Sound in stereo, not 5.1

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690
Hey,

So i've had this problem before but randomly windows 7 seems to make it so my 5.1 speakers only send out stereo through 2/3 speakers. I've never found the cause or the fix of it until now, and even then I only know the cause. So as far as i can tell it was when i plugged a 3.5mm jack in the front port that it changed to stereo, so i'm guessing that a setting has changed due to that lead and it hasn't reverted back? :sweat:

So.. anyone have any ideas? I've tried looking in the settings/playback options but to no luck.

This may help, no idea if it will or not.

Windows 7 - up to date
Connected over an optical lead
Z5500 Speakers
Homebuilt pc - not really worth going into the specs.

If anyone knows anything then it would be greatly appreciated if you could fix this pain in the ass problem! :whistle: :lol:
 

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690


Yes it's a Realtek controller. In the sound manager I have options for Environment effects, Equalizers, L and R balance, Main volume and the format.
 

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690


Yeah, that's what i would usually try and do however I think it may be a thing with optical but the option is greyed out. I think i read somewhere about it being due to optical being digital and stuff, the option is present for a 3.5mm set of speakers though. I'm still searching through the options, thought i got somewhere but it was a dead end :l. If it helps the sound comes out of all of the speakers in certain situations such as music however skype, windows sounds, youtube are all from 1 from what i can hear.
 

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690


They are selected. :(
 

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690


Rebooting hasn't helped, no. And the optical/toslink cable goes into the Z5500 sound module, so i suppose that is the receiver?
 

cl-scott

Honorable
Something a lot of people overlook is that you need 6 channels worth of audio to get 5.1 sound. So you either need something such as a DVD with 5.1 audio encoded in, or some sort of program to do upmixing of the audio from stereo (2 channels) to 5.1.
 

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690


Yeah, i'm pretty sure that's what has changed. When i put in the stereo speakers it would have changed the channels to 2.1 and stopped the audio being upmixed/encoded to DTS. Is there an option anywhere to enable that? Also is it worth somehow deleting the config file or something for the realtek driver? so hopefully everything will go back to default?
 

Lfluxx

Distinguished
Sep 4, 2011
144
0
18,690


Nothing. :(
 

dingo07

Distinguished