audio 5.1 and stereo

[symbiosis]

Hello, it might seem simple but ive been struggling with this thing for days now. Its actually pretty simple ( as it used to work with my old rig on xp 64 ) but i can t get it to work on my new system ( on window 7 64 ).

I really dont care much for 5.1 audio ( having a 5.1 system ) so i just want the same signal playing through all the speakers but it just wont work.

I tried the fill speaker in the settings, now it does somewhat "work" with winamp but will stop working online ( like checking videos on you tube ) , but even then the sound always feels damped and not 100% replicated.

With my old realtek audio drivers R2.35 it used to be fine but now with the latest realtek sotfware it just wont work !! been on this for days , please help

louis

 

[photonboy]

So you have a 5.1 system, but want it working in STEREO mode?

right-click audio icon, then "Playback Devices" (lower right of desktop).

Then select "Speakers", change to STEREO and TEST it.

My 4.1 speakers also had a physical button that could toggle them so the LEFT and RIGHT speakers (front and rear each) played the same thing.

If you have a 4.1/5.1 setup without this feature then you just get the two FRONT speakers working in stereo mode.

*It sounds like you have a problem with your SETUP so hopefully the above helps.

 

[nukemaster]

On XP the realtek fill used to work better. Vista/7/8/8.1 all have a much less advanced(but technically more advanced) upmixing system.

If you are only listening to 2 channel audio and want a very basic upmix it is easy to turn 2 channel into 4 channel with a simple dpdt(double pole double throw) switch.

You basically just take the front and send it to the rear and front together. You do this at the line level not the speaker level. With the switch you can switch it on and off so if you want actual 5.1 you can still get it.

Now this would not do anything for the center, but I personally do not find it helps that much in music.

In a small project box you could either use 3.5mm/1/8 jacks or rca plugs or even just cables with headphone backs on each side. 2 in and 2 out. You tie all the grounds together and the rear ins to one side of the switch and the fronts to the other side. The center of the switch along with the existing front leaves the box and allows the switch to feed the rear channels from either the front or rear channel from the computer.

It seems like lots of work, but it is not that bad at all. You may even be able to skip the small project box, but it looks a bit nicer.

Alternatively, some like other up mixing options like Creative CMMS(replaced by THX. personally prefer CMMS, but it only works on older cards like X-Fi and Audigy with the right drivers and turns off for 5.1 audio and on for 2 channel) or Dolby upmixing on some other cards