Need help with 5.1 output on Windows 7

Connor12123 · Feb 22, 2014

**Sorry about the length, I tend to be overly descriptive**
So I just set up my new computer but I cannot get programs to play audio in 5.1 surround sound, or even 5.1 fill for that matter. I have an ASUS Z87-A motherboard running the latest Realtek HD Audio Manager (6.0.1.7023) and I am trying to play sound through a new set of Logitech z506 5.1 surround sound speaker system. I have all settings in the Realtek audio manager, Windows system settings (I'm using Windows 7 64-bit Professional), iTunes (11.1.4.62), and Windows media center set to 5.1 surround sound (where possible) and the default optimal settings determined by Realtek (24Bits, 48 kHz) but neither WMC nor iTunes will play audio through the center or rear speakers (kind of).
I have done the speaker test in Realtek and Windows system settings and all the speakers + bass played the sound at full volume and clarity as expected, but when ever I try and play a song through WMC or iTunes, it mainly gets played through the front left/right and bass. I can hear the songs being faintly played through the rear speakers (at about a 1/10 of normal level in terms of volume, maybe even quieter, but it also has a significant amount of static noise that over powers the faint melody of the song). In the new Realtek manager I don't see an option anywhere for speaker fill which I hope will fix the problem if I can find it (because obviously speaker fill is all I'm looking for with playing music through the 5.1) but I have searched through every menu to no avail.
I have messed around with every option that seems like it might produce some sort of different output that I could then work toward fixing the problem from but nothing seems to change the way that songs play through the speakers. I have even tried the "Swap Center / Subwoofer Output" but that does nothing to change either speaker's output. I can get the rear speakers to work in full if I swap the stereo/rear jacks but then the front speakers don't work and I can't do anything to get the middle speaker to work outside the tests. I had the same problems with my last mobo (ASUS M4A79XTD) but I passed it off as just a failure from the old hardware but everything in this computer is brand new, like packages received over the last 4 days and set up this morning new. I cannot make any headway in solving this issue and every post I see has people offering up solutions that I have already tried. Can someone please help me fix this or at least explain why it will never work so I can stop wasting my time?

Full system specs:
CPU Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core
Motherboard Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133
Storage Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" SSD
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 4GB
Power Supply Rosewill 650W ATX12V / EPS12V
Speakers Logitech z506 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System
Audio Driver Realtek HD Audio Manager – 6.0.1.7203 – Directx11 – HD Audio – ALC892
OS Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit

Everything is wired correctly as per the instruction manual of the mobo. I've looked at the BIOS settings and there doesn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary there.

ssddx · Feb 22, 2014

music is stereo only sound so playing through the front speakers only and subwoofer is normal.

the only way to get stereo sound out of your rears would be as you said to set the speakers to fill. there IS a setting for it but what its called and where you find it varies by windows os.

you would need to change it back to what it was before when you are done though or then 5.1 surround wont work right.

if you played a movie right now 5.1 would probably work fine.

Connor12123 · Feb 22, 2014

I knew about the speaker fill option but I cannot find it anywhere. All of my options under Speakers>Properties>Enhancements are:
"Environment
Voice Cancellation
Pitch Shift
Equalizer
Swap Center /Subwoofer Speaker
Loudness Equalization
Bass Managment
Room Correction
DTS Connect"
Is it renamed like you said and is one of the above options? Because I don't see "speaker fill" in either the Windows system settings nor the Realtek HD Audio Manager.

ssddx · Feb 22, 2014

how about in your soundcard/onboard sound drivers/software. is there an option?

in one of those two places (sound properties or soundcard software) there should be an option for it if the speakers are set up as 5.1

sorry but i dont use computer speakers on my system anymore so i cant exactly give you a step by step like i would prefer. i have everything routed to a receiver and my home theater system so i do not get the same options as you do.

you dont have this either?

edit:

and just to be clear how are you hooked up?

via the three 3.5mm cables to the rear correct? (i remember you mentioning if you swap them it swaps sound)
and you have them plugged in correct? (you did say you got the sounds in test out of all 5)

Connor12123 · Feb 22, 2014

That is the Realtek format I am familiar with but this new version doesn't seem to have the speaker fill option. The new layout looks like this http

/bit.ly/1dhIiMo (except with the 5.1 obviously, I just can't find a picture with showing it and I don't know how to put a picture in my posts like you are doing) but it does still have the "Enable Bass Management" and "Swap Center / Subwoofer Output" check boxes set off from the rest except in my GUI they are alone, without the "speaker fill" check box. If you tell me how to post my own pictures in posts instead of links I can show you exactly what I am looking at. There is a group box named "Full-range Speakers" but the only check boxes in it are "Front left and right" and "Surround speakers" which are both checked.
And yes, I am hooked up with 3 3.5mm jacks. Green to green, black to black, and orange to orange. I have even tried swapping the black to the gray port on the off chance I misjudged the color originally but that didn't work either. When I mentioned swapping the cables I was talking about taking the stereo 3.5mm (green) jack and plugging it into the rear (black) socket on the bass box of the sound system itself. Also, this new layout has a picture of all the different plug-ins availible on my computer but only the ones that are currently plugged in are in full color. From right to left, plugged in or not, they read:
Orange (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out) - Plugged in
Blue (Line In) - Not plugged in
Black (Rear Speaker Out) - Plugged in
Green (Front Speaker Out) - Plugged in
Gray (Side Speaker Out) - Not plugged in
Pink (Mic In) - Not plugged in

Connor12123 · Feb 23, 2014

Also there is no "Help" menu for me to search where the "speaker fill" option might be and when I search on google, all I get is information about previous iterations over Realtek

ssddx · Feb 23, 2014

try enabling or disabling "DTS Connect"

I found another post with your same issue over at OCN http

/www.overclock.net/t/1235576/realtek-hd-audio-manager-missing-setting#post_16833916 which appears to have a similar issue (except they are trying to turn 2.1 sound into 5.1 which isnt going to happen) and they might have stumbled upon something similar to "speaker fill"

adding photos to the page is easy.
[ i m g ] put the full non shortened link in the middle [ / i m g ]
without spaces of course

Connor12123 · Feb 25, 2014

So I had tried playing around with the DTS settings and couldn't get it to work previously. I went back and messed around with it some more just now after reading this post (sorry for the delay but I've been quite busy lately) and for some reason it still wasn't working with the audio quality set to max (24bits 192kHz) so I set them below a threshold that I read on a different post. I can't remember exactly what it was that I read (and don't really have time to find it again) but some forum post I read made some mention of certain systems not being able to output across 5.1 (even in speaker fill) above 20bits 48kHz. I have no idea why that would be or if I am even remembering that correctly but I reset my audio settings to 16bit 48kHz in both iTunes and Realtek and the back speakers started working with DTS enabled and the new audio settings. After adjusting the volume levels of each speaker to my liking I went back and reset the audio quality to 24bit 192kHz and now all 5.1 works for iTunes. I don't know why this would have fixed it but I just figured I would add that in in case someone else happens across the same little hiccup. But yeah, using DTS did work, eventually. Thanks for the help, I hope other people can figure it out from this post.

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