5.1 Surround sound speakers.
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Serben
Banned



Posts: 1428
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon, 24th Jan 2005 16:50    Post subject: 5.1 Surround sound speakers.
I recently bought a set of logitech 5.1 surround sound speakers, and i'm having a problem. I have set the speaker setup in the sound hardware configurator in the windows control panel to 5.1 and i've also set the hardware acceleration to max, but i just can't seem to get my rear speakers to sound louder. I can hear my front left/right speakers fine, but my rear speakers are hardly audible at all, and they're only about 30cm from my head. I have to put my ear to them to be able to hear them at all. So my question is, how do i increase the volume of my rear speakers so that they match that of my front ones? Is there even a separate volume control for all the speakers, or are they all controlled by the same volume control?


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nerrd




Posts: 3607
Location: Poland / USA
PostPosted: Mon, 24th Jan 2005 17:04    Post subject:
It all depends on what soundcard you are using. Usually a sound driver comes with custom mixer to let you adjust volumes, distance, reverb etc. Download latest drivers for your soundcard. I have a feeling you are using the ones built in with windows.

btw. funny sig
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Steve-O 2004




Posts: 2851

PostPosted: Mon, 24th Jan 2005 17:26    Post subject:
yea, Install your Sound Cards Drivers / software (Maybe you just let Windows XP Setup the Sound Card)

Then open the mixer.. I turned my Front Speakers down to about half and turned the rear speakers fully up Very Happy


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'...more and more of our imports are coming from overseas.'
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Cheez-It




Posts: 1106
Location: Rochester, NY
PostPosted: Mon, 24th Jan 2005 18:01    Post subject:
One problem I've had with 5.1's is that the sources themselves generally have lower output for the rear speakers, and even when it's turned up, it's muddled, and not the same thing that comes out the front...

My solution was to hook up a y cable to the front right and left, and feed that to both the front left and right and the rear left and right, then just keep the center and sub where they are, you'll get equally loud stuff from the back...


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nerrd




Posts: 3607
Location: Poland / USA
PostPosted: Mon, 24th Jan 2005 18:48    Post subject:
Cheez-It wrote:
One problem I've had with 5.1's is that the sources themselves generally have lower output for the rear speakers, and even when it's turned up, it's muddled, and not the same thing that comes out the front...

My solution was to hook up a y cable to the front right and left, and feed that to both the front left and right and the rear left and right, then just keep the center and sub where they are, you'll get equally loud stuff from the back...


Why would you do such a silly thing? Im sure there is a way to equalize the sound without destroying the proper surround setup. What many people dont seem to realize (and dont worry Cheez-It, it's not only you, most of my friends still dont understand) that you are not really supposed to 'hear' the rear speakers. That means if you are watching a movie you dont hear any music or voice coming from the rear. Only certain effects should be coming through there. The rear speakers should never sound similar to the front ones. The spacing and location of the speakers is also very, very important. You should not be able to tell where the speakers are located. Those are just very quick pointers. In reality, the whole surround setup process is quite complicated. You need to take into account things like wall struncture and angles, room size etc.
But you can crate a decent setup with the tools that most of the soundcards come with.

Your rear speakers, although too quiet for your needs, are quiet for a reason.
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Steve-O 2004




Posts: 2851

PostPosted: Tue, 25th Jan 2005 13:04    Post subject:
Yea, but for mainly Game playing Its good to have the Rear Speakers Louder so you can here footsteps comming from behind better Very Happy


George W Bush -

'...more and more of our imports are coming from overseas.'
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Cheez-It




Posts: 1106
Location: Rochester, NY
PostPosted: Tue, 25th Jan 2005 14:57    Post subject:
yeah i use them mostly for music, where I want to be surrounded by it, and gaming, where I guess it doesnt matter, but its fun to have it behind you too Razz


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Kamikaze666




Posts: 3550

PostPosted: Tue, 25th Jan 2005 15:40    Post subject:
you say you have logitech 5.1 speakers but which type do you have, the z-5500 has volume control of seperate channels....


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InvisibleSurfer




Posts: 50

PostPosted: Fri, 28th Jan 2005 13:11    Post subject:
that's interesting, I think I've got the x-530 logitech 5.1 speakers but they do not come with any software mixer and there isn't any software on the website.

What sort of mixers do you guys use? Any suggestions for just basicaly adjusting the sound levels of the individual speakers?

Thanks!
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nerrd




Posts: 3607
Location: Poland / USA
PostPosted: Fri, 28th Jan 2005 19:46    Post subject:
InvisibleSurfer wrote:
that's interesting, I think I've got the x-530 logitech 5.1 speakers but they do not come with any software mixer and there isn't any software on the website.

What sort of mixers do you guys use? Any suggestions for just basicaly adjusting the sound levels of the individual speakers?

Thanks!


The sound mixer will come with your soundcard not your speakers. There are speakers with hardware volume control but that doesnt help you.
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InvisibleSurfer




Posts: 50

PostPosted: Sat, 29th Jan 2005 11:08    Post subject:
OFCOURSE they come w/ the sound card, stupid question, pardon me Smile
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sppmaster




Posts: 12

PostPosted: Sat, 12th Mar 2005 20:17    Post subject:
I had the same problem. Fixed it by installing and experimenting with 10 different versions of audio drivers (I use Gigabyte mobo with integrated Realtek AC97 ALC655 audio chip and 5.1 speakers Creative Inspire P5800). I was terribly surprised by the inability to hear both of my rear speakers.
There was a strange effect with some of the versions of the audio drivers that I tried. The audio mixer settings were correct but the sound was coming from the front speakers instead of the rear ones. I frequently find the very same problem with other models mobos from Gigabyte and it's very sad. I couldn't find any reasonable explanation about this nor on Gigabyte nor on Realtek forums.
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