Can't get my 5.1 to work

[Beev]

I've been going through Half-Life 2 again and I noticed that my 5.1 wasn't working. My back 2 speakers just don't play any sound. I have a Soundblaster X-Fi, and Logitech Z-5500 speakers. Pretty good speakers to just let the surround sound go to waste. I turned off the onboard decoder and turned on "Dolby Digital/DTS Bitstream Out" but that didn't change anything. I also got the latest drivers for the sound card. Any help is appreciated.

 

[emoxley]

Did you go through the process to calibrate them?
My Logitech Z-5300e speakers did the same as your's, until I clicked on the "Calibrate" button, in the "Speaker Settings" part of the software, and went through that process. Only takes a couple of minutes, and they worked correctly afterward. Also try unchecking the box next to "Digital Output Only", and see if that makes a difference.
Good luck!

 

[Beev]

I don't seem to have a calibrate button anywhere. A couple other settings I have are "24-bit crystalizer" which is off, and "Digital Output (PCM) Sampling Rate Settings" are set to 48KHz, with the other option being 96KHz. I also don't see a digital output only option.

 

[santz]

hey buddy, i have the 5500 too, there is a small switch on the back of the control pod, that switches from 2.1 for stereo to 5.1 for surround.

switch to 6ch direct to get 5.1 output. hope that helps

 

[Beev]

Was already on 6ch direct

 

[emoxley]

My soundcard is the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. I just figured the software that came with it was about the same. Is there not somewhere in their software that has Speaker Settings? That's where my Calibrate button is. Maybe your's is in the menu instead? I would think that there has to be a way to calibrate your speakers, unless they do them at the factory, figuring they'll never mess up.
Sorry. I don't know what else to tell you.
Good luck!

 

[PurdueRy]

You are using a digital connection aren't you?

Switch to analog if you want surround sound from your sound card in games

 

[Beev]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
You are using a digital connection aren't you?

Switch to analog if you want surround sound from your sound card in games

I don't know a whole lot about sound systems or anything, so how do I do this?

Edit: And isn't digital "better" at pretty much everything than analog?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Sraaz

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
You are using a digital connection aren't you?

Switch to analog if you want surround sound from your sound card in games

I don't know a whole lot about sound systems or anything, so how do I do this?

Edit: And isn't digital "better" at pretty much everything than analog?

You should have 3 wires coming out of your sound card and to your "pod" that you use to control volume and such. If you don't, you are connected digitally. Change this to analog.

And no to the edit

 

[Beev]

Yes, I have a green, orange, and black set of cables going from my sound card to my pod.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Sraaz
Yes, I have a green, orange, and black set of cables going from my sound card to my pod.

Do you only have 3 running from the sound card to the speakers or is there a 4th?

Also, turn off Dolby Digital/DTS bitstream out and make sure your speakers in game and in the control panel are set to 5.1

 

[Beev]

Only 3, they run to the control stand and then a serial cable goes to the speakers from the controller.

If I turn off DD/DTS then it has to go to the onboard decoder, which I heard is even worse.

Yup, 5.1 in the cp and in game.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Sraaz
Only 3, they run to the control stand and then a serial cable goes to the speakers from the controller.

If I turn off DD/DTS then it has to go to the onboard decoder, which I heard is even worse.

Yup, 5.1 in the cp and in game.

no the onboard decoder will be much better than the one in the control pod

 

[Beev]

Hmm ok, I'll try that when I get home from work. It was on that to begin with, but I changed other settings when I changed the decoder option so maybe the other settings fixed it but changing the decoder broke it.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Sraaz
Hmm ok, I'll try that when I get home from work. It was on that to begin with, but I changed other settings when I changed the decoder option so maybe the other settings fixed it but changing the decoder broke it.

Sounds good. Check your PM's as what I said in there would help quite a bit.