How to enable the same sound from 5 speakers?

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Rev. Night

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Mar 30, 2004
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A lot of people are obsessed with 5.1, 7.1, directional audio every which way, and I get that, that's what I use my headphones for. But my Logitech Z5500s are for music only. Here, I want the same sound coming out of all 5 speakers. Nothing positional, just a 'dumb' feed, that I am surrounded by virtue of speaker placement. The Logitech user panel has a setting for mostly this, at 'Stereo x 2'. The issue is that it only puts sound out of my front/rear speakers (4 total). It ignores the Center speaker. So this Center speaker is dead silent.

My motherboard is an Asus TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI. Tech Specs:
Realtek S1220A 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio CODEC*
- Impedance sense for front and rear headphone outputs
- Internal audio Amplifier to enhance the highest quality sound for headphone and speakers
- Supports: Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking
- High quality 120 dB SNR stereo playback output and 113 dB SNR recording input (Line-in)
- Supports up to 32-Bit/192 kHz playback*
Audio Features
- Audio shielding
- Premium audio capacitors
- Dedicated audio PCB layers
- Audio cover
- Unique de-pop circuit
* Due to limitations in HDA bandwidth, 32-Bit/192 kHz is not supported for 7.1 Surround Sound audio.
Click to expand...

How can I get 'Stereo x2' or something similar out of my center speaker?

thanks yall
 
The center channel is a single channel so it cant properly do stereo so it turns it off. Your other option is mono for all speakers.

Basically it would need to pick left or right for it, or if it merged the two it would just muddy the sound.

You might be able to get some program to mix it to virtual 5.1 sound to fill all the speakers. But basically anything you do will require tampering/mixing the original sound.
 
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Windows 11, maybe even Windows 10 has this, but can't yet confirm.
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If audio is going through DirectSound or I guess any system driver, it will be mono in all speakers including the center speaker. Tested it on a 7.1 setup, audio will play in the center speaker as well. If the audio is passed directly to the audio device (exclusive mode, WASAPI, Bitstream) then the audio will still be discrete stereo or multi-channel even with the mono option enabled.
 
Hmmm....I just tested this myself. It doesn't quite work. I tested with Mono on and off, on all of the 'Effects' that my Logitech Z-5600 control panel has (stereo, stereo x2, Dolby PLII Movie, Dolby PLII Music, 6 Ch Direct). Center volume was set to highest. Physical cables are the orange, green, black.

I went into the Speakers setting, and instead of Stereo, I set to 5.1. Retested. Now when I do 6 channel direct on my control panel + windows mono, I do hear it more out of the center speaker. BUT I'm still not hearing a true mono x5 sound. The different speakers clearly are not doing the same sound.
 
and you probably wont ever get it to work that way, its not designed for it. simplest solution, if you only listen to music, is to use splitters off the stereo connection.
 
What pendragon said is likely your best option. This is a very unique usage case. You might be able to look into some software sound processors or mixers to help with this but i have no experience with any so i cant help much with that. There are some audio summing adapters on amazon in the $20 range that might help get you where you want. Or just do stereo and pick a channel to y-off to your center channel.

Or do what i did and go 2 speaker stereo and never go back lol. Nothing super special but 2 8" mackies and sound blaster ae-5
 
Oh thats not a bad idea. But how exactly would that work? On my mobo, I have for rear, one for line out aka front, and then one for center/sub. If I do a stereo splitter in say front, and connect the front and center/sub cable into that, what signal is the sub getting? And on that note, how can the center channel (voice) be the same signal as a sub?

1698421992144.png
 
One thing you can try is Foobar2000's multi-channel audio plugins for music. It comes bundled with 1-2, but there are a bunch of them available.
 
The 5 way seems easy enough and great for speakers. My gaming is on headphones, which dont use that port.

I see that Foobar is a winamp/VLC type player. I listen to all of my music out of Spotify. You said there was a plugin, but I dont see it on the Components page

https://www.foobar2000.org/components
 
Rev. Night said:
The 5 way seems easy enough and great for speakers. My gaming is on headphones, which dont use that port.

I see that Foobar is a winamp/VLC type player. I listen to all of my music out of Spotify. You said there was a plugin, but I dont see it on the Components page

https://www.foobar2000.org/components
Click to expand...

Foobar IS pretty similar to VLC and Winamp, but it has plugins and functionality that go way beyond most other players. Never tried it, but here's a Spotify plugin:
https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_spotify
Here are some of the various spatial audio mixers that come with the player by default.
Foobar.jpg
 
pendragon1 said:
get one of these, put it into the "line out" and everything into it. or try that^^^
https://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Splitter-Connector-Earphone-Compatible/dp/B07SL6RTYR
Click to expand...

hmmm.. I just got that delivered. I put all 3 channels (green, black, orange) into the Line Out. Software wise, Windows is in 5.1 configuration. I went through all of the various 'effects' the control panel allows. Right now its like nothing changed.

What am i doing wrong?

edit:
I tried something different. This time I had the green/black/orange cables continue to be plugged into the pc. But i used the splitter into control panel, green plug (front, which is same color as 'line out' on mobo). This was terrible, the few sounds I would get sounded like in water and very far away. Tried all the same effects etc..

I also play around with the stereo 1-3 switch on the back of the control panel, also no luck.

edit 2:
maybe the solution is to try and wire the center speaker into the same sub receiver as the fronts? That way the same physical signal is passed...
 

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speakers should all hook to sub as normal, the control box connectors that go to pc all go in the splitter, splitter goes into sound cards line out(green port?)
 
Yep! That's exactly what I did at first. Only the splitter went into mobo, green line out. Everything was normal. The center channel was not getting a stereo signal. It was getting the various 5.1 modes just fine but that's not what I want
 
Rev. Night, I've actually got the answer for you, because I already do exactly what you are trying to. The best of all is that you don't need any fancy hardware or to split audio signals. Some background first.

FYSA, I'm a musician. I currently have an RME Fireface UCX audio interface. I'm also an avid gamer, so it's imperative that I use 5.1 positional sound for games, and I had in the past always used Creative sound cards. That being said, I actually love to listen to my music in 5.1. Creative calls it CMSS, that allows you to either double a stereo signal to the rears and mono to the center for 5.1 sound, or CMSS-3D, to actually upmix the stereo signal to 5.1. These are distinctly different; I always used regular CMSS because I hated the way CMSS-3D sounded.

I could not find a way to replicate this type of emulation on a non-Creative sound card since I had moved away from them. My RME Fireface UCX has 6+ audio outputs that are assignable. All I need to do was find some way to replicate the stereo signal across whatever channel I wanted.

Enter a small plugin for Windows called Equalizer APO.

With this plugin installed and configured correctly, I am able to run 5.1 audio on ANY audio source. When I play "stereo" music or play any source like Windows sounds that is stereo, I get sound from all 5.1 speakers: Left, Center, Right, Rear Left, Rear Right, and Sub. When I play games or watch movies that have actual 5.1, I don't load Equalizer APO, and so it falls back to native, regular 5.1 so that it doesn't interfere with the way it's supposed to sound.

I did EXTENSIVE research, and I'm using it right now as we speak. My main stereo are the Yamaha HS8 + HS8S sub, which are my studio monitors for music production. My center and rear channels are regular hi-fi, booskhelf speakers driven with an old Onkyo TX-SR500. Needless to say, they work perfectly. I get 5.1 in any/everything I want, when I want.

This is going to take a bit of learning curve, but will get you where you need to be; guaranteed. The magic happens in the Commands section of Equalizer APO. Use this and tweak to your liking. It's my config for 5.1 sound; you will enter this in to the Commands which are processed before your equalizer configuration.

Stage: pre-mix
If: inputChannelCount >= 6
Copy: MUP=0.5*L+0.5*R
Copy: LMUP=0.5*L
Copy: RMUP=0.5*R
Copy: C=MUP+C
Copy: SUB=SUB
Copy: RL=LMUP+RL
Copy: RR=RMUP+RR
EndIf:
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tommyrick said:
Hello. I have 5 speakers and a subwoofer. 2 front, 2 rear, 1 central. Whenever I play anything it's always out of the 2 front speakers. I'm running Windows 7. I'm using Altec Lansing 5.1 surround sound speakers. how do I get the sound to play out of all 5 speakers and have some bass play too? I have to switch it to stereo to actually get a bass sound to the stuff I listen to. Thank you.
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enable 5.1 in your sound options and maybe start a thread of your own.
 
pendragon1 said:
enable 5.1 in your sound options and maybe start a thread of your own.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

tommyrick said:
Hello. I have 5 speakers and a subwoofer. 2 front, 2 rear, 1 central. Whenever I play anything it's always out of the 2 front speakers. I'm running Windows 7. I'm using Altec Lansing 5.1 surround sound speakers. how do I get the sound to play out of all 5 speakers and have some bass play too? I have to switch it to stereo to actually get a bass sound to the stuff I listen to. Thank you.
Click to expand...
Or, you can simply read my response, which tells you exactly what you need to do.
 
jyi786, ok im back! Told you it was on my to-do list, just took a while

In my Windows Sound settings, Speaker Setup, I set my Speakers to 5.1

In Equalizor - Configurator, I select 'Speakers - Realtek'

In "C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config\config.txt", i keep the default stuff and add in your text. Right now, it looks like this:
Preamp: -6 dB
Include: example.txt
GraphicEQ: 25 0; 40 0; 63 0; 100 0; 160 0; 250 0; 400 0; 630 0; 1000 0; 1600 0; 2500 0; 4000 0; 6300 0; 10000 0; 16000 0

Stage: pre-mix
If: inputChannelCount >= 6
Copy: MUP=0.5*L+0.5*R
Copy: LMUP=0.5*L
Copy: RMUP=0.5*R
Copy: C=MUP+C
Copy: SUB=SUB
Copy: RL=LMUP+RL
Copy: RR=RMUP+RR
EndIf:
Click to expand...

I start Equalizor - Configuration Editor, and I see the impact in the GUI of the config you gave me.

I start up Spotify, and I do not hear anything from my center channel. The speaker is plugged in, and the Logitech control panel has it at max volume.

What else do I need to do?
 

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oh shit I think I got it. I knew your config file looked too complex -- I'm a simple man, I just want center speaker copied.


Copy: L=0.25*R R=0.25*R C=0.25*R RL=R RR=R
Click to expand...

This youtube really helped too:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqwNxOJRNtI&ab_channel=InoaceStudio

Also, in my Logitech Z-5500 control panel, I had to physically switch from Stereo (X2) to 6 Ch Direct. Now this allows the center channel to be used. StereoX2 is 4.1, so the 5th speaker wasnt going to be used no matter what I did Windows side.

Because I sit right next to L, C, R, and RL and RR are like 8 feet away, I decreased the volume to 25% of the front 3 speakers. Now things are alot more balanced.

Not sure if this solves everything for all apps, but its getting better
 

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Yep, you got it! Way to go! And yes, glad you figured it out: you can't use stereo x2 because that's technically 4.1.

Good job!
 
Rev. Night said:
oh shit I think I got it. I knew your config file looked too complex -- I'm a simple man, I just want center speaker copied.




This youtube really helped too:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqwNxOJRNtI&ab_channel=InoaceStudio

Also, in my Logitech Z-5500 control panel, I had to physically switch from Stereo (X2) to 6 Ch Direct. Now this allows the center channel to be used. StereoX2 is 4.1, so the 5th speaker wasnt going to be used no matter what I did Windows side.

Because I sit right next to L, C, R, and RL and RR are like 8 feet away, I decreased the volume to 25% of the front 3 speakers. Now things are alot more balanced.

Not sure if this solves everything for all apps, but its getting better
Click to expand...

I think Stereo X2 just copies the Front L/R channels to the Rear L/R channels, so probably not what you wanted anyway.
 
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