I have no sound on my computer.

Help with computer speakers (surround sound)

• I recently purchased a 6-speaker surround sound system for my computer, Logitech's Z-640: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006HYPD/qid=1078884712//ref=pd_ka_4/002-7982397-2000056?v=glance&s=videogames&n=507846 After purchasing, I needed a new sound card in order to hook it up, so I purchased Sound Blaster's Audigy LS for $70 at Best Buy. I installed everything and everything seems to be working fine. I think I have some general questions with my computers surround sound system. I want to use my surround sound to the fullest extent possible. Right when I installed, only 3 of the speakers were exerting sound, and I went to the "EAX Console" and enabled CMSS and now sound comes from all speakers, as I can set the percentage of stereo focus. I was wondering, would most people adjust this setting? I mean, if not, the other speakers would just be sitting there doing nothing? Also, I heard some people say things like when they are watching a DVD on the computer, they can actually hear the sound going from speaker to speaker, etc. Would that happen automatically if I have the speaker set just installed? I'm just a little worried I don't have some things set up properly. But right now, I'm getting sound from all speakers, so that's good, including the subwoofer of course. I think this related to different "channels"? I'm really just worried I'm not getting the most I can from the speakers. So if there's any computr speaker junkies out there, please advise. :-) I think I need an overview about all this junk, I'd really appreciate if someone can come in here and give it all they got and hopefully after they respond, I'll be much less confused on this surround sound mess. Thanks, Dan

• Answer:

  Hello. Your problem is the fundamental problem of any home theatre surround sound system... Before I go any further, let me differentiate between sound from movies and sound from music... The first (sound from movies) is often encoded with surround sound in mind so that each one of your speakers (4, 5, 6 or even 7) can be assigned its own sound track to represent directional audio faithfully. In this case, the audio channel distribution happens automatically (make sure you switch to DDolby Digital or Dolby Surround and turn off all DSP effects first). For older movies however that have been mastered in stereo or simple audio tracks (such as MP3s or tracks from CDs - the second category -) you're facing the problem that these audio files contain just two tracks (left and right) and you're trying to spread them over 3 or more channels (=speakers). This means that you're leaving the guesswork of what is supposed to be heard from where to your sound card and your sound card's software. There are a number of DSP (digital sound processor) options in your Audigy EAX menu to allow a pseudo-surround distribution of your stereo soundtrack across all speakers. This often takes advantage of delay and reverberation to distinguish between sounds that come from the front and sounds that come from the rear... In any case though, you will never achieve the same effect as that of a purpose-mixed dolby digital 5.1 or 6.1 soundtrack and quite often, it is best to leave your rear speakers inactive during a movie, especially for films that contain little sound effects and much dialogue (everyone will otherwise sound as if they're stuck in a well!) Best way to understand when pseudo-surround is suitable is to experiment a bit each time before you play a simple-stereo film. Fine-tune the stereo focus and see if you get a desirable effect. Turn it on and off occasionally and train your ear to understand the differences. In general, don't always try to use all your speakers at once just because you paid for them... They've got their purpose and each one is designed for different sound frequencies (for example, the middle speaker is mostly for dialogues so using it to play music through it distorts the whole effect). Same thing for the sub. Hope this helps!