Why does my audio "jump" from front speakers to center to surrounds? (re: X-Fi)

[sofakng]

I've been using my Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic with two speakers for a while and I never had a problem but now that I have my Logitech Z-5500s I noticed the strangest problem:

Sometimes when a stereo audio source is playing it will start by playing through my front speakers but then "jump" to the rear speakers or even the center speaker (and then stop playing from the front speakers, etc).

I think my Logitech Z-5500's are OK because when I use my X-Box 360 via optical cable it plays fine without any problems.

Playback also seems fine even with PC games as long as they are using 5.1 playback.

The problem only seems to occur when stereo (two-channel) sound is playing.

Can anybody help me out?

 

[vj8usa]

Is stereo xpand on? Or stereo surround? I know stereo xpand tries to upmix 2 channel audio to surround, and doesn't do that great a job of it. Stereo surround should be fine though, as it just mirrors the audio to both the front and rear, but you might as well disable it to see.

 

[sofakng]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm just using "6-channel direct" mode without anything fancy at all...

 

[MTDEW]

Originally posted by: sofakng
Thanks for the reply.

I'm just using "6-channel direct" mode without anything fancy at all...

Thats on your z5500's and thats just fine.
vj8usa is referring to your X-fi settings in windows.

 

[sofakng]

Where do I find those settings at?

In the Vista sound control panel I have the speakers set to 5.1 and in the X-Fi Audio Console I have CMSS-3D and everything else turned off...