surround sound on pc

eyerer

i was trying to play some games with surround sound, i have 2 speakers connected to the sound card at the back of the pc and 2 connected to the front of the pc (1 minijack for each pair)
i selected quadrophonic setup in windows sound control panel, but instead of having 4 distinct channels when i turned down the front left speaker the back left would go down too
the real problem was in thief 3 i could only hear things infront of me, when a guard came up behind me i'd only know when he started stabbing me, no sound at all until i turned round
so for some reason the front channels were playing on all speakings with no rear channels

does anyone what i can do to fix the sound?
i've got a 5.1 surround card and 4 speakers so i should be able to do it

KdjaCL

Have you got them enabled in the Audio properties, also plugging 2 into the front and back wont work as its prolly the same ports ie Left and Rght.

To get 5,1 you need a set of 5.1 speakers with correct jacks.

kdjac

ian25

I have a 4 speaker setup myself.I've found that each game handles quadrophonic in a different way.Far-cry seperates the sound to each individual speaker,whereas Doom3 seperates front and back into left and right channels,ie : stereo, which is what Thief3 is doing by the sounds of it.Call of duty seperates into front and rear but doesn't split the channels like Far-cry.
Quadrophonic isn't ideal by any means,but then 4 is better than 2 .When i build a new pc next year i'll be upgrading to a full surround sound system for sure.

SantaHoe

How far will you go?
I've seen 7.1 sets, but that just seems excessive.

eyerer

KdjaC wrote:

Have you got them enabled in the Audio properties, also plugging 2 into the front and back wont work as its prolly the same ports ie Left and Rght.

To get 5,1 you need a set of 5.1 speakers with correct jacks.

kdjac

which audio properties?....in game or windows or what?
you could be right about the front and back not working, though i thought that was what the audio out on the front of the pc was for
i don't have 5.1 speakers, but i have an extra 2 speakers here so thought i could use them
what are the correct jacks?

SantaHoe

eyerer wrote:

which audio properties?

I'd say it's the one in Start>Settings>Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Advanced (the one at the bottom beside speaker volume)... I've had that reset on me a few times, it's worth a look.

eyerer

SantaHoe wrote:

I'd say it's the one in Start>Settings>Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Advanced (the one at the bottom beside speaker volume)... I've had that reset on me a few times, it's worth a look.

yeah, thats where i "selected quadrophonic setup in windows sound control panel"
i just don't know what the trouble is, i've got 4 speakers so i should be able to do something with them

l3rian

I've seen 7.1 sets, but that just seems excessive

only €120 for a Creative Inspire T7700, and €99 for the Audigy 2 ZS

this is a great combo, music and games sound amazing, especially games, you can really hone in on what direction a sound is coming from

now all i need to do is silence my pc

ian25

eyerer wrote:

yeah, thats where i "selected quadrophonic setup in windows sound control panel"
i just don't know what the trouble is, i've got 4 speakers so i should be able to do something with them

Have you read my earlier post at all :rolleyes: .Quadrophonic is not supported the same way as pure surround sound.Some games and music programmes seperate the sound into 4 channels and some don't!!!!.If you don't like the fact that Thief 3 only plays in stereo with a quadrophonic setup similar to Doom3, then upgrade to a full 5.1 system.

vasch_ro

i've noticed that on control panel though even when u change it to 5.1 it restes to stereo , how do u stop this ?

eyerer

ian25 wrote:

Have you read my earlier post at all :rolleyes: .Quadrophonic is not supported the same way as pure surround sound.Some games and music programmes seperate the sound into 4 channels and some don't!!!!.If you don't like the fact that Thief 3 only plays in stereo with a quadrophonic setup similar to Doom3, then upgrade to a full 5.1 system.

i read it, just don't have a clue what you're on about
why do you think thief is in stereo when it seems like theres 4 channels but the same 2 channels are being played through all 4 speakers

forget it, im not buying a 5.1 setup

Hanginthere

5.1 speakers are nice, If not only for games but movies, its well worth the investment, Watch the band of brothers series with 5.1 and you will know

_CreeD_

The question's been answered a few times now, and that answer has been ignored.
The front ports are simply copys of the rear stereo outs. So yup you might get 4 speakers going that way but the rears are just playing a copy of the front pair, Kdjac said it ages a go...Case closed.....

If your soundcard can handle 4 or more speakers then check the manual to see which ports project the rear signal. They may be dedicated to the task or be dual function, whereby say the line in doubles as the rear out when needed. Plug your rears in there (if you can find the ports) and set Windows and your games to the clost config to 4x they have.
Otherwise you are not getting surround, nada...

monument

Simple answer (once again)…

Some games do not support 4 speaker systems…

And now that 7.1 is creeping in, less and less will, as any body with a proper interest in surround sound will have at least 5.1. As for 7.1 seeming excessive, why have stereo when mono was ok?

eyerer

monument wrote:

Simple answer (once again)…
- excuse my stupidity :rolleyes:

Some games do not support 4 speaker systems…
- fine

And now that 7.1 is creeping in, less and less will, as any body with a proper interest in surround sound will have at least 5.1. As for 7.1 seeming excessive, why have stereo when mono was ok?

-stereo is better than mono, but i'm not spending ?100+ on 7.1 speakers and the sound card is only 5.1
its a passing interest, something i would like but not something i#ll spend a lot of money on

Cyberslob

Check this link. It has got a surround solution for Doom 3 that works nicely with my Audigy 2 and 4.1 speakers.

http://www.bockholdt.com/dsc/download.html

Also documents how to do this for a couple of other games. I plan to try it out with Far Cry this evening.

Found the link refernce here.
http://www.forumplanet.com/planetdoom/topic.asp?fid=5733&tid=1442291

So it has worked for others playing Doom 3 as well.

Rew

I have a Creative 7.1 system with their DDTS-100 decoder. The system can upmix form 5.1->7.1 and the decoder has 3 optical, 3 analog and 1 coax sound inputs so I have DVD player, PS2, Laptop and MP3 player hooked in. Sound is great for each device, movies are amazing. Well worth the cash.

Nietzschean

SantaHoe wrote:

How far will you go?
I've seen 7.1 sets, but that just seems excessive.

i must say i'd disagree, the positional sound given by 7.1 is deadly, like being able to hear where a jet is behind u can be invaluable in bf:nam. And as already mention'd the creative cards + speakers pritty much all have upmixing features, mine(audigy 2 nx + T7700's) will up mix stereo/5.1/6.1 to 7.1 and really sounds fuk'n deadly in films or just listening to music.......

SantaHoe

Hey relax there, I'm not dissing 7.1 - I'm sure it sounds great, nor am I arguing that we should all go back to mono (get a grip please)... but I've got a pain in my arse with my current 5.1 setup simply because of all the cables running across the floor and the need to position speakers in places that I can't really put speakers... I've had to move so much furniture around so I have surfaces to put my speakers on where they'd be in the right positions.
I just shudder at the thought of having to find places for two more speakers and have two more wires running across the floor.

Yeah I should probably buy those stands you can get, and pull up the carpet or get wireless speakers or something (do wireless satelite speakers exist? I'd say constantly charging them is a pain in the gee... which is why I refuse to buy a wireless mouse)