy a digital audio cable, don't buy one from an electronics store or you will most likely get ripped off. Cables which transmit analog signals are subject to interference and signal loss in the cable, meaning there is a lot of variation in the resulting audio/video quality depending on how well the cable is shielded and constructed. Cables which transmit digital signals however do not have this problem (over short distances), and have only two levels of performance: working and not working. This means that the digital audio cable you can get on eBay for $2 will work just as well as a fancy name brand one that an electronics store will try to sell you for $20.

um, you can hook up those cabes to anything with an audio input.

if you want surround sound just get a complete system with the 5 speakers and a subwoofer, when u set that up make sure to put the speakers where they are supposed too, for instance, the the rear left speaker in the rear of where you would sit and to your left, so on so on, the point of surround sound is not to be loud mind you, the point is so that if your killing zombies and one of them is coming to the right of you, it really sounds like something is coming from the right, hence why it's important to put them in the right places. also, makes sure to have your 5 speakers (not including subwoofer) all at a level height, to make sure you have balance, also put the subwoofer somewhere near where you would sit, or if not possible at least get as close as possible and point in your direction!

hope this helped!!