help with 5.1 center channel

[Soybean]

am using a set of Logitech z640 5.1 speakers on an AOPEN Cobra AW-850 5.1 Sound Card.

I can get sound out of all five speakers when playing DVD movies, but only 4 speakers (not the center channel), when playing mp3s in Winamp.

I thought that I could also get 5.1 surround sound in games such as Call of Duty and UT2004 (demo). When I play them, I set the audio setting to EAX. But I don't get any sound out of the center channel. I get sound out of the 4 satellite speakers and the subwoofer only.

I have set my speaker setting in Windows XP to 5.1. I am also not getting sound out of all speakers when I play media in Windows Media Player.

What is going on? Please help!

 

[Viper96720]

Are MP3s AC3 encoded for 5.1 surround?

 

[Soybean]

no i don't think they are

 

[neutralizer]

I think there's your problem...

 

[neutralizer]

Check if your sound card has CSS, cuz the audigy as it which allows sound to come out of all channels even if its stereo sound.

 

[Dman877]

I think games are all 4.1... correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[Soybean]

what is CSS? My card is built on the C-Media CMI chips, which I think are used in some other sound cards?

When I play games, I set them onto EAX. So I should be getting sound out of all speakers right? Do any of you have sound blaster cards with 5.1 speakers and get sound out of all of them?

Thanks!

 

[Soybean]

^

 

[EeyoreX]

The basic answer is that if the source is not 5.1, the output will not be 5.1. That includes games, mp3s and whatever. I answered in your other thread as I saw that one first, and didn't realize this one existed and was the more active thread. You should try to avoid double posting.

\Dan

 

[Derango]

Sound coming from the center channel will completly mess up stereo seperation, unless the music was specificly designed to be played in 5.1. In short, its not a good idea.

Dunno if the 5.1 would work in games or not.

 

[Soybean]

thanks all for your help so far!

 

[mooojojojo]

I'm sorry to hear that you're using a CMI sound card. I had my share of troubles with one of these last few days.

The center channel would not play at all (a system with no DVD to test), Winamp would play through 4 speakers + subwoofer, so would the game I tested - Worms 3D (only thing available ) and DivX movies.

Even worse - the supplied drivers did not work from the start. Here check out my recent thread here, although I don't think it'll be too helpful for you as you already have your questions answered. Good thing to hear that you at least didn't have problems with setting it up to work so far (although your WMP problem sounds suspicious).