Why does my 5.1 surround work in testing only?

0

I've got a 5.1 speaker setup. In both this SoundMax utility (I think it came with my motherboard), and in the Windows 7 sound test, all 5.1 speakers work properly, but that's the only time that I can get audio to come out of the rear speakers and the center channel. When playing games, video, music, etc., I only seem to get 2.1 speakers worth of sound, even though I've configured everything for 5.1 surround sound.

How can I get my 5.1 surround sound working during actual use?

Mike Pateras

Posted 2011-01-07T01:43:22.000

Reputation: 870

Answers

2

i dont know about games, however with media, the sample has to actually be encoded with 4 or 5 channels, nomatter what the media players settings are. try to fimd some 5.1 speaker test files on google to verify they work on your favorite media player. most have a 2x stereo option or something similar which will play the same stereo sound from both the front and back pairs of speakers, even for files that dont support more than 2 channels.

Flamewires

Posted 2011-01-07T01:43:22.000

Reputation: 160

Try this test file: http://www.lynnemusic.com/surround/www_lynnemusic_com_surround_test.ac3

– Jonathan – 2016-02-22T17:40:36.100

You're right. I think it was the audio sources. I downloaded a 5.1 test file and I could hear audio out of the other speakers. Thanks! – Mike Pateras – 2011-01-07T02:14:14.020

This answer links to a useful Winamp plug-in – bobobobo – 2011-03-12T20:19:50.993

Asked: 2011-01-07T01:43:22.000

Viewed: 2 308 times

Active: 2014-03-08T15:18:20.703