5.1 speaker and stereo soiund

[Ma-Xell]

Hi!
I need help setting up my 5.1 surround sound system properly.
When I play full 5.1 audio, all speakers are used because there is an audio stream for every speaker.
But when I listen to music/ play stereo sound, only the FrontRight and FrontLeft speakers are used.
I have an option to enable DTS NEO PC which upmixes to 5.1, but it sounds horrible in case of music.
How do I set that when it plays stereo the RearLeft and RearRight speakers should play the same as FR & FL.
Like this only the center speaker is left out.

Thanks

[Blue_MiSfit]

I prefer this method as well.

You're looking for "Matrix" mode, or something similar. My old Logitech speakers had a "Matrix" button on the control pod which would do precisely this - duplicate the L+R channels and send it to the SL+SR channels.

Does your sound card, or speaker system offer any other upmixing options? On that note, is your 5.1 system a receiver + discrete speakers or is it an all-in-one multimedia system that plugs directly into the PC?

~MiSfit

[Ma-Xell]

I've got it.
I have a Genius 5.1 speaker set which has analog 5.1 input (3cables: FL & FR, RL & RR, C & S).
So basically the software that was provided with my sound card does the upmixing. When I
plug in the cables the software notices that a jack was plugged in and I have to tell it what I just plugged in.
This can be modified without pulling out the cables in a window. (http://img9.uploadhouse.com/fileuploads/3618/361805932f72095df3de1a58ccb85255529a9a0.jpg)
I just have to make the software assume that my rear speakers are front speakers aswell.
But this is quite uncomfortable because every time I watch/listen to something I have to check whether it is
stereo or 5.1 and change the speaker settings accordingly :( .
Anyway it works, If somebody knows another (easier or automated) way please let me know...

[Soulhunter]

Maybe ffdshow`s audio decoder does the trick? You can create two profiles, one for 5.1 which passes trough the 6 channels untouched, and one for stereo (using the mixer to put L -> L+SideL and R on R+SideR). You can also set auto-loading conditions for the profiles (one condition is the number of channels). So, you can make it load the 5.1 profile for multichannel input und the stereo profile for 2ch input, fully automated!

[Audionut]

Foobar will do it.

[Shinigami-Sama]

winamp has lots of 5.1 plugins