# Help with only 2 speakers working on 5.1 setup ...sounblaster xfi



## DEFEATEST (Apr 3, 2016)

Hey guys a buddy of mine has a soundblaster xfi on a win 7 system. For some reason he can only get his 2 front speakers working with any media. In the creative software during the testing of speakers all 5.1 work but when it come to games or movies or any media he can only get the 2 front working and has tried everything. 
Any suggestions.?


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## Kursah (Apr 3, 2016)

Is he playing back 5.1 audio? If not he'll need to use Creative X-Fi console to expand the audio to the remaining 3 channels. If he has bass then he's really using 2.1 (the .1 is the subwoofer).

Its been a long time since I've used the Creative console, but if he's using DTS or anything like that, he should enable those features. I would verify the sources are 5.1 or if he wants to expand 2CH to 5.1?

Can you list what you guys have tried? "Tried everything" is pretty general and can lead to assumptions for things that might not have been tried.


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## FordGT90Concept (Apr 3, 2016)

Haven't used Creative in forever but here's some of what the feature is called:
-Speaker Fill
-Stereo Surround
-CMSS

Some let you select source (e.g. 2 channel or 5.1 channel) and output (5.1 channel).  If you're playing something that is stereo, you want the source set to 2 channel so it would mix it to 5.1.

By default, stereo media only gets played to FL/FR speakers.  You need to enable software wizardry to copy the FL channel to RL, FR channel to RR, and mix FL+FR to produce C.


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 3, 2016)

Kursah said:


> Is he playing back 5.1 audio? If not he'll need to use Creative X-Fi console to expand the audio to the remaining 3 channels. If he has bass then he's really using 2.1 (the .1 is the subwoofer).
> 
> Its been a long time since I've used the Creative console, but if he's using DTS or anything like that, he should enable those features. I would verify the sources are 5.1 or if he wants to expand 2CH to 5.1?
> 
> Can you list what you guys have tried? "Tried everything" is pretty general and can lead to assumptions for things that might not have been tried.



From what he's told me he's redone his machine with windows 7, all new drivers , everything up to date. Latest creative software.  It used to all work (windows 7 was previously installed).
He never had to do anything more than select 5.1 in creative console before. This is what he is telling me.


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## Mussels (Apr 3, 2016)

he's misunderstood how it works.
stereo audio (music) should only play as stereo.

he previously must have had something enabled to upmix the audio to fill the other speakers - which is not surround sound, and tends to upset audiophiles.


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 3, 2016)

Im going to get him to try a surround sound test video on youtube.


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## Mussels (Apr 3, 2016)

youtube is stereo only...


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## arbiter (Apr 3, 2016)

X-FI cards have CMSS-3d which will expand stereo audio to 5.1 or 7.1. I use it with mine on windows 10 and windows 7 when i had it.


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 3, 2016)

Mussels said:


> youtube is stereo only...


LOL I didnt know that. So all those surround sound tests on there are useless?


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## Mussels (Apr 3, 2016)

DEFEATEST said:


> LOL I didnt know that. So all those surround sound tests on there are useless?



completely, they're useless.

your best bet is to simply run the test in windows, if all 6 channels pop out correctly - so will 6 channel (5.1) audio. Then its up to him to figure out a method to upmix the audio he wants, if that remains his goal (to me 5.1 audio is about positional audio, not about adding more speakers)


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## FordGT90Concept (Apr 3, 2016)

Here's two examples of 24bit 88.2kHz 5.1 Surround FLAC:

Channel test:
http://download.linnrecords.com/test/flac/surround88.aspx

Chorus: For unto us a child is born track 13 from"Messiah (Dublin Version, 1742)" by Dunedin Consort:
http://download.linnrecords.com/test/flac/ForUntoUsSurround88.aspx

You can play FLAC via FooBar2000.  There are websites out there dedicated to 5.1 FLAC.


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## Ferrum Master (Apr 3, 2016)

Somehow I remember this creative bug... 

Read up closely, the creative panel does produce the sound testing on all channels, albeit other content doesn't. Just try creative defaults in their control manager. Then disable CMSS 3D crap and be sure game mode is enabled, re-check that creative panel and windows panel show 5.1 mode in both.


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 4, 2016)

I figured it out. Think there is a bug or it's because of win 7. The CMSS-3d was not working. I found the Daniel K custom drivers and bingo back in action! I remember running into this a long time ago because at some point I remember Daniel K drivers . Thank you all for your help. So glad to be a part of this community.


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