Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: IceFire on February 28, 2005, 03:05:30 pm
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Ok, gotta pose another technical question...this time to the speaker gurus out there.
I've got a A7N8X Deluxe motherboard with the Soundstorm audio system that I'm using on it. Quite a remarkable system but I'm having a bit of trouble doing some re-configuration (I'll explain in a sec).
When I bought new speakers in recent time I bought the very excellent (for the price) VS3151. (http://www.alteclansing.com/product_details.asp?pID=VS3151)
I recently discovered that I had wired them according to the simpler A7N8X audio setup and that I had additional center and surround ports on the Deluxe Soundstorm variant. More to the point, I want to try microphone voice gaming online at some point and I had previously been running the option of the two extra channels using line-in and mic ports. This is supported and is offered in the nVidia software.
Anyways, here's my problem. The subwoofer and center channel speakers operate on the same wire and the surround speakers on the other wire. No matter what I do, I seem to end up with the subwoofer being sent the center speaker data. Infact, in the surround test (where the voice comes on and says left, center, right, rear left, rear right, etc.) the center voice comes out in a muffled fashion from the subwoofer and not from the speaker.
I do know that the speaker works because when its plugged in via the mic port and doing the surround test it will come out of that speaker crystal clear. And I know the center/sub port works too because the sub works just fine....but the signals are seemingly getting crossed for some reason during the surround test.
I'm confused. Advice?
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Get a dedicated sound card. One as good as any on-board chips would cost a few dozen bucks, and save tons of hassle.
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Originally posted by Sandwich
Get a dedicated sound card. One as good as any on-board chips would cost a few dozen bucks, and save tons of hassle.
Ok, thing is...I have a SB Audigy but it gave me a ton of trouble with all sorts of software that this Soundstorm has no trouble with and the Soundstorm is the highest rated onboard sound system available...so much so that its compared with the Audigy and Audigy 2. So convince me more :D
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Originally posted by IceFire
Ok, thing is...I have a SB Audigy but it gave me a ton of trouble with all sorts of software that this Soundstorm has no trouble with and the Soundstorm is the highest rated onboard sound system available...so much so that its compared with the Audigy and Audigy 2. So convince me more :D
my audigy 2 zs is great, no hassle, really (it doesn't have the livedrive, so it's cheaper) that, and it's essentually a dolby decoder too.
but, as for soundcards.. stay far, FAR away from AC-97, and simular cards.. theys be the ****tiest cards on earth.
i think i have the same board as you, so therefore, the same speaker port setup.. but since i don't have a surround system, just a 2.1 logitech x220 setup, i can't really help you there.
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yamaha....
and to be honest the only reason i run it is to be loyal to the company that made my 23 piece drum kit ;7
actually although it doesn't do anything overly fancy, i just happen to like my little dsxg. not big on bells and whistles, but a very solid card nonetheless.
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Err. There must be a way to get to use surround sound from the soundstorm (I have 4 speakers hooked up to mine) and still have microphone supprt...
Have you checked nVidia's site?
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Originally posted by IceFire
Ok, thing is...I have a SB Audigy but it gave me a ton of trouble with all sorts of software that this Soundstorm has no trouble with and the Soundstorm is the highest rated onboard sound system available...so much so that its compared with the Audigy and Audigy 2. So convince me more :D
Ok. How many plugs does the onboard system have? 3? For a fully-featured 5.1 system, you need to have 3 just for the speaker output, one for the mic, and one for the line-in. You usually have an additional plug for the digital/optical interface as well.
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Has more than three...
(http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/13-131-478-06.JPG)
6, see?
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Thanks Raa. Soundstorm equipped boards even have a SPDIF connection.
The five that are there are:
Green - Main speakers
Blue - Line in
Pink - Mic
Purple - Surround
Orange - Sub/Center
These are purpose built for 5.1 sound. This isn't an AC'97 piece of junk...its nVidia Soundstorm. Many reviewers were calling for nVidia to go ahead and release it as a PCI card because it was so good. Its got its own dedicated chip on the board, it doesn't use CPU cycles like other onboard chips do (not any more cycles than a PCI card), and its one of the best solutions out there. Its not inherently the problem. I don't think so anyways :D
Surely there's some logic (twisted) to the center speaker coming out the sub when I test it in surround mode?
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Possibly, it's just not set up correclty?
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If you have two RCA -> 1/8" adaptors, hook one up to the speakers, one to the motherboard, and flip the channels.
Or you could look for whatever configuration the board uses, it may have an option to reverse them. :p
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Hmm.
You know, iirc a 4.1 setup is basically a 5.1 setup without a center speaker. It may be your system has accidentally got set to 4.1 mode, that may very well result it what you're describing. Did you check both the software settings for the soundstorm in whatever configuration software they give you, and the windows speaker setup in control panel -> sound and audio devices -> volume -> speaker settings -> advanced to make sure they're set to 5.1>
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Righty. I'll give that a shot....pretty sure I double checked those settings but worth another try.
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Yerp...here's the problem and solution: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvswap_1.0
ASUS swapped some stuff around so you need this extra util to get it to work properly!
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Hmm... I have optical 5.1 in/out... it may be time to start messing around with surround sound....:cool: