# Creative 5200 5.1 inspire speakers acting as 2.1 :(((



## the_fragger (Nov 18, 2004)

ok ..i got brand new creative inspire 5200 5.2 speakers yesterday  along with the creative sound blaster 24 bit  sound card  
   i connected all the 5 speakers to the sub woofer in the front/rear left ,front/rear right and central  sockets .... also the three pin connecter from the speaker has been given to the sound card as per the color scheme whish is more or less idiot proof   
   now the issue is that even after doing the connections when i turned on the speaker only the front speakers & woofer are working ... no sound is coming from the rear and the center speakers       have tried connecting the rear speakers to the front socket and they worked fine ..so the issue isnt with the speakers .....
 can someone please help me as i want to enjoy the full 5.1 sound in my games and the dvd movies but have to do with just a 2.1 kind of setup as of now since only the two front speakers and the woofer is working


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## theraven (Nov 18, 2004)

use the creative software and specify what kinda speakers u have
then and only then will all the 5 speakers start workin


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## the_fragger (Nov 18, 2004)

will try that today itself.......cant wait to reach back home ..thanks a ton


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## rohanbee (Nov 19, 2004)

theraven said:
			
		

> use the creative software and specify what kinda speakers u have
> then and only then will all the 5 speakers start workin



I'm just guessing here but apart from what you said doesn't the particular track/ game/ movie also need to be recorded in 5.1channel for you to get the full surround sound effect.


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## theraven (Nov 19, 2004)

yeah rohanbee
it does
but in most cases ... there still is some amount of data being routed to the extra channels if the 5.1 is setup properly
worse come to worse u should atleast be able to hear a low hiss from ur channels which are inactive


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## imgame (Nov 20, 2004)

the best way to check  if all the speakers are properly working is to use the software utility that comes with drivers .........

also try changing the speaker settings(if u r using windows  xp ) to 5.1 in control pannel-> Sounds and audio devices -> Speaker settings -> advanced ->speaker set-up  to 5.1 surround sound speakers.

Though this gets changed itself if u have installed drivers properly as THE RAVEN mentioned just in case its not enabled try doing this.

@ rohanbee  ....5.1 speaker system workes even if u don't have AC3 or  other 5.1 format sound file excet CFE i.e, u get to hear sound from 5 speakers excet CFE .but in case of DVD's and games supporting EAX or Dolby Digital audio or DTS a  5.1 speaker system gives positonal audio that makes it more realistic.


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## rohanbee (Nov 20, 2004)

Guys what you are actually talking about here is not true 5.1 dolby sound as it is meant to be. What i feel is going to happen here is like when we try to stick two speakers into one channel to get sound out of two sources instead of one (as it is actually meant to be) if i stick 4 speakers to my 2.1 channel system ....................... whats the point??

What this chap needs to do is get a dvd and play it with true dolby pro-logic enabled. I have a sony home theater and it can play all channels too but in a true 5.1 enviornment one would require the centre channel to play only vocals, the sub only low frequencies and so on so forth.....

I just bought a Altec lansing 5021 and they are 2.1 channel 90rms rated, i could attach 2 more speakers by combining wires and say that now i have 4.1. 

My mobo intel 915GAV has a decent 6 channel on-board audio and comes bundled with quite nice sound drivers and they let me specify what kind of a system iam playing 2.1, 4.1, 5.1 etc etc..........then it accordingly channelises the sound and frequencies.

Example since iam running 2.1's so when playing a movie every frequency will come out of the satellites and only the low tones will be reproduced by the sub. Since it knows there are no rear satellites and center channel speaker to reproduce ambient sounds and high frequencies.


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## theraven (Nov 20, 2004)

rohanbee
relax buddy
no ones taklin abt true 5.1 here
the guys rear and centre speakers arent workin
and they do work even if the source is 2 channel
thats it ... 
we are just askin him to test it 
imgame has very simply put what would a dvd or ac3 audio play like
but again ITS NOT THAT THE SPEAKERS WONT WORK FOR 2 CHANNEL AUDIO
we are just askin him to get it up and runnin thats all

what he does with it is upto him ..
he'll run dvd's if he has too
but whats the use of the speakers dont work ??
\
i hope ur gettin this ...


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## rohanbee (Nov 21, 2004)

Thats true *raven*,  no point if the speakers don't work at all the end of the day.................the only point i wanted to make was that no point spending money on a 5.1 if you dont use its true capability...........

.................but then thats my opinion and its his speakers and the way that he wants to use them is what that matters..........

it's just that i had an argument the other day with a vendor who was selling some sort of chinese 5.1 speaker set (looked like fake creatives) and it was not true 5.1 sound.................there were just all sorts of sounds from every speaker..............i think the satellites were even taking out more base than the sub.............  

Anyways sorry if i sounded rude i just wanted to project my point. Thanks.


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## theraven (Nov 21, 2004)

no dude
u werent rude as of yet
i got ur point ...

i was just tryin to clear his setup aint workin
anyways he WILL use it for DVD's .. he just hasnt as of yet
he just got the setup and the sound wasnt comin from the other channels
thats all 
so he posted for help
anyways enuff said ... lets wait for it to be done


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## the_fragger (Nov 22, 2004)

thanks all of u techies for the help ..... for the time being have attached the 5.1 to my creative sound blaster 24 bit and was trying to test ...am running windos Xp so it detected the sound card and i thought that was enough ... after restarting as i mentioned sound was coming from just the front speakers and so i panicked...  
followed raven's advice and rechecked the cd that was bundled with the sound card.. reinstalled the software and the drivers and found that the speakers were defaultes as stereo speakers ..that was causing the issue..changed the speakers to 5.1 and voila .. i got 5.1 sound  
as for rohanbee's comments yes i understand that there's no point in using 5.1 speakers if the true capabilites aren't utilized ...but in teh software provided there's a utitlity which tries to use the 5.1 speakers even while playing mp3's and videos..and it's quite good at it ...had just a pair of microtek speakers earlier so it's giant leap for me have a dvd rom drive and plan to watch some movies on it to fully utilize the 5.1 capabilities as Rohan has said  
thank you all for the help..you guys rock


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## rohanbee (Nov 22, 2004)

Hey fragger,
          Great to hear that everything worked out in the end..............im sure they must be sounding really awesome................


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