Hey guys,

Recently I bought a Chaintech AV710 for my new system as a replacement for my 3 year old SB Live! Value. I use Logitech Z560's which are 4.1, THX certified.

Using the most recent drivers (5.12.1.3645) I could find, dated 02.16.2005.

For some reason, when I'm in Audio Deck I can test each channel and they work fine, but music, system sounds, etc all just play through the front two speakers. This was not the case with my old soundcard, so I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong...

Even if it's just simply stereo through all 4 channels (L/R) it sounds a heck lot better than just 2 channels. I've read that the AV710 is supposed to be a great card for the money when it comes to music. I don't game much these days.

Could anyone give me some insight on what's wrong? I appreciate any help I can get. Thanks!

u have to get a dsp to expand it to the rear channels, if you dont have that yet

most music are stereo, so its front L/R

Chaintech is a great card for the money, but only for stereo use through the alternative output port (colored black and right next to the optical out) or the optical out. Other than that, it is no different from the usual $20 card and has dodgy drivers too!

It wouldn't be a surprise if someone recommended the card for you, but didn't mention or even know what makes the card worthwhile. I see a lot of this around non-audio forums.

What you could try is hook up the front channels of your speakers to the black output port next to the optical out and the rear channels to where they are now (orange port).

Then use the card in 4 channel mode, go to the tab called "Digital Out", enable the digital out and set it to "PCM only". Then go to the samplerate tab and check the box "automatic". These might be in different places with different drivers. Try 3.10a if you can't find the settings in newer drivers.

If you use Foobar2000 for playback, you can use a DSP which copies the front channel data to rear channels, giving you the simple surround.

Thanks guys for the feedback. What is a good DSP to use for duplicating channels? I use Winamp, but am wondering whether there is one that works universally in Windows XP?

I remember when I used my SB Live I could hear everything through all 4 speakers all the time, even Windows alerts, etc. Is there some DSP built into the Creative software that does that kind of channel duplicating?

Yes, the creative drivers duplicate channels.