Is there anything that tests your 5.1 surround system?

[mettleh3d]

I'm talking about videos, songs, games, benchmarks that test your 5.1 system for functionality. Sounds that would "revolve" around you (left, center, right, right rear, left rear in that order or something)
Any help would be great, I wanna try to get my system up to max performance.

Thanks a lot

 

[Dman877]

Most sound card software will have a speaker test in one of the applications. Most onboard sound solutions have this as well. What sound card are you using?

 

[ericlala]

does your sound card/motherboard support 5.1? if you have installed the driver for it, you can go to volume control>options>properties and you can make it show the individual volume of the front, side, rear, center, sub, etc and use it to test what you want by muting all of them except 1 and test 1 and a time.

yes run on sentence, sue me

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you don't have anything like that in your sound utility program, some DVDs have a setup feature that will send pink noise to each of the speakers. If your soundcard supports DD decoding, it should send the correct signal to each speaker.

 

[WiZZLa]

CS:Source has one built in.

I used this on my older system. http://www.cmedia.com.tw/download/e-cdl8738_demo_multi.htm

 

[mettleh3d]

Mines onboard sound. I really didn't wanna opt for an Audigy ZS card since my mobo had the necessary connectors.

I've tried to CS:S one and the rear left/rear right do not play any sounds (every other does); that was one of my worries.

nforce3 chipset, DFI lanparty ut 250gb

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136147

Thanks so much for the help

 

[mettleh3d]

bump

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Go rent a DVD or two.

- M4H

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Do you have windows set up for 5.1 sound?

Did you recheck all your connections?

If you plug the rear input jack on the speakers into the front output on your motherboard do the rear speakers output the front sound?

 

[mettleh3d]

1. yes i do

2. All color matched, yes.

3. I'm not sure what you're asking

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

For #2 I meant unplug the rear jack and plug it back in (making sure it's in all the way). Also try rotating it a little to see if it's a connection problem.

For #3 I was trying to get you to see if the rear speakers work. If you plug the rear input of the speakers into the front output of your soundcard, it should be able to show you where the problem is.

If you do that and the rear speakers still don't produce any sound, then it's a problem with the speakers.

If you switch them and the rear speakers then output the front sound, then it's a problem with the output of the rear jack of your soundcard.

 

[Umberger]

Originally posted by: mettleh3d
1. yes i do

2. All color matched, yes.

3. I'm not sure what you're asking

what he means is if you switch the jacks that your speakers are plugged into, i.e. plug the front speakers into the "rear" plug on the computer, and the rear speakers into the "front" plug on your computer, do you hear the sound coming from the rear. he is checking to see if your rear speakers work, or if it is a sound card or software problem.

edit: damn, yoyo beat me to it.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Umberger

Originally posted by: mettleh3d
1. yes i do

2. All color matched, yes.

3. I'm not sure what you're asking

what he means is if you switch the jacks that your speakers are plugged into, i.e. plug the front speakers into the "rear" plug on the computer, and the rear speakers into the "front" plug on your computer, do you hear the sound coming from the rear. he is checking to see if your rear speakers work, or if it is a sound card or software problem.

edit: damn, yoyo beat me to it.

I try

 

[mettleh3d]

sound DOES come out of the rear speakers, i just don't know if it's playing rear-exclusive sound (i.e. approaching footsteps from behind in HL2 or Doom3) . They're the Logitech Z-5300e.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121121

I hope pictures can help my case.
each of the 5 sattelites is connected to the sub with RCA cables. (Rear right, front right, center, front left, rear left respectively)
http://img68.echo.cx/img68/1888/img53094li.jpg

From Subwoofer to PC, there are 3 8mm plugs, black, oj, green. This shot was taken while music was playing.
http://img68.echo.cx/img68/9551/img53109oi.jpg

The manual says that the orange cable is for Center sattelite, black for Sub, green for everthing else. When I unplugged the orange and black however, the sound was UNINTERRUPTED AND SEAMLESS. Then I took out the green and everything went silent.
http://img281.echo.cx/img281/488/img53121jq.jpg

Anyway, this makes me wonder why the orange and the black cables aren't being used; is it that I don't have the latest drivers? I know the other 3 are line in, line out, and mic, so those definitely aren't the correct plugs.

I just made this 100x more confusing. Sorry and thanks for all the help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

On my Logitech z-560s there was an option where you could have the speakers take the stereo front (green) signal and play it on all the speakers.

Do you know if there's something like the on the z-5300s? If so, you'd want to disable it.

If only the green plug is in, there should only be sound coming from the front left, front right, and sub.

So if you plug in the orange and black but not the green, no sound comes out the speakers?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

From Logitech's site: "Use Matrix mode and source selector switch to create breathtaking 5.1 surround sound from stereo, 4 channel, or 5.1 sound sources"

Try turning Matrix mode off, or to something else if it's a multiple setting thing.

I think it sounds like your speakers are taking the stereo signal and mapping it to all the speakers instead of taking the 5.1 signal you're sending to it.

 

[mettleh3d]

do you mean on the speakers themselves? I have a nub on the sub that gives the option of 2.1, 4.1, 5.1. I have 5.1 selected.
http://img177.echo.cx/img177/9926/img53151kd.jpg

Ok, I just fiddled with that switch, switching back and forth among 2, 4.1, 5.1 and the sound remains SEAMLESS. wtfs going on?

If the green is plugged in, sound comes from ALL the satellites + sub.

If only orange and black are in, only silence.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Is that the matrix decoder?

There might be something about this in the manual. Are there any buttons on the wired remote that might help?

 

[mettleh3d]

Matrix only applies to the rear sats

with the nub on 2 speakers:
matrix off sounds full, rich sound.
matrix on makes the rears sound muffled and quiet, as if treble were set to zero.

4.1 & 5.1 are the same.
with the nub on 5.1
matrix off makes the rears & center console SILENT!
matrix on makes the rears sound MUFFLED

mucho confusing

likewise, having the nub on 2, 4.1, or 5.1, matrix on or off, the green 8mm plug still controls everything. black and orange still useless.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What happens if you plug the green speaker plug into the black rear output jack of your soundcard?

 

[mettleh3d]

If i plug GREEN into Black or Orange on the soundcard, no sound comes out.

Just like the cables read:
http://img177.echo.cx/img177/9926/img53151kd.jpg

If i plug ORANGE 8mm into GREEN soundcard, the center/sub produce sound.
http://img257.echo.cx/img257/5753/img53171nd.jpg

If I plug BLACK 8mm into GREEN, rear and sub produce sound.
http://img257.echo.cx/img257/3346/img53162df.jpg

Green into green produce sound from every unit.
Black and Orange inputs still do nothing.

Thanks Jello for sticking so long to help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Well, how you have the speakers set up now it seems like the correct speakers are getting their signal from the right input jack, but I don't understand why plugging in just the green one is sending signals to all the speakers.

I could be wrong, but it seems like your rear and center/sub outputs from your soundcard are not producing any signals.

Do you have 5.1 selected in your sound utility program too (not windows sound control)?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

(A program similar to this one that controls your integrated audio options)

 

[mettleh3d]

oh wow, my nvidia mixer is not nearly that detailed of a program

I think you're right. Green is distributing all the signals while black and orange play no part.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hmmm, you should really have a program that allows you to select the type of output you're sending to the speakers.

So nvmixer doesn't allow you to select 5.1 or anything?