Help me please! Subwoofer problems.

[Necromant]

I purchased 5.1 audio system for my computer. It's Genius Wood Home Theater SW 5.1 3600 W. And I have built in soundcard. I don't remember it's name but motherboard is Asus P5GDCV-Deluxe. When I try DVD films my sub works but only. it doesn't work in games, windows media player, winamp and others. Could you advise me something?

 

[Geomagick]

Sounds like a settings problem to me. Check that the settings are correct in the control panel, but also in games quite often you can choose your speaker setup - make sure it is set to 5.1

 

[Necromant]

I've pressed all posible buttons and checks and others but without any result.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I had never heard of these speakers so I tried looking them up...

I don't know what language this is, but if you can read it, perhapse your answer is somewhere in the comments here

 

[Necromant]

Thanks! I know whose this language is but I don't know the language! And I really believe there is an answer! Thanks whatever!
On my opinion I have troubles with my builtin soundcard because my friend has the same audiosystem with working subwoofer.
My sub works too but only with DVD!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you think it's the onboard sound that isn't working and have tried everything else, it might be worth it to get a $30 basic soundcard like a Chaintech AV-710 or something.

 

[Necromant]

Yes! It would be the easiest decision. But I want to find out what's wrong for choosing campatible soundcard to aviod clashes like I have now.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Necromant
Yes! It would be the easiest decision. But I want to find out what's wrong for choosing campatible soundcard to aviod clashes like I have now.

Yeah, if it's something wrong with the speakers that would be a good thing to check out first.

Have you tried hooking them up to something else? (like an mp3 player or portable cd player)

Hooking up the front input to one of those should give you output to the front L, front R, and sub.

Have you checked all the settings on the sub too?

 

[Necromant]

Yesterday I tried DVD-player. The sub worked with DVD-film. And when I tried to use musical cd with .cda (as I remember) only front R&L worked (as usually). Govan!(That means SH*T!) I forgot to set the player to Pro Logic to work on all channels!
About settings. There are "mute","Volume","power","AC3","TV","DVD/VCD(input channel2)","Tape" and something like that.
My soundcard is something like "High definition audio" and driver look like "XEAR". I tried to change everything but helpless.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Necromant
Yesterday I tried DVD-player. The sub worked with DVD-film. And when I tried to use musical cd with .cda (as I remember) only front R&L worked (as usually). Govan!(That means SH*T!) I forgot to set the player to Pro Logic to work on all channels!
About settings. There are "mute","Volume","power","AC3","TV","DVD/VCD(input channel2)","Tape" and something like that.
My soundcard is something like "High definition audio" and driver look like "XEAR". I tried to change everything but helpless.

What kind of inputs do the speakers have?

It kind of sounds like these are hometheater speakers and you're trying to plug them into a regular soundcard. Do they have 3 1/8" jacks for L/R, Center/Sub, and Surround L/ Surround R? If they don't have that, you're not going to get the standard sound you'd get from regular computer speakers.

How do you have the speakers hooked up to the soundcard now?

 

[The J]

The only thing I can think of is that the spekears may not have their own crossover filter. Does your receiver/amp have a setting that allows you to set that? If so, you'll need to turn it on and try different settings to see what you like.

A crossover is something that filters out and redirects frequencies of a certain range. If a very low frequency signal is sent to your speakers, the crossover should redirect it to the subwoofer. If a higher-frequency signal is sent to the sub, then it should be redirected to the satellites. Get it?

Music plays in stereo and doesn't have a separate subwoofer channel. Games can play in surround, but I don't think they have a separate LFE (low frequecy effects) channel, so your crossover network would have to take care of that. The reason why you can hear the sub in DVDs is because I'm pretty sure that they DO have a separate LFE channel that is sent to the subwoofer. This means that the crossover wouldn't have to do much for DVDs.

Like I said, if your soundcard goes to a receiver or amp and then to the speakers, try adjusting the settings on the receiver/amp to find a crossover setting. The receiver itself can then redirect the signals.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: The J
The only thing I can think of is that the spekears may not have their own crossover filter. Does your receiver/amp have a setting that allows you to set that? If so, you'll need to turn it on and try different settings to see what you like.

A crossover is something that filters out and redirects frequencies of a certain range. If a very low frequency signal is sent to your speakers, the crossover should redirect it to the subwoofer. If a higher-frequency signal is sent to the sub, then it should be redirected to the satellites. Get it?

Music plays in stereo and doesn't have a separate subwoofer channel. Games can play in surround, but I don't think they have a separate LFE (low frequecy effects) channel, so your crossover network would have to take care of that. The reason why you can hear the sub in DVDs is because I'm pretty sure that they DO have a separate LFE channel that is sent to the subwoofer. This means that the crossover wouldn't have to do much for DVDs.

Like I said, if your soundcard goes to a receiver or amp and then to the speakers, try adjusting the settings on the receiver/amp to find a crossover setting. The receiver itself can then redirect the signals.

Since the speakers have wattage rating one them and the sub has a lot of controls on them, it makes me thing that there isn't a receiver for this set. The crossover is a good idea though... but I'd think that it would be unchangable for a matched sub/speaker set like this one.

 

[Necromant]

What kind of inputs do the speakers have?

It kind of sounds like these are hometheater speakers and you're trying to plug them into a regular soundcard. Do they have 3 1/8" jacks for L/R, Center/Sub, and Surround L/ Surround R? If they don't have that, you're not going to get the standard sound you'd get from regular computer speakers.

How do you have the speakers hooked up to the soundcard now?[/quote]


When I look behind the sub I see AC3_input_channel 1 with 6 inputs:FR/Fl, SR/SL, SUB, CENTR; input_channel_2 with 6: TV(R/L), dvd(VCD)(OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT)(R/L), TAPE (R/L); and 1 difficult (I don't remember its technical name) input where I Pluged my soundcard outputs. Then there are 10 otputs for speakers (+/- or something like that). I see some kind of optical input.
I have 3 output wires from soundcard (the first is FR/FL, the second is SR/SL, the third is CT/SUB). Then they fade into (merge) one difficult output (I don't remember its technical name) that is pluged into my sub (as I've described above).
My soundcard has Rear panel that is active know and front panel that is not active.
Rear panel has 6 polychromatic outputs (I have a little trouble with colours ): green,black,orange,gray ... and don't remember Their output information is under control of XEAR (I can choose any of speakers for any output)
Actually I'm not at home.

 

[Necromant]

Originally posted by: The J
The only thing I can think of is that the spekears may not have their own crossover filter. Does your receiver/amp have a setting that allows you to set that? If so, you'll need to turn it on and try different settings to see what you like.

A crossover is something that filters out and redirects frequencies of a certain range. If a very low frequency signal is sent to your speakers, the crossover should redirect it to the subwoofer. If a higher-frequency signal is sent to the sub, then it should be redirected to the satellites. Get it?

Music plays in stereo and doesn't have a separate subwoofer channel. Games can play in surround, but I don't think they have a separate LFE (low frequecy effects) channel, so your crossover network would have to take care of that. The reason why you can hear the sub in DVDs is because I'm pretty sure that they DO have a separate LFE channel that is sent to the subwoofer. This means that the crossover wouldn't have to do much for DVDs.

Like I said, if your soundcard goes to a receiver or amp and then to the speakers, try adjusting the settings on the receiver/amp to find a crossover setting. The receiver itself can then redirect the signals.

My friend has the same audiosystem but another soundcard (Creative Audigy_2). When he turns on Winamp his sub works. He used Winamps options/preferences/Plug and Play/...etc. He set there to use an equipment of the speakers. I have his music files. But he moved 2000 km from my city and only then I purchased my audiosystem.
So I think mybe there iare some settings on the computer that could allow my sub work with games and music and mpeg4 films and ect.
Actually I can't see any buttons of crossover on the sub or somhere else.

 

[Necromant]

By the way my soundcard is C-Media High Definition Audio 8 channel CODEC
Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF output I/O
Dolby Digital Live possible

 

[The J]

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble visualizing what inputs and outputs you have based on your description. Is there a way you can take a picture and post a link to it (you can use www.imageshack.us to host)? That would make it easier for me and others to see how you have things set up and what it looks like on the back of the amplifier (probably in the sub cabinet) and therefore easier for us to help you.

Also, is does the input for the one you are having difficulty saying called "S/PDIF"? Try plugging your sound card into Input Channel 2 if you haven't already tried that.