To the sound guru's

KnightStalker · 2 Jun 2006 at 09:30

Im not sure if this is in the right place, but for now this seems ok

Ok, basically ive got a problem which has taken me £400 to work out :eek:

, long story short, using an audigy 2zs connected to my Hi-Fi via a phono to 3.5mm, now for the last 3 months ive noticed more sound on the right speakers than the left, so i went and bought a new Hi-Fi thinking it was that, and it turns out it wasnt that at all, it seems to be my Soundcard or computer giving the right side speakers more than the left...

Now ive messed with everything i know of, but i cant seem to work out whats the problem, so if anyone has any ideas please share, as i dont want to make another big £££ mistake..

tom_nieto · 2 Jun 2006 at 12:20

Have you checked the balance control on your PC and on your amp? Have you also checked all the connections twice over? If looking at these doesn't solve it, it might be that one of your speaker drivers is broken, but I doubt it. It seems silly, but loads and loads of people miss the simplest things.

fish99 · 2 Jun 2006 at 14:32

I get the same thing with both my sets of speakers, but the other way round, slightly stronger sound from the left side. I think it could be one of my ears is more sensitive.

tom_nieto · 2 Jun 2006 at 15:06

It could also be your seating position or the speaker position.

fini · 2 Jun 2006 at 15:15

whatever the problem is just tweak the balance control - even if you end up moving it off centre - as long as it sounds right.

fini

KnightStalker · 2 Jun 2006 at 15:52

right so there really is no problem that can be solved quickly, its just a case of balancing things out, which seems rather odd, as if you move the sound say to the left, it will take it away from the right and so on, but ill have a play with it all and see if i can get this to work, as i dont want to have had spent £400 on this hi-fi when the old one was ok :eek:

fini · 2 Jun 2006 at 15:54

I'm sure you've already done so, but make sure the 3.5mm cables in properly.

fini

KnightStalker · 2 Jun 2006 at 15:58

oh yea, ive bought 4 yes 4 different cables just incase it was those, and they are all in correctly....i think ive got some serious tweaking to do, this isnt going to be easy.

OutOfFaze · 2 Jun 2006 at 18:29

Make sure your speakers are positioned correctly.

The speakers and your head should form an exact equilateral triangle.

fish99 · 2 Jun 2006 at 19:41

Do you get the same inequality with headphones plugged into the same 3.5mm socket?

KnightStalker · 3 Jun 2006 at 10:43

tryed that also, one side has more umphh, like you can hear everything clearly and the other side is kinda dull and flat, i know its not my headphones, i know its not my new Hi-Fi, so its my soundcard...ok more expense to fork out for now...

Ok a new question, suggest a soundcard for me, using an audigy 2 ZS at present....so audigy 4 any good? or Xi-Fi? or something different.

tom_nieto · 3 Jun 2006 at 11:03

fish99 said:
Do you get the same inequality with headphones plugged into the same 3.5mm socket?

Good plan, definitely try this.

EDIT: double check the windows balance control, or the balance control on your media player.

KnightStalker · 3 Jun 2006 at 11:08

everything is default centre, nothing has been moved and all are indicating centre, even after moving them left to right and back to centre same problem.

so any suggestions on a new soundcard anyone?

k3v · 3 Jun 2006 at 11:27

have you tried putting the headphones on backwards I.e. left to right an right to left, just to rule out your ears.
can't you just tweak the balance to make it sound right? you say one side sounds like it has more umph, mine at home sounds better at higher volumes so is one side sounding better purely because its louder?

KnightStalker · 3 Jun 2006 at 11:34

its not only me that thinks this, my girlfirend and a few of my friends can tell the difference, it sounds unequal, turning it up only makes it more noticable, i tryed the headphones again just a minute ago and tryed them backwards and yes one side is lower on the bands if you know what i mean

like one side you can hear all the other bits of the music and film in the background while the other side its all dull and flat, so im guessing its my soundcard, ive had it for a while so maybe its just time for a new one...

Any suggestions?

OutOfFaze · 3 Jun 2006 at 16:30

Do you have an old soundcard that you can test? It does sound like one of the channels is faulty.

fish99 · 3 Jun 2006 at 16:32

One last thing you could try before splashing out on a new soundcard - uninstall and reinstall all the soundcard software and drivers, just on the off chance something has gone wrong somewhere, some setting, registry entry or file. Maybe even try the soundcard in another PCI slot at the same time - not saying your motherboard could be bust, but another PCI slot forces the PC to redetect the soundcard and it'll be assigned a different IRQ, DMA, address etc. You never know

Does sound like the soundcard might be borked though. If you need a new soundcard X-Fi XtremeMusic is a good gaming card, as is the Audigy 4. Could just pick up a replacement Audigy 2 ZS off ebay for £20 or so.

KnightStalker · 3 Jun 2006 at 21:17

ok ive spent the last few hours trying things out and what not......i formatted my pc just on the off chance ive changed something that i didnt know off, that didnt work

Then i uninstalled the blaster and reinstalled, still the same difference

Then installed the karajin module (realtek thing) and now it SEEMS to be okish....

BUT!!, heres the thing, if you change the balance on the computer to left to right, there is a very noticable change between what Side gets the most low, mid, high ranges, which makes the other speaker in general sound flat...

bring it back to centre and all seems fine as it should be, also sometimes when playing music, One speaker plays different things to the other side, so one side will get vocals, the other background music and so on, but i think thats normal.

Basically im all worried about breaking this £400 hi-fi.....i really hope that im making sense to someone, its not the easiest of things to describe.

Townlea · 3 Jun 2006 at 21:24

I'm having the exact same problem and I also have a Audigy 2.. This card always seems to stop working all of a sudden or not working correctly.

However it seems the sound is coming more from the left rather than the right. I suggest you put an order in for a new sound card.

OT: BTW Knight hope your ok, I havent spoken to you for a while