Hi all,

First my specs:
Logitech Z-5400 THX 5.1 Speakers
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Value 5.1 Sound Card
Windows Vista Home Premium

Problem:
When I upgraded to Vista I had some problems getting all 5 speakers to work. I can get 2 and the sub or 4 and the sub working at the same time, but never 5 and the sub like I could in XP. I went to the creative website looking for answers, and found this:

Features like CMSS 3D1, Bass Boost1, Graphics
Equalizer1 and Audio Cleanup will enhance your music experience greatly.
1 Supported in Windows XP only.

Is there anything I can do to fix this? Will buying a new creative card fix this problem? Or a different brand?

I need a fairly cheap alternative, and all the creative cards are around the AUD$100+ mark.

Cheers,
Sian

What exactly are you trying to do?
If you're trying to watch a movie in Dolby Dogital 5.1/DTS, I believe you have to be connected thru the SPDIF output on the sound card. I have the X-FI Fatality card, and the Z5500 THX Logitech Speakers.

My card has the following layout;
Coaxial Output (SPDIF)
Output 1 - Left Right
Output 2 - Center / SUB
Output 3 - Rear Left Right.

For movies I use the Coaxial out for the Dolby Digital 5.1 effect, however you have to use the proper DVD program to have this work in Vista (like PowerDVD) Windows media player, etc wont give you the 5.1 sound. It even lists so on the Creative Drivers...

For games I use the regular Outputs (1,2,3)...because most of them don't use Dolby Digital output and instead will have options within the game to set the appropiate amount of speakers/and send to the appropiate speakers as you move around.

The DVD movie software usually has an option to set it to SPDIF/Coaxial out. This is the only way I can get a true 5.1 output mode, using outputs 1,2,3 it would just "Upmix" the stereo channels to play the sound on all speakers without it being true dolby digital.

Mostly I'm just trying to listen to music EDIT: With itunes, I used to be able to do this with sound out of all 5 speakers + the sub. But even when watching dvds I dont get 5.1 - which program do you use? I had PowerDVD but it was very unstable.

I use PowerDVD for movies, the LCD on my 5500s displays "Dolby Digital" when the movie starts, that's how I know when it's fully working probably (with the SPDIF output). It's Version 7.2.

If you're just trying to listen to music on all channels or upmixed stereo to all speakers with a DVD. Do you have an option in the control panel CMSS3D under Audigy controls? That's the function that allows the surround to be upmixed I believe...

I had the Audigy2 before, I couldn't get 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, but I was still able to get 4 Channel Stereo Upmixed sound.

The problem I am having is caused by not being able to use the CMSS3D program, or most of the creative software for that matter.

I get 5 channels fine - 4 speakers + sub, but can never get 6 channels.

I think you're out of luck, I'm not aware of a way to get 6 channel sound out of it. Those cards are not fully vista compatible, and creative never really bothered to fix the issues. I think you would require an X-Fi series of card...

Yeh thats what I was thinking, thanks for the help. Do you know of any other brands of cards, or what the cheapest creative card is that would meet my needs?