Edifier E255

Dirkscooby

Dirkscooby

Dirkscooby

Associate
Joined
8 Jul 2005
Posts
1,064
I wonder if someone could help me. The issue Im having with these speakers is the centre speaker isn't as clear as the others. When I do a surround sound check, the speaker is muddier than the others. They are optical only so Im using the optical out on a soundblaster zxr. I have tried different tos link cables,re installed the drivers. I have even tried different soundcards(soundblaster zx)The rear and sub are wireless. I have tried resyncing the speakers but it doesnt make a difference. I just thought I would try on here before I contact Edifier. I bought them from here at the end of December.
 
Forget about changing cables or resyncing. I think you need to look at whether the speaker kit is getting a bitstream DD/DTS signal from the software and sound card, or if it's getting stereo and then having to use some audio processing to turn stereo in to surround.
 
I think you are right. Just tried on board audio(and that's a straight pass through,no effects)It would only out put dts when the source file was dts. When using the Soundblaster ZXR it outputs DTS when I select it. It must try and force some sort of processing to make it surround. The centre speaker sounded much clearer when using analogue(thorught Logitech Z5500s). Shame these speakers are only optical,.They are great when playing games the sound stage is a lot more seperate compared to my old logitech z5500s. It's just in music where they don't sound as consistent.
 
Last edited:
I have to admit, I don't know the speakers, but I do know audio CODECS and processing algorithms reasonably well.

From looking at the Edifier instructions, your decoding choices are: MUSIC/MOVIE/EMUL/ MATRIX/ VIRT/ GAME. If Edifier are using the descriptions in the same way as Dolby then here's what should be happening to the sound

- DPL II MUSIC takes stereo audio and makes it in to a surround (The manual doesn't make any mention of the Dimension, Centre Width or Panorama settings AFAICT) Personally I think it's debatable whether MUSIC mode helps the sound, but each to their own
- MOVIE - this will decode any embedded Dolby Surround signal contained in stereo audio to make a centre channel and rear surround channel(s). It also works with plain stereo signals but the effect isn't quite so good but still decent for watching TV
- EMUL (Emulation) - this is old skool Dolby ProLogic. It decodes Dolby Surround-encoded material but doesn't do anything to make plain stereo in to surround
- MATRIX - works on mono sources
- VIRT (Virtual) - not really sure why this one is included. It's used to try to recreate some surround effect from a 2ch speaker system. It is actually useful for headphones, but I can't see an application where the system has 5 satellites unless it's likely that only the front speakers will be set-up.
- GAME - changes the bass management and better suits game play

All the above work on stereo signals or stereo with the hidden Dolby Surround encoded centre/surround channels. What's missing is an all-channel-stereo mode. It's not one of the Dolby modes, so that's probably why, but it's still a useful way to play music as all the satellites work at the same sound level; it's stereo spread across all speakers.



DD/DTS are the true discrete 5.1 sound format. This would be Bitstream audio as you'd get from a DVD film playing from a DVD/BD player or Playstation console. Make sure your sound card is set to pass Bitstream audio, and that you're playing a source that has a DD or DTS soundtrack selected.


Optical can carry Bitstream for 5.1 audio or PCM stereo (44.1kHz in your case with the Edifiers).
 
I’m using optical out from a Soundblaster zxr. The options are Dolby digital, Dts or Dts connect. I think the last one is like pro logic 2. I have it set to Dts. When I do any sound test the centre channel always sounds like there’s no treble(really muffled)In Battlefield 1 the female announcers voice sounds very dull, same assassins creed origins. Whenever there’ s a cut scene the characters voices sound muffled. It sounds really noticeable because the other speakers are so clear. I never had this when using the z550s through an analog connection. Even when setting the speakers up in windows for 5.1 sound the is a drop in quality when doing the sound test.
 
Even with the sound blasters sbx sound turned off(there version of virtual surround)the centre channel sounds bad. On the speakers it’s showing that it’s getting a Dts signal.
 
Last edited:
Looking at the manual in a bit more depth there's a few other things missing from this Edifier kit. There's no internal test tone AFAICT. That makes it harder to do any kind of troubleshooting. I don't want to wade in with "It's a dead tweeter", but without being able to run the speakers with a known source signal from something that doesn't involve several layers of hardware and software before the signal emerges then it's still a possibility that this is a source issue. I just can't rule it out.

You see, the fact that the sound system is indicating DTS means nothing more than it's getting a signal encoded in DTS in its final journey through the system. It doesn't automatically mean that the signal source (DVD, Blu-ray, games etc) is playing a DTS soundtrack, nor does it mean that the signal hasn't been changed in some way before emerging from the soundcard in DTS format. DTS could simply be the wrapper for what is a stereo source signal. Does that make sense? If that's the case then the centre channel might be perfectly fine. Or it could be a dead tweeter.

You've mentioned that you didn't have this problem with the Logitec z5500 kit. Was that connected exactly the same way, and with the soundcard set to DTS too? Is it possible to swap back to that speaker kit to test the centre? Or are you able to beg/borrow/steal a DVD or BD player and hook that up with a film. DD or DTS soundtrack makes no difference.

As it stands right now your choices are either to do some better troubleshooting there on-site, or pack up the Edifier kit and ship it back as potentially faulty - which it may well be - but you can't be 100% sure.
 
No the z500 were connected with green black yellow cables. I do have a PS4 I can hook up and try a movie. I do have BF1 on PS4 as well I could try that and see if the sound is the same as the PC version. Will try tomorrow. Thanks for the input. I will let you know how I get on.
 
Tried watching Star Wars The Force Awakens, using a PS4. Centre speaker still doesn’t sound right. Next thing I’m going to try is hook my old speakers up using optical and see how they sound.
 
Well, if you're sure that you've got all the settings right so that you're working with real multichannel audio, then the next thing to do is put an ear close to the tweeter on the sats and hear how that sounds when playing. Then do the same with the centre. If the tweeter is dead then you shouldn't hear any high frequency content. After that, it's a call to OC UK to see about the best path for support.
 
Bit of an update. I haven't used the speakers for a few days. Gone on my computer today tried the speakers,.still the same. Tried altering the volumes of each speaker tried again, and same. Lowered the sub volume to zero and turned the centre up to full, Same. Set volumes back to normal and decide to play BF1. Playing a round and noticed the all the centre channel sounds Voices etc sounded clear and crisp. Finish the round go to windows speaker setup try the chimes,.and low and behold the centre speakers now sounds as it should clear as all the other speakers. I tried Assassins creed origins(another game which showed up the poor quality of the centre speaker)and that sounds great as well characters voices all sound clear and crisp .The difference in sound quality from before is very noticeable. So touch wood, all is well. I don't know why its all of a sudden working. I have tried messing with the speaker volumes before and that had no effect, but I suppose it does show that something is wrong,.maybe a loose connection in the centre speaker(which is also the amp). I was thinking of contacting Edifier to see if they could offer any suggestions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom