Need help setting up and configuring my new sound card/speakers.

Harb

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
155
I just got my Logitech z-5500 5.1 system and Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty sound card. It's a big step up from my old Creative Inspire 5200 system and onboard 5.1 audio. But with this big upgrade comes the realization that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to computer audio.

Can someone recomend settings and such that will help me get the most out of this new hardware? Right now all I've done is leave it in 'entertainment' mode and listen to music through iTunes. Right now I'm using the iTunes equilizer; should I turn that off and use the Creative one? I'm also running the 24-bit Crystalizer at the default setting of 50%. Bass and treble settings are at default, and volume is at 50% on the computer.

I'm running the speakers on the factory default settings, because I don't know what half of them do. I tried the Dolby PL2 Music setting, but I was not getting any sound through the rear sattelites when running the initial speaker test after I installed the X-Fi drivers.

Right now the setup 'works', but doesn't make me go 'wow' like I was hoping. I feel it's not at its full potential beacuse I have no idea what I'm doing :p The sub seems like it's not as loud as it should be. As it's 188 watts versus the 17 watts or however much my old one was, I expect it to be able to really cause some chaos, but I haven't hit any such point yet. Also, I hear a slight hissing noise when I listen to music. It's not really annoying or anything, and I don't notice it unless I really try to, but I didn't expect a system like this to have such a noise. How can I configure this thing so it really blows me away? (If that's possible).

Also, what would be the best location for the sub? Right now it's a few feet behind me just under my bed, with the main speaker facing to my right and the hole on the side facing me. I would have put it under my desk where my old sub was, but it'll be a pretty tight fit. I could also put it in an area of my desk just to my right where there is some removable shelving. Is having it under my bed a bad idea? It seems that between the carpet and all the cushy bed materials that the sound may get muffled.


Thanks!

*edit*

I just tried playing Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft on this new setup, and frankly, it sounds terrible. Sounds very muddy and unclear. Tried in both game and entertainment mode. I have to be doing something wrong.
 
For starters try turning of CMSS-3D and play your games again. Make sure you run game mode with EAX enabled and turn EAX on in all of your games then you will notice a difference.

Also to get EAX surround from your games make sure your running the analog connection (3 minijacks to 6 RCA plugs) not the digital connection.

To kill the hissing noise mute every connection your not using like mic, aux, etc. maybe those speakers have a hiss i dont know about but with my setup that does it for me.
 
I got the entertainment mode set pretty much perfectly; I absolutely love this system for music now. No more hissing and I got the speaker balance set so that everything sounds much more high quality. I'm going to get the games part hammered out now.
 
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