Subwoofer doesn't work on Desktop Applications?

[ProLeopard]

Hello everyone,

I have been searching everywhere to solve this problem that I have with my subwoofer.
It works perfectly on any browser based application (such as YouTube) as well as all of my games.
However, if I try to listen to music on programs like Windows Media Player, iTunes, Spotify, or anything else it doesn't work.

I have it plugged in through analog cables to a Sound Blaster Z.
Maybe it is a conflict with the built-in subwoofer on my speakers? They are Creative T40 Series II's and my subwoofer is an old Yamaha YST-SW015.

I have it set up as a 5.1 audio setup in Creative's software but I is a 2.1 setup because I do not have satellite speakers. They are not an integrated setup.

I would really like to solve this problem because it makes my music sound a lot better and I like to use my media keys to control music.
I appreciate everyone's help, and thank you very much in advance.

Proleopard

 

[ProLeopard]

Hey, this will be short as I'm heading out the door in a couple of minutes.

So, at 140Hz it's still low enough where you might be having some boundary/Allison effect issues. Just a quick test for you to try: Put a pillow between each speaker and the rear wall, and then to the sides if there is any nearby wall/surface. A thick or doubled over blanket will do too, just need to absorb sound. If it's the environment, this should have a large effect.

Alright, I tried the pillows in different places, which seemed to make it a bit better. I decided to move the speakers to a different room, and that seemed to completely eliminate the problem. Thank you so much for your help, but I'd like to ask for your assistance on one Last thing.
I have an A/V Receiver (Yamaha) connected to an old 6.1 surround setup. However, the centre speaker is not working and I can't get it to work. I tried the old battery trick with getting the copper wires and touching them to either sides of the battery, and that gets the sound out of the speaker. However, I can't get any sound from it after I have it connected to the receiver.
I also need a way to plug it into my PC properly, I only get sound from certain speakers. My sound card (Sound Blaster Z) has three ports, Front L/R, Rear L/R, and Center/Sub. I have 2 front speakers, 3 rear speakers, a center, and a sub. I don't know what to do for this.
They are all quite old but sound great and they are copper wires, no analog cables or anything. I also have an optical out, which I think I'm supposed to use. I'll buy the cable this weekend and see if that works.

Again, thank you for your continued support and I will make you best answer once we figure this out.
-ProLeopard

 

[ien2222]

Hmm...so it seems it was a room and placement issue then. If you want to keep it in that room, the best way to mitigate it is to have more "stuff" in the room. Sounds like it was rather sparse in there, so some fabric furniture, curtains/drapes, area rug if you have a hard surface for a floor, things that will absorb sound. Decorative acoustic panels would be a good way to go also.

What's the exact AVR model? It'll be faster for me to help if I can look through a manual.

 

[ProLeopard]

Hmm...so it seems it was a room and placement issue then. If you want to keep it in that room, the best way to mitigate it is to have more "stuff" in the room. Sounds like it was rather sparse in there, so some fabric furniture, curtains/drapes, area rug if you have a hard surface for a floor, things that will absorb sound. Decorative acoustic panels would be a good way to go also.

What's the exact AVR model? It'll be faster for me to help if I can look through a manual.

Ok don't worry about that, I connected it via the optical cable that I just got and it works perfectly.
My Sound Blaster Z only recognizes 5 speakers, but it is a 6.1 setup so I don't know why that happens. But I will start a new thread for that so thank you for all of your help with the Creative Speakers. I really appreciate it.

-ProLeopard

 

[ien2222]

Hey there, good to hear you got it to work.

6.1 was a rarely used format. As such it's not surprising that a sound card wouldn't actually support it, you'll have to just use 5.1. That shouldn't be any loss for you though as I mentioned few movies actually used it and as far as I know, no games use that format.

 

[ProLeopard]

Hey there, good to hear you got it to work.

6.1 was a rarely used format. As such it's not surprising that a sound card wouldn't actually support it, you'll have to just use 5.1. That shouldn't be any loss for you though as I mentioned few movies actually used it and as far as I know, no games use that format.

But the sound card should at least support 7.1?
If supports 7.1 then shouldn't it support 6.1?
I know it is rarely used and I would have either bought a 7.1 or 5.1 setup myself but this speaker system was actually my parents'.
5.1 does still sound amazing, but I'm kinda disappointed that I won't get my 6.1.
A new problem: YPAO, which is supposed to adjust speaker levels according to my position doesn't seem to work. The manuals say that you need to plug in an HDMI from the receiver to the TV but I don't even have an HDMI on my receiver.
Should I start a new thread for this?

-ProLeopard

 

[ien2222]

But the sound card should at least support 7.1?
If supports 7.1 then shouldn't it support 6.1?

Not necessarily, but I'm not that familiar with 6.1 encoding. Regardless, I forgot to mention in the last post that optical only supports lossy 5.1 anyways so it doesn't matter in this case. Personally I don't think you'll miss anything not having that sixth channel.

If you want to start a new thread for the YPAO that's fine, otherwise I'll continue on this one. I'll need to know the model of your Yamaha regardless though to see what's going on.

 

[ProLeopard]

But the sound card should at least support 7.1?
If supports 7.1 then shouldn't it support 6.1?

Not necessarily, but I'm not that familiar with 6.1 encoding. Regardless, I forgot to mention in the last post that optical only supports lossy 5.1 anyways so it doesn't matter in this case. Personally I don't think you'll miss anything not having that sixth channel.

If you want to start a new thread for the YPAO that's fine, otherwise I'll continue on this one. I'll need to know the model of your Yamaha regardless though to see what's going on.

Alright it will be convenient for me at least to continue on this one.
My Yamaha receiver is an RX-V1400.
Might I add that I have tried connecting it via a S-Video cable to my projector (Mitsubishi XL2U) and I thought the OSD would work. However, I didn't see anything coming from the projector.
It usually says no signal if nothing is connected, but it doesn't say that when I connect it to the receiver.
There also like a dozen S-Video ports on my receiver and I don't know which one to use or whether it matters.

 

[ien2222]

Hey,

You'll need to use the bottom s-video port where it say monitor out, the rest are inputs. If it still doesn't seem to work, you can try the RCA connection at the bottom too. It could be that the OSD is turned off, look on page 44 of your manual where it shows you how to switch between different OSD modes.

If that doesn't help, chances are the video out isn't working anymore.

 

[ProLeopard]

Hey,

You'll need to use the bottom s-video port where it say monitor out, the rest are inputs. If it still doesn't seem to work, you can try the RCA connection at the bottom too. It could be that the OSD is turned off, look on page 44 of your manual where it shows you how to switch between different OSD modes.

If that doesn't help, chances are the video out isn't working anymore.

I've been trying for hours to get some kind of output. I can' get anything and I'm forced to believe that its not working.
I found another feature that lets me manually adjust the levels of each speaker, which is actually what I wanted in the first place. Sometimes it works when I press it, sometimes it doesn't, which leads me to believe it is definitely possible that the video is not working.
Anyway, thank you for all your help, I really appreciate it. At least now I can use a great 5.1 setup and actually hear the rear speakers!

 

[ien2222]

Your welcome,

It's too bad the video is no longer working, but at least you can do some manual adjusting.

Have fun with your setup!