Audigy 2 ZS sound problem

[GaimMastr]

Background:
I'd just built my system this weekend.

Audio Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (retail)

Speakers: Logitech Z-5300 (5.1 THX) (retail)

OS: WindowsXP Pro (retail)

Motherboard: ASUS K8V (retail)

CPU: Athlon 64 3400+ (retail)

Heatsink & Fan: Thermaltake Polo 735 (retail)

RAM: 1.0 Gig DDR400 Kingston PC3200 (model number verified by ASUS)

HDD: 2x 200Gb Seagate SATA drives on a RAID 0 array

PSU: Antec 430W TruePower (retail)

Vid card: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (retail)



I'd updated the Audigy 2 ZS driver yesterday morning.

I cannot get the front (center) speaker to function properly while playing any game with EAX, 5.1 surround sound, etc. The rear speakers don't seem to function properly either.

All speakers function when playing with a basic stereo (2-speaker) in-game setting. As well, they all function while playing music on my desktop with Winamp.

First I'd diabled the onboard sound chip that comes with the ASUS K8V motherboard via the BIOS settings. Then I'd used the Audigy 2 ZS "Installation and Application CD" to install the Windows driver and some of the extras that came with it. I then downloaded and installed the latest driver for the audio card.

I've triple-checked all wire and PCI connections to my satisfaction. I'd even turned off the power to my speakers for a while to see if there was some sort of reset function in doing that, as there doesn't appear to be any reset button on them. My speakers are analog, so I'm certain that I have them connected to the sound card in the correct locations (three wires).

I've run the Creative Diagnostic tool, which shows the hardware & software having passed. But upon testing the speakers only the front left and front right speakers made sound correctly.

I then entered the THX setup console where I clicked the Channel and Noise buttons to check the speaker connections.

This resulted in the Front Left and Front Right speakers sounding loud & clear. While I did hear sound from all remaining speakers it was at a much lower volume than the two fronts.

I think I've tried every conceiveable setting in the audio contrl panel, with no positive results.

In the THX Setup Console when I click the Channel or Noise buttons (to test the speakers), sound that should be emitted clearly from any one of the non-functioning speakers is actually coming through all speakers, but at a VERY reduced volume.

For example, when only the right rear speaker is supposed to be making a sound, that sound comes in through all speakers, but barely audible.

I'd even removed the included Digital CD Audio Cable from between the card and my optical drive just to see if that was causing any problems. But that didn't produce any results.

No matter what game I play, I cannot get any speakers othe than the front left & right to function properly. Certain "environmental" sounds do come out of the other speakers, but all of the "primary" sounds are at drastically reduced levels.

For example, in Call of Duty I cannot hear myself fire my own weapons. And certain explosion in front of me and behind me are barely audible. Unless I select the lowest ingame sound option, which is nothing more than 2-speaker stereo.

In Morrowind I cannot hear my own footsteps or hear NPCs talking to me, unless I turn so that the NPC is angled to my front left or right.

In NOLF2 the cut scenes seem to play perfectly through all 5.1 speakers. But in game action is different. Any sound environmental sounds and most primary sounds only come in loud and clear if they are from the direction of my front left or right. For example, in the opening scene by the water fall, I can hear the two NPCs speaking clearly to me no matter how I turn. But the sound of the water fall will only come in clearly if its facing my font left or front right. Otherwise the waterfall, my footsteps, the sounds of enemy NPCs and my own gunfire are almost silent.

While playing cut scenes or movie files I hear sound crystal clear out of all speakers.

So the problem seems very precise and consistent in all games that I play. Basically, in games my speakers are only functioning as a 2-speaker system, with drastically reduced sounds comming from the rest. It's as if the audio card isn't putting out the 5.1 surround sound that it should be.

I've ran the DX9.0b sound diagnostic, which showed it to be working with both software and hardware buffering. Also, under "Device > Type" it does display WDM. And the Driver section does display the current driver.

I always install software & hardware, and play games with absolutely nothing running in the background, except the Creative Volume Control.

I've tried disabling all of the extras that got installed along with the original driver from the included "Installation and Applications CD". I've even tried uninstalling everything related to the card and only installing the latest driver.

I've even tried changing settings in the "Sounds and Audio Devices" of the WinXP control panel.

All to no positive results whatsoever. I'm running out of ideas.

 

[gryfon]

any that i can thing of is try to turn off CMSS in EAX console, or just set to stereo surround. The CMSS seems to alter the EQ output of the rear channel, while the CMSS 2 seems to overEQ all channel.

 

[GaimMastr]

Just as a followup, I'd determined that the card was defective. Sent it back to Newegg for a replacement. The new card worked perfectly right out of the box.

Thanks for the suggestions !!


Gaim Mastr
Lead Administrator of the new 3D Gamers message board

 

[Geforcer]

I have the same speakers and sound card, and the same exact problem. I tried as you, and swapped it out for another, but it still has the same problem. So I started playing with settings, and finally got it workable, yet rigged. I used the CMSS2 settings, and on my speaker control, I cranked the Center volume level to max, and the Fader to full rear. However, after doing this, I still don't hear anything in the Test Speakers options in the creative software. I hear through all speakers now in games though, whereas before couldn't hear any or very little. Even though this fixed it though, I shouldn't have to tweak it as such to get sound through them Anyone have any idea why the card won't push out the volume level needed on its own? Thanks

 

[Zelmo3]

I was surprised to hear that it was a defective card. I had a defective set of Logitech Z-680s that had similar symptoms, but only for the center channel. Luckily, those speakers had a built-in test function that let tech support quickly determine that the circuitry in the speakers was bad.
Geforcer, maybe call Logitech and see if they can help you. Their tech support is consistently awesome from what I hear (as it was in my case).

 

[Geforcer]

You think it's a speaker issue? Since, after altering the volume/fader settings on the speaker control, I was able to hear it good. I didn't have these issues with my last sound card (not that I remember anyway). Thanks

 

[Geforcer]

problem i was having is solved....

my speakers have a button on the external control called "matrix", which is a sound enhancement button. it's sorta like turning on the bass boost button on walkmans and such, adds that extra sound boost. well anyway, that's what is causing all my problems. with it enabled, the 5.1 dont' work right. in the creative speaker setup thing, sound would only come out of the front left and right speakers, but no others. in some games, i would have little or no sound.... or only voices or sound effects would be affected, but music would work. weird huh? well problem solved after disabling "matrix" mode. hope it might help anyone else having this same issue.

 

[mustangless]

I just got an audigy 2 zs and my center speaker is not loud at all. I have cmss 3d enabled and cmss box picked. I turn up the center speaker all of the way and it still is not as loud.

I have altec lansing 251s. On the speaker calibration when I am on step 2-5 volume balance manager and I pick center speaker it is loud then quite then loud, etc

is that supposed to do that?