Play 7.1 speakers in stereo - Vista Realtek HD audio (ALC889A)

[Craig321]

Hi,

All I want is to play my 7.1 speakers through stereo, no surround sound.

Is there any way?

Thanks,
Craig.

[TheReaFireblade]

Try this:

Open Control Panel (Classic View) > Sound. Right-click on 'Speakers/Headphones' > Configure Speakers, and select 'Stereo'?

[Craig321]

That only plays out of 2 speakers then unfortunately

managed to get it sorted by using the default Vista sound drivers & using the speaker fill option

craig.

[99Flake]

The thing is by playing it out of 7 speakers it is no longer in stereo.

The term stereo means 2 speakers, left and right as the audio signal is intended to played and listened to.

[Craig321]

I'd happily change it to proper stereo if it meant using maybe a few speakers to emulate the left speaker, a few to emulate the right one, but I don't think that's possible with the software available for this onboard sound.

Just a bit pointless having 7.1 speakers if they're not all going to be used, I have hardly any content that's proper 7.1 surround.

[bigblue]

I'd happily change it to proper stereo if it meant using maybe a few speakers to emulate the left speaker, a few to emulate the right one,

But that wouldn't be proper stereo Proper stereo is one left speaker, one right speaker.

but I don't think that's possible with the software available for this onboard sound.

But why would you want to, if they're all playing the same thing? They're probably set up for best performance, and with stereo, that means two speakers

Just a bit pointless having 7.1 speakers if they're not all going to be used, I have hardly any content that's proper 7.1 surround.

No, not at all. It's pointless using speakers just because they're there!

[neonplanet40]

Get a new soundcard then you can run either CMSS on creative cards or Dobly digital live with some auzentech cards. That way it will use all speakers. Or buy an amp

[Craig321]

But why would you want to, if they're all playing the same thing? They're probably set up for best performance, and with stereo, that means two speakers

No, not at all. It's pointless using speakers just because they're there!

I have no proper 7.1 content that I play, and I probably never will. They sound perfectly good for me using speaker fill

[FifthFreedom]

Most pc modern games are 5.1 at least.

360 is 5.1

Any Bluray movies are 5.1 or 7.1

Just pointing this out but with surround you pay a extra for all 8 speakers.

Ergo: You could have got a nicer stereo (or 2.1) set for the same money.

[Craig321]

Had these speakers for at least 3 years now, if I was to buy speakers now I'd probably go for 2.1.

All my music is stereo and sounds better with audio fill.

They're mostly for music.

[bigblue]

Had these speakers for at least 3 years now, if I was to buy speakers now I'd probably go for 2.1.

All my music is stereo and sounds better with audio fill.

They're mostly for music.

Ah well, each to their own and all that, go with whatever sounds best to your own lugholes

[Agent]

It would drive me mad if I didnt have music coming out of all of the 5.1 speakers I have.

Sounds just as good, using only 2 seems like a huge waste to me? *shrug*

[bigblue]

It would drive me mad if I didnt have music coming out of all of the 5.1 speakers I have.

Sounds just as good, using only 2 seems like a huge waste to me? *shrug*

Ach, all down to your preferences I guess, it doesn't sound nearly as good to me.

I've been into hi-fi for years, so with music I'm used to just having two speakers, and a soundfield/soundstage in front of me. 2.1 is fine too, but anything else I don't like. Both left speakers and both right speakers playing the same thing I can just about cope with, but pseudo-surround from stereo is a crime against music

It seems a waste to me to change music that was recorded and intended for 2 speakers, just so that it uses all the speakers. I find it tricky to pick out individual instruments and stuff with all the surround speakers on. Just feels like being in the car

But as I said, each to their own!

[Agent]

Its still being played in Stereo though. I'm not talking about "pseudo-surround" in the sense of running it through pro-logic or other such voodoo - just plain old mirrored front and back.

Not really sure how it can alter the sound? Its no different to putting another 2 speakers on the 2 outputs you have an a normal Hi-fi and putting them behind you.

[Lowe]

Phase cancellation and all kinds of nasties *can* appear with 2.1 being played in 5.1

Doesn't always, but it can.

[bigblue]

Its still being played in Stereo though. I'm not talking about "pseudo-surround" in the sense of running it through pro-logic or other such voodoo - just plain old mirrored front and back.

Not really sure how it can alter the sound?

It's stereo, but not as is was intended to be reproduced. As Lowe says, you can have cancellation issues to start with. But the whole idea of stereo soundstaging is that you have the music in front of you, as you would at a gig, and you should be able to pick out where the individual instruments are. With speakers at the side, or behind you, you can't. I'm sure a lot of folk don't give a hoot about soundstaging, hence why I said do it whatever way sounds best to your lugholes.

But 2.0 is the ideal way for stereo, so that's why most AV amps will pass it through that way by default, rather than by feeding it to all the available speakers. Even with music DVD's, many are either 2.0, 2.1, or 5.1 with the music coming through the front two and ambient noise through the rest. Multi-channel audio is usually always 5 discrete channels.

What do you think multiple speakers add over two speakers?

Its no different to putting another 2 speakers on the 2 outputs you have an a normal Hi-fi and putting them behind you.

Aye, and that's a bad idea too

If 4 speakers sounded good in any way with music, quadraphonic wouldn't have died out in the 70's. And Quadraphonic was, in theory, better, being 4.0 rather than two sets of 2.0.

Attatching 4 speakers to two speaker outputs really isn't a good idea, in any way I can think of. It's certainly detrimental to sound quality, hence why you can't buy hi-fi's with 4 speakers! Even if the speakers are matched you still risk damaging the amp, or the speakers if the amp is driven hard. If you're very lucky you won't have any damage at all. If you're lucky the amp will just overheat and switch off. If you're unlucky you could blow the amp, and knacker the tweeters (maybe woofers too) in the speakers. If you had an impedance matching speaker box you'd be fine, but not many people have those kicking about, and it'd likely sound poor anyway!

If you have 2 sets of speaker outputs, that's better, but the only use I'd see for that would be parties, when spreading sound around is desirable.