What is the easiest way to play any sound file?

Is there any way i can make rear speakers of my 5.1 sound system play more sound than just ambient noises?

• the speakers are logitech g51 5.1 surround sound speakers. whenever i play a game i only hear ambient noises in the rear speakers of my sound system. i have 5.1 sound enabled in the games, just it seems like my rear speakers do absolutely nothing what so ever. sound card is http://www.ppa-usa.com/products/soundcard/1431v.htm its a 6 channel sound card. maybe i have the wrong settings set on the driver? i don't know. also, the speakers are computer speakers. thank you :)

• Answer:

  You could set your computer or sound settings to use a 2 channel (stereo) set up and send that sound to all channels. But I have to ask why? That's how surround sound works, the rears only come alive when needed. For example, when I had my 5.1 video game set-up, in Halo, the surrounds would only become active when my fellow soldiers were behind me, or during battle if I turned by back to the main fire fight I could hear it in the rear. If you could make your surrounds more active, what would you want them to be doing? Changing the role of the rear channels in a surround sound set-up is a waste of money and maybe you should have stuck with a simple 2.1 set-up. Raising the volume level in the rear is the only thing you should be doing. Also, what goes on in the rear is up to the game developers and the people that make any other kind of 5.1 mixes like for movies, so what happens in the rear will vary from game to game (if it's true surround) and from movie to movie.