Playing stereo sound on 5.1 speakers

[unpretty]

Hi all!

<i>I'm not sure whether this is right forum for this question, but I'll ask anyway.</i>

Do you know of any good software that lets me play stereo, for example an MP3, on all of my 5.1 speakers?

I managed to redirect certain low frequencies (under 250Hz, I think) to the woofer, but my center and rears are still silent.

I'm thinking about something that'd let me clone the front (left/right) channel output to the rear ones, and somehow calculate what the center should play. I'm quite sure that's possible, I just don't know what SW should I use.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by unpretty on 10/09/04 10:19 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[the_Prisoner]

The quick answer is yes and no. To get a true 5.1 you need the source material to be recorded in a 5.1 discreet 5.1 channels. There are some audio out there that is recorded in 5.1

You can simulate 5.1 but it wont be true 5.1 because it wasnt recorded that way.

For my listening, music wise, I wouldnt want my stereo simulated into a 5.1 sound. 2 mains and one subwoofer or 2 subs in my case, is good. In the subs case, you are eliminating the need for your main speakers to reproduce the low base sound which makes the bass sound cleaner/tighter and lets the mains handle the middle and high freqs.

There are sound processors out there that will simulate multichannel. Some come on receivers, pre-amps, intergrated amps and stand alone sound processors.

Now the question is are you using computer speaks, or using a soundcard out to a home stereo?

For the subwoofer, I think 250 is fine to roll off the output but lower might be better. Depends on your speakers. On a decent home stereo It might be different.

I use good quality HiFi non computer speakers for my computer sound, but I have alot of audio equipment. Extra amps, speakers and etc.

So to answer your question I think you can but it might depend on the soundcard or the home stereo processor.

the Prisoner


I'm not a number, I'm a free man!

 

[unpretty]

Sorry, I should've made myself clear.

I have Genius SW 5.1 HT speakers connected to a AC-97 Realtek soundcard on Gigabyte 7N400 Pro 2 motherboard. The software that came with my motherboard is called nVidia surround mixer, and lets me set the woofer redirect frequency (It's called LFE, and works up to 500Hz, I believe). I might change it to 200Hz, that's still experimental value.

And I'm well aware that a stereo MP3 will not give me a true surround sound, but I believe it'd sound a bit better if the sound was coming from all of the speakers. At least I'd like to give it a try, and see if I like it more or less than a 2.1.

I think I've seen it work great on some Creative software that comes with their cards, but since I don't have a SB, I'll have to look for something else.

Thanks

 

[thaloc]

You can try <A HREF="http://matrix-mixer.sourceforge.net" target="_new">Matrix Mixer</A> to upmix any stereo audio to anything you want, it is very configurable. Bad thing is, it works only as a Direct Show filter, so for example WinAmp is unable to use it. I use <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/" target="_new">Media Player Classic</A> as a Direct Show player.

 

[unpretty]

Okay, thanks.

I've downloaded that thing, and will play with it later.

Isn't there anything working in a different (lower?) level, so that I wouldn't have to sacrifice winamp?

 

[the_Prisoner]

No clue on the speakers you are using. But I checked out the link. I have a big problem when companies advertise PMPO!!<A HREF="http://www.geniusnet.com.tw/product/product.asp?pdtno=162" target="_new">http://www.geniusnet.com.tw/product/product.asp?pdtno=162</A>

Saying that, they dont look to bad. Hard to say without knowing who made the drivers and etc. And how much you paid for them. 4" fullrange drivers for mains is good and for center since I assume they will be near you. 6.5" woofer is good for a computer sub. 3" rears should be fine.

Depending how much you paid they are probably very good for a PC system, PC HT, PC music PC games. I wouldnt use them in a HT setup, meaning home HT not PC HT. But they cant be worse then Bose.

I guess the prefence on true stereo and simulated it up to you, but why not, you have the speakers.

Good idea to experiment on where to roll off the subwoofer.
It will of course depend on where you place the sub, and the drivers. Corners are a good idea. Under your computer desk is fine for most applications.

MP3s are somewhat low quailty sound, but I stream music and use them to. I prefer LPs, CDs, reel to reel for quailty but hey if you want to just listen like to rock, MP3s are fine.

Happy listening,

the Prisoner




I'm not a number, I'm a free man!

 

[unpretty]

Yeah, advertising PMPO values sucks hard, but their RMS ain't that bad. (45W for the woofer, 15W for the Sats) I did a lot of research before buying them, (for about $100 equivalent) and I'm very satisfied. They have better sound than, for example, competition from Logitech, partially because they're made of wood and have tweeters in the fronts and center.

The woofer is occupying a very sweet spot in the corner, and I have to decrease it's volume, especially in the evenings. (hateful neighbours. )

Anyway, I found a plugin for winamp that should technically allow me to send outputs to the rears and center, so I'll try it out tomorrow.

And yeah, MP3 quality is eternal problem, especially when I download my music. Plus, those 50GB of MP3s I have on my HDD would be about 300GB with lossless compression.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by unpretty on 10/10/04 04:18 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[the_Prisoner]

They dont have tweeters. They have full range drivers. Which isnt a bad thing. It can be bad but it depends.

So how do they sound? You cant get them in the USA but I think they would be about 150.USD which isnt bad.

Parts wise I could build them for less then 10-20 USD easy.
With cabinets a little more. Like most cheap speakers, the parts are really cheap to buy. But you can make decent speakers with cheap parts.

For the cost and if they sound good, that is what is important. They had good reviews.

Of course my speakers are overkill for my computer. An old pair of JBL 4311s that I got for a highschool graduation present 25 years ago.

the Prisoner

I'm not a number, I'm a free man!

 

[unpretty]

Are you sure they don't have tweeters? Look at the photo <A HREF="http://www.svethardware.cz/photo_doc-C4577E93DBE1D75AC1256EE6006496EC.html" target="_new">here</A>, what's that lower thing? (I call it a tweeter. )

Well, they're great. They play all sound ranges well and crystal clear, the only thing I don't like about them is that they produce a low, quiet buzzing sound when on. It's coming from the woofer, and you can't hear it at all while they're playing something, but it's a bother when you go to bed and forgot to turn them off. But that's a kind of thing I'm willing to forgive. Other than that, it's just their weight. (the package is 22 kilos) But that's a good thing, too.

And oh-my-god those JBLs are cool.

 

[RichPLS]

Man, that's just a speaker, just happens to play primarly the higher frequency sounds, that all...

_____________________________________________
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[the_Prisoner]

Looks like a tweeter to me. On their website they didnt say they had tweets. Thx for the pic.

the Prisoner

I'm not a number, I'm a free man!