Surround Sound Workings

[BobTheDog]

Alright, say I have a pile of speakers. I have a full surround sound setup on my mobo. I took some tiny front speakers from someone's old stereo and I use my big, bassy stereo as a pair of rear speakers. I have some more speakers.
The question I wonder is: What sort of audio goes through the front, center, and rear speakers? Can I stick any old speaker into my mobo's center jack and have it be worthwhile?

[Machine]

Hya Bob,

I've worked hard to set my surroundsound up in my computer room, I've mounted 4 speakers in each corner of the room, of the same size and same model. I use a Herculeas Gamesurround Muse XL, but I dont think that matters....

My sound card uses CMAUDIO thingy in directX and as far as I can see so does my mobo sound card, and my friends, and my little brothers. so surround sound *should* work.

The problem you'll find most of the time is the lack of support, or at least DECENT support in games. Fortunatly Unreal seems to work with my setup although it works WITHOUT having it turned on!? (Use hardware surround + EAX are OFF in my settings)

Once you think you've got it setup find a constant noise (like the machinery on theatre) and turn around slowly... the sound should move around u.

I recently aquired a game called 'Mafia' and the support for surroundsound was excellent, I don't know why (maybe it seperates the channels of audio more? !)

you MAY have a problem with your different size speakers also, but my advice would be to get it working before purchacing a set of 4 identical ones.

[Mr.K.]

Depends on the ouputs in your card. If it has front, center and rear (usually it'll have them all), stick a stereo setup to both front and rear and a single speaker to teh center one and it should work. Different speakers may make it a little dodgy if their internals are very different, because they won't give you the same output with the same input, but i don't think it'll be as bad as not worth trying.

Don't forget to go to Start menu->configuration->Control panel->sound devices
and then in the advanced button in the first tab, select surround speakers (the ones with 5 speakers, but not the 5.1 setup, as you don't have a subwoofer).

The most important thing you have to do is choosing a proper positioning for your speakers. Launch a game that supports surround sound half decently and that has a continual source of 3D sound (i used Max Payne with a police car siren, or Neverwinter nights and one of the fires by the temple). Move your screen and pay close attention to each of the speakers so you know which ones go to the left and right, and front and rear. Then put them in different places and distances until you are fine with them.

Usually the recommended setup is center speaker on top of your monitor, front ones to the sides, aimin slightly inwards, and the two rear ones behind you, not too far away, a little wider open than the front ones and turned inside so they aim to your ears. I also like putting them a little higher than the front ones, gives me a better feel. My room doesn't allow me to, but you may want to put all the speakers farther away and raise the overall volume, probably will give you better 3D positioning, but will piss your neighbours too. ^_^

[BobTheDog]

Well things seem to be okay but my main wonder was just what frequencies are outputted to each area? More bass to the center or the rear? Mid sounds to the center? Treble to the front?

Thanks for the help already.

[Mr.K.]

In normal surround each channel gets a full set of frequencies depending on the sound origin and plays them. In surround+subwoofer, the lower frequencies are redirected to the sub and the other ones to the right speakers.

Right?

[Scrawprin]

In a typical surround sound setup:

Front speakers (Left and Right) = ALL frequencies
Center front speaker = Mid & High range frequencies
Rear speakers (Left and Right) = Mid & High range frequencies

Depending on the equipment, the Low frequencies can all be passed to a seperate Subwoofer (as in a .1 system), or the Front speakers and Subwoofer can share the Low frequencies.

Again, a lot depends on the equipment and the options it gives.

[Mr.K.]

Anyways, your lowly manfool earsies cannot locate the low frequency sources. That's why you are advised to put the subwoofer in one corner of the room and not in front of you.

[Scrawprin]

You are correct, Mr. K. The reason for the corner (as most of you know) is because it helps reflect the sound out, and like he said, the human ear is not able to locate the source of low frequencies.

[BobTheDog]

In a typical surround sound setup:

Front speakers (Left and Right) = ALL frequencies
Center front speaker = Mid & High range frequencies
Rear speakers (Left and Right) = Mid & High range frequencies

Depending on the equipment, the Low frequencies can all be passed to a seperate Subwoofer (as in a .1 system), or the Front speakers and Subwoofer can share the Low frequencies.

Again, a lot depends on the equipment and the options it gives.

Alright, through some asking of unfriendly employees I found that that was true on older systems. However, Dolby Surround outputs the same thing to every speaker but the subwoofer. Thus, 5 identical speakers would be optimal.

[Scrawprin]

Alright, through some asking of unfriendly employees I found that that was true on older systems. However, Dolby Surround outputs the same thing to every speaker but the subwoofer. Thus, 5 identical speakers would be optimal.

My mistake. I stand corrected. Yes, you are correct if you are talking of a Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1/6.1 system, and yes, having five or six speakers of the same make plus a subwoofer helps to improve the sound quality and placement of those sounds.

[Machine]

Ok, moving away from the speaker aspect... to achieve dolby 5.1 surround, what sound card would you recommend? I just have a pezzy EAX one at the mo, but I hear that the Sound blaster auidoligy is a good card. anyone else got any suggestions?

[Mr.K.]

Depends on what do you want the card for. Music? Games? DVD playback?

For games, which is what i guess you are looking for, the best you can get is an Audigy (i have been told that the Audigy 2 plays music better than the regular Audigy, so that'd be a plus). Excellent sound placement and lots of effects and EAX1/2/3 support, as well as a Dolby decoder. The player or OEM versions aren't any expensive at all, maybe 70$ or so.

Then you have the speakers, which are a world on their own...

[BobTheDog]

I've found that the 5.1 C-Media onboard sound, found (for example) on an ASUS, produces great quality. I doubt I'll purchase any more actual sound cards.

[MrEricSir]

The onboard sounds is often fairly good. Depending on the exact chipset, some nForce2 mobos have Dolby sound that rivals that of the Audigy. Considering that most motherboards cost about the same as the Audigy, you'd might as well just get a whole new mobo!

[Machine]

Excellent, I have an onboard Soundcard, I might give it a try!

If thats no better than my current one I might get myself an Audioligy 2 as you suggested!

I want it primarly for games, tho I use my computer as a TV (TvCard), Stereo (Masses of MP3's) and a Video (DVD). So I guess i need an all rounder!