Back speakers won't play.

[marconis]

All of my settings are set to 5.1. Music plays out of all speakers in WMP, but I hate using WMP over iTunes. Is there a setting in iTunes where you can change the speaker setup? It's really bugging me.

 

[Crysalis]

then iTunes is doing things the right way. Music should never be heard from anything more than the front left and right and the sub. Ever.

The ONLY time is when you are listening to music from a SACD with encoded 5.1 music.

 

[marconis]

Wow, I never knew that. Why is that though, it always sounds so much better when the music is coming from all over the room.

 

[Crysalis]

actually, it should never sound better. Music is only recorded, mixed, and master in stereo (2 channels - left and right). Unless it is mixed for surround sound (there are only a hand full of them in the world), it shouldn't be played back like that. The image the engineer is trying to portray to the listener is completely ruined. As engineers, we CAREFULLY and SLOWLY plan where everything sits in the mix... in three dimensions. Yes, music IS 3D - you have left and right, front and back (in terms of distance, not in front of you or behind you). Its not just how "loud" things are in a song. There is a ton of planning and thought that goes into mixing a song. It is an art form.

Listening to stereo music in surround is like taking Leanardo Da Vinci's paintings and making them black and white and in fragments of 2" blocks.

The only reason you are hearing things from the subwoofer is because of the internal crossovers in your system. Since your satellite speakers can not handle the low frequencies, they are sent to the sub to make up for it.

 

[__Camouflage__]

Rear speakers are more for a "surround" as the 5.1 is intended for. If you're listening to studio music (recorded), you should only use a 2.1 setup, if you're listening to live recordings, a 5.1 setup is what you want, for more of the "acoustical" sounds. If you absolutely want your rear speakers to play, you could plug in your rear speakers to your front speaker terminals (providing you have a terminal setup, and not an "input jack"). I have mine setup like that, but I have a kill switch on my speaker wire so I can kill the rears when I am listening to Audio CD's or other music files. Although, you can do harm to your setup's amp, as combining the speakers will change the OHM load, to either 4OHMs or 16OHMs (based on most "home" setups, as their speakers are mainly built with an 8OHM voicecoil.

 

[Crysalis]

If you absolutely want your rear speakers to play, you could plug in your rear speakers to your front speaker terminals (providing you have a terminal setup, and not an "input jack").

Also known as Quadraphonic sound.

 

[marconis]

Okay...so I switch my speakers to 2.1 on the little sounblaster control panel, and then nothing comes out of the rear speakers, like you said it should. Now, the sub is still set to 5.1. So, I go to flick it to 2.1 on the sub, and now the music is coming out of the rear speakers as well. Now what am I doing wrong?

 

[Crysalis]

There is a switch on the subwoofer itself? When you switch it to 2.1 on the control panel, does the sub work?

 

[EricB]

if you had an intel hd or an old nvidia nforce 2 audio card it code decode your music to 5.1 on the fly. however nothing else can

so to hear 5.1 with 2.0 source material, you need an external decoder or you can try one of the sound card processing modes, if they have one

 

[marconis]

Yes, when I switch it to 2.1 on the control panel it does work but is not as powerful as the 5.1.