Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card: no rear speaker sound

Feb 3, 2004 2:28PM PST

Why don't I have sound in my rear two speakers when I play mp3's?

All appears to work well other wise. The test on the Audigy control panel works. The voice says: "Front left. Front right. Rear right. Rear left."

The setting is correct on the panel: 4/4.1 speakers.

I get sound in the rear speakers during video games. Birds chirping, guns, etc...

I used two different players wmp and Music Match just to see if the problem was with the player, but neither let the rear speakers work.

I sometimes swap cards with an old Game Theater XP and that card plays sound out the back with mp3's.

Anyone have an idea why I have no sound in my rear speakers when I play mp3's using my SB Audigy 2 ZS?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card: no rear speaker sound
Feb 3, 2004 9:23PM PST

In short, most MP3's are STEREO. The entire idea of MP3 is to shrink the filesize and there is no reason carry more channels than 99.99% of the people will have.

The reason the other setup may emit sound is that it's setup to just copy stereo out that back channels.

Your SKILL in finding all the settings may be needed, but I do not see any flaw in hardware or software here.

Bob

- Collapse -
Absence of sofware problem.
Feb 4, 2004 2:09AM PST

OK here's what I had to do. I called Creative tech support, and they told me to install their Creative Media Source software. This was an option I unchecked during the install of the card. I didn't think I would need this installed to get sound out of my rear speakers when I play mp3's.

In the CMS player or organizer click the EAX console tab. This is to the right of the EAX enable tab. Then click the CMSS 3d tab. Then click the "Enable CMSS 3D" box. Then click the "CMSS 2" circle.

That's it. It seems like a roundabout way to get sound out of the rear speakers during mp3 play. I didn't have this problem with the Game Theater XP. (The Game Theater XP had gaming sound problems)

Thanks for the reply, Bob.