No "Bass" Whatsoever Since Installing Vista (5.1 Surround Speakers)

[ryanj4403]

I was having the same problem too for a long time. I am running windows 7 and I hooked up my subwoofer into the subwoofer channel on the motherboard. when i set it up I could hear the subwoofer on the tests but not in any applications (wmp, winamp, games, etc)



SOLUTION: I found that when I go into enhancements I checked "SPEAKER FILL" but also unchecked "CHANNEL PHANTOMING" my subwoofer starting working.

 

[MEgamer]

bro, u havent even got enable bass management turned on.....

 

[Guest]

Okay i think i got a Solution for the SoundMax users (at least on Windows7)

For me it did not work to use the Sonic Focus thingy in the Soundmax software.


I right-Clicked the Speaker symbol in the taskbar.

Playback devices
Double click "speakers"
Go to "System Effects" Tab
Check the "Enable Sonic focus processing" thingy.

Somehow it magically works now. (as i said it did not work when i used the same setting in the SoundMax software directly, even though it is actually turning the setting ON there as well)


Now it looks like my Games and Music programs are playing the Sound with redirected Bass.

 

[MEgamer]

for realtek drivers, enable bass management..... its that simple...

 

[Guest]

I had the same problem all you guys need to do if you have the realtek HD audio manager is to make sure the speaker configuration is set to 5.1 speaker and to check the "speaker fill" and "enable bass management" options by doing this you will hear your subwoofer in the test and music(wmp, winamp, musicmatch etc.)
it work for me................... EnjoY😉

THANK YOU SO MUCH, IT WORKED!!! cannot thank you enough dude

 

[MEgamer]

thats what ive been saying all the time... how hard can it be?????

 

[jimenycricket]

Hi there, that's what I found too.

On Windows 7 with Realtek built-in audio you need to go into Realtek HD Audio Manager and:

1. Tick "Enable Bass Management"

If you have a smallish set of 5.1 computer speakers (and not large conventional speakers driven by a dedicated digital receiver/power amp) you should untick the following under "Full-Range Speakers":

2. Untick "Front left and right"
3. Untick "Surround speakers"

A lot more bass seems to be redirected to the subwoofer in games with these settings.

If you need 😀 even more bass, go to "Room Correction" and

4. Tick "Enable Room Correction" and,
5. Click up arrow to increase the dB (gain) on the Subwoofer.

Click the speaker to test and hear it getting louder. The test noise Realtek gives you here seems deceptive to me, it's not deep enough, so be careful!!! Although unlikely, depending on your setup, you could damage your speakers/subwoofer, so just be careful and adjust it in small increments. (And don't blame me.)

On Windows 7, with Realtek driver, you may not get the "Speaker Fill" option as Realtek replace it with a "DTS Connect" tab.

6. Set "DTS Connect" ON when listening to stereo music or movies with only two-channel sound to use more of your speakers.

It is not perfect but, for example, it'll take out the voices and put them in the center channel and redirect (mostly) appropriate soundfx to the rear speakers, etc.

On music DTS connect is very similar to "Speaker Fill" option from Vista.

 

[Jealot]

SOLUTION: Having the same problems described above, I FINALLY got my issue resolved by following trwigh's advice and going into the "Sound Effects" sub-tab in the "Speakers" tab. Using the drop-down menu next to "Environment", I selected "Room" as suggested and PRESTO! My Bass works once again (both in tests and in actual use)! I also unchecked "Loudness Equalization" which otherwise seems to make everything sound very flat. I'm sure you could experiment with other environments, but this one is working great already.

For good measure, I also went ahead and unchecked the "Full Range" option for the rest of my speakers so my system doesn't try and redirect any of those valuable bass frequencies away from my sub. This also seems to allow me to crank the volume up a bit higher without getting the impression that my speakers are going to blow out.

Right now I'm thanking God because I was getting the feeling I would never get this fixed.

 

[MEgamer]

enable bass management, then u wouldnt need to enable the enviroment settings.

 

[astrallite]

There's no problem here. Typical user confusion about audio technology.

In 6 channel direct your receiver bypasses all processing and the signal is sent directly to the pre-amps. If there is no LFE channel, your subwoofer will have no output.

There is bass--your speakers are being sent a full-range signal. The speakers are doing exactly what they are being asked to do. The only reason you don't hear bass is simple and I'm going to have to be brutally honest here: your speakers suck. If your speakers can't produce any bass on their own without a subwoofer while receiving a full range signal, then they just aren't very good, period.

 

[jimenycricket]

Hi, there's a number of possible sources for confusion.

I had already done a lot more experimenting with my setup. I have a set of Logitech X530 6.1 channel speakers.

Logitech X530 speakers, and probably other logitech models, have built-in bass management. That is, the receiver/amp built into the subwoofer already redirects bass signals destined for the satellite speakers to the
subwoofer speaker.

Therefore, if you turn on 'bass management' in the sound card as well, this results in confusion.

Those with speaker systems with built-in bass processsing/management should turn it off in the pc's audio setup.

Those with speakers sytems without any sort of bass processing/management will need to turn on 'bass management' in the audio setup.

Those with genuinely full-range speakers, as astralite suggests, probably don't need to do anything.

It can be hard to be sure which speaker the sound is coming from sometimes, especially with bass, but you can still test if bass is being redirected to the subwoofer. Go into the sound-volume controls and turn down the volume on each speaker, except the fronts, to zero. Now go into the audio setup. Make sure bass management is turned off.

Now place your hand in front of the subwoofer's port or, if you can't reach, tape a flap of paper over it.

*In the realtek setup you can click on the icons of the individual speakers to hear a test sound played only on that speaker.*

Click one of the front speakers. If your speaker system is redirecting bass from the front speaker to the subwoofer speaker AFTER it leaves the pc, you will feel a puff of air coming from the port of the subwoofer. You know it is being redirected externally, by the speaker system and not by the sound card, because we turned the volume of the bass channel to zero in the first step and bass management is also off.

If you didn't feel a puff of air, then turn on bass management and also put the volume of the bass channel back up to 100%. Repeat the test. You should now feel the puff of air as the bass gets redirected by the sound card from the front channel to the bass channel.

Don't forget to turn the volume back up to 100% (or your preferred level) on all the sound channels afterwards.

Hoping this helps someone, somewhere.

 

[MEgamer]

you should be able to feel the bass hitting out whether you have a port of not.

Sattelites and bookshelves, should hit at the least below 80hz, the lower the better; without flapping and failing, if u want decent full range coverage.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey