Uneven volume levels

alex24 · 30 Dec 2008 at 19:22

I've noticed this in music in particular; the volume goes up and down of it's own accord (not visibly in software). This happened a few years ago with the same speakers (different machine and sound card) and now it's happening again. It's not by a major amount, but very noticable. It's almost like, when there's a much louder part of a song starting, the volume is reduced, then it recovers again very quickly.

I have Creative Inspire 5.1 (analogue) about 5 years old now.

The first time I took apart the volume and bass control 'pod' and blew a little dust out, upon putting it back together it seemed to work fine, and for a long time until now. Before that I used to tap the pod thing on the desk and it'd eventually stop. So i'm wondering if this is the problem again, and if there's a known fix/replacement part or i'll have to get a new set of speakers, because it's annoying! It doesn't happen all that often though. Is it possible to run the speakers without the pod? It controls volume and bass, but also acts as a switch to turn them on....

I haven't noticed it in games, only music, but it may well happen without me realising tbh, i'm usually too busy getting fragged to notice

Any suggestions? Spec is in sig if it matters.

EDIT: The bass unit says they're Inspire P580 and the creative site has a P5800 which look identical to mine.

james.miller · 30 Dec 2008 at 21:47

look at any equalisers you have switched on, either in the sound card settings or the music player you are using - turn them off. does that solve it?

londonbairn · 30 Dec 2008 at 22:13

Do you have Smart Volume Management enabled in the X-Fi Console Launcher?

alex24 · 30 Dec 2008 at 22:24

Thanks for the above, i've made sure SVM and equalisers are all off, didn't seem to make a difference. I'm thinking it's maybe a problem with the volume dial, perhaps a potentiometer in the control pod? It probably wouldn't be worth changing this I imagine.

AtaRo · 30 Dec 2008 at 23:26

this is a common problem for potentiometer based volume control especially if the part in question is a cheap one.The problem here is that the carbon film wears out and the only sure way of fixing it is replacing the offending potentiometer.replacing the said part is easy if you know how to solder sourcing the part is another matter though.Try to bring your control pod to a popular high street electronics store and ask if they can change the part for you.some of the guys there might be willing to do it for a small fee just buy the part from the shop if they happen to stock it.

alex24 · 31 Dec 2008 at 01:10

Had a feeling this is the problem. I could try having it apart again and seeing what the pot is like. I don't think my iron would be small enough to solder it, since these things are generally very small, and I don't rate my skills. I doubt there'd be anyone I know who wouldnt charge at least £20 to do the fix (if they have a part!) at which point i'd have to say I may aswell buy some new ones. Perhaps time to upgrade to a better 5.1.

Any 5.1 systems (under £90) come with good recommendation? It'd be paired with an X-Fi xtremegamer. I'm not sure if i'd use digital inputs/outputs (are these standard now?) but they could come in useful? I suppose that digital is better? How would I connect my sound card to that in that case?