Sound problems!

[Revolution09]

I own the Logitech z3e, had them for close to 2 years I would say. Earlier I noticed my left speaker isn't working.. I tested the speakers with two different sound cards in my computer (onboard and an older model SoundBlaster Live, PCI), my mp3 player, and an external sound card. The speaker was silent with all of them, so I assumed the speaker is simply dead.
Then I decided to plug some headphones straight in to the computer to double check.. and the left channel isn't working there either. Both sound cards in my computer are not outputting anything for the left channel.
What could have possibly happened? Is this just some weird coincidence, or what am I missing here?

 

[Tiamat]

Check the sound options. It is possible that you have the settings panned all the way to the right. Make sure the panning is centered between left and right.

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Check the sound options. It is possible that you have the settings panned all the way to the right. Make sure the panning is centered between left and right.

I've checked all the balances I can possibly find.. when they are set to the Left, I get no audio

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Soundcard #1 with speakers = no left channel
Soundcard #2 with speakers = no left channel
MP3 player with speakers = no left channel
External soundcard with speakers = no left channel

All that above makes it sound pretty definitive that it's a problem with the speakers

Soundcard #1 with headphones = no left channel

Well that's strange...

For that problem, maybe it's a result of some troubleshooting you were doing before with soundcard settings? It seems bizarre that the left channel in both the speakers and the headphones would die at the same time. Do you get proper playback with the headphones and the MP3 player?

Are you sure you're plugging in the 3.5mm connections all the way in these cases?

 

[Tiamat]

have you tried swapping the right and left speaker at the back of the subwoofer?

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Do you get proper playback with the headphones and the MP3 player?

Are you sure you're plugging in the 3.5mm connections all the way in these cases?

Yes, the headphones and mp3 player work fine together. Yes, I plugged them in and wiggled it around to make sure that isn't the problem.

Originally posted by: Tiamat
have you tried swapping the right and left speaker at the back of the subwoofer?

I can't, it's all wired together.

 

[Tiamat]

have you tried going into windows sound and setting it to stereo? Perhaps it is on mono?

I agree it is weird that the perfectly fine headphones are screwed up through the computer.

Also, is headphone still messed up if you plug it in through the headphone output of your speakers when the speakers are hooked up to the soundcard? How about when the speakers are hooked up to your IPOD and you hook headphones to the speaker control pod's headphone output?

Also, for the soundcard, have you tried plugging in the headphones into all of the outputs? Perhaps you accidentally plugged it into the Center channel's line out instead of Front R/L?

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
have you tried going into windows sound and setting it to stereo? Perhaps it is on mono?

I agree it is weird that the perfectly fine headphones are screwed up through the computer.

Just tried switching it, no luck.

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Also, is headphone still messed up if you plug it in through the headphone output of your speakers when the speakers are hooked up to the soundcard? How about when the speakers are hooked up to your IPOD and you hook headphones to the speaker control pod's headphone output?

Sound card -> Speakers -> Headphones = no left channel

MP3 player -> Speakers -> Headphones = all good

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Also, for the soundcard, have you tried plugging in the headphones into all of the outputs? Perhaps you accidentally plugged it into the Center channel's line out instead of Front R/L?

I've always been plugging it in the regular green labeled headphone/speaker jack.

 

[Tiamat]

Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

It is possible that the left speaker wiring or speaker itself is shot. I'm just not sure why 2 sound cards wouldnt output stereo properly...

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

Even when your sound drivers are on quad or surround modes?

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

Even when your sound drivers are on quad or surround modes?

Oops, my mistake... I had it on Stereo, I'll try that now...

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

Even when your sound drivers are on quad or surround modes?

I just tried Quad, Surround Sound, 5.1 Surround... nothing at all still.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

Even when your sound drivers are on quad or surround modes?

I just tried Quad, Surround Sound, 5.1 Surround... nothing at all still.

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the sound drivers? You should be getting sound out of the other outputs by just pluggin the headphones into each respective output.

At this point I am assuming the logitech speaker is busted. I don't see 2 soundcards being unable to produce stereo if the drivers are update and correct.

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

Even when your sound drivers are on quad or surround modes?

I just tried Quad, Surround Sound, 5.1 Surround... nothing at all still.

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the sound drivers? You should be getting sound out of the other outputs by just pluggin the headphones into each respective output.

At this point I am assuming the logitech speaker is busted. I don't see 2 soundcards being unable to produce stereo if the drivers are update and correct.

I seem to be having trouble updating/reinstalling the onboard drivers, however before posting this thread I updated the SoundBlaster drivers.

edit: TIME WARPS! AH they're everywhere...

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Just for shits and giggles, can you set the soundcard to output quadraphonic and plug your headphones into the rear channel output?

I'm just hesitant to think that there is a coincidence in problems.

I'm hoping its not some strange, cruel coincidence

I just tried every single jack on the sound card, only thing I got was the right channel from the green jack.

Even when your sound drivers are on quad or surround modes?

I just tried Quad, Surround Sound, 5.1 Surround... nothing at all still.

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the sound drivers? You should be getting sound out of the other outputs by just pluggin the headphones into each respective output.

At this point I am assuming the logitech speaker is busted. I don't see 2 soundcards being unable to produce stereo if the drivers are update and correct.

I seem to be having trouble updating/reinstalling the onboard drivers, however before posting this thread I updated the SoundBlaster drivers.

edit: TIME WARPS! AH they're everywhere...

Which OS you are running?

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Which OS you are running?

Windows XP 32 bit

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Which OS you are running?

Windows XP 32 bit

The os shouldnt be the problem. Unfortunately, only thing I can think of is problematic drivers.

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Which OS you are running?

Windows XP 32 bit

The os shouldnt be the problem. Unfortunately, only thing I can think of is problematic drivers.

I will continue to try removing/updating/etc drivers to see if anything works, it will be a few days before I go buy new speakers anyways (I'm assuming the speakers are definately dead) I'm just hoping I won't need a new sound card too...

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Which OS you are running?

Windows XP 32 bit

The os shouldnt be the problem. Unfortunately, only thing I can think of is problematic drivers.

I will continue to try removing/updating/etc drivers to see if anything works, it will be a few days before I go buy new speakers anyways (I'm pretty sure the speakers have to definately be dead)

yeah, its just weird that you had 2 problems simultaneously. Makes it really hard to determine potential fixing solutions.

I hope you are able to get to the bottom of this. Try plugging the soundcard into a different PCI slot (that uses a different IRQ address).

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Revolution09

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Which OS you are running?

Windows XP 32 bit

The os shouldnt be the problem. Unfortunately, only thing I can think of is problematic drivers.

I will continue to try removing/updating/etc drivers to see if anything works, it will be a few days before I go buy new speakers anyways (I'm pretty sure the speakers have to definately be dead)

yeah, its just weird that you had 2 problems simultaneously. Makes it really hard to determine potential fixing solutions.

I hope you are able to get to the bottom of this. Try plugging the soundcard into a different PCI slot (that uses a different IRQ address).

I agree. I will try some hardware changes tommorow, I'll keep you updated if I ever figure it out! Thanks alot for the help, its much appreciated.

Edit: I just realized, 500th post :beer:

 

[PurdueRy]

When you say you tried the headphones...you're plugging them into the same port in the back that the speakers were in or are you plugging them into the front panel?

 

[Revolution09]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
When you say you tried the headphones...you're plugging them into the same port in the back that the speakers were in or are you plugging them into the front panel?

In the back, same port I had the speakers in.

 

[Revolution09]

I just uninstalled then downloaded the latest driver for my onboard card, atleast that seems to be working fine now with the headphones. I'll probably pick up a set of Logitech z2300 and use it with the onboard for now. Any other reccomendations for a better set of 2.1 speakers for the price? (I'll be getting the 2300's for about $150)

 

[Tiamat]

Klipsch Promedia 2.1 is often sited as an alternative.