I recently Got some 2.1 speakers from Esquire (The Divoom Morro 221) 2x 5 watts for the satellites and 15 watts for the sub. It took me a while to get them working properly, the right satellite didn't want to produce any sound, but some twisting of the plug got it right :/ but still they won't play a sound when I test the right and sub in the realtek HD sound manager or the windows sound options. Now I notice they don't seem to play all the audio channels in a song, for example on Pink Floyed's Wish You Where Here the speakers are complete silent in the start (with the soft guitar in the background) Where as my headphones play it perfectly.
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How to get all channels through 2.1 speakers
KalMaverick
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Are you sure the speakers are plugged in the right hole?
Also sure the sound settings are set to 2.1? Sounds like it's in mono instead of stereo.
Also sure the sound settings are set to 2.1? Sounds like it's in mono instead of stereo.
MickeyD
RIP
Or it's set for 5.1 ....
How many sockets are there in the sound card, and what colours are they? Many sound cards will let you assign different outputs to different sockets. Normally, the stereo pair would go into the green socket via the subwoofer and this would in turn power the stereo pair.
Have you tested the speakers on another PC with a simpler setup? Is there a 4 pin miniature DIN plug between the sub and the stereo pair? Make sure you haven't bent any pins (I didn't like the work "twisting")
Have you tested the speakers on another PC with a simpler setup? Is there a 4 pin miniature DIN plug between the sub and the stereo pair? Make sure you haven't bent any pins (I didn't like the work "twisting")
Yes, the green one, have tried, stereo, 5.1 and 2.1 no change,
its an onboard, so green, pink and blue, I remember my old pc could assign different outputs but this one can't. and besides the sub plugs directly into the green, then the satellites plug into the sub which powers the satellites.
It worked fine on my laptop, I will test the mentioned song now. All plugs are are the 3.5mm Audio jacks.
MickeyD
RIP
@WhiteOut: check every single audio setting in your Control Panel, not just the RealTek one.
I did, there is no change, I also updated my sound drivers when I got the speakers.
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
Shouldn't be too difficult to work this one out.
First, to clear up some confusion. You've got a 2.1 system with 3 physical speakers/sub. All of these are fed via the audio cable going from the sub to the green port on the audio card. This cable can carry only 2 channels (left & right). Two channels, three speakers. This means that the electronics in the sub box split off the low frequencies from the left & right and uses that as the sub channel. The net effect of this is that all the software settings must be set to stereo, not 2.1.
This makes things easier to test though.
Set everything to stereo & turn down the vol. Put a headphone into the green port and slowly turn up the vol. Make sure left & right work as expected. I'm thinking it will be 100%. If yes then it is def not a software/PC issue. You've already tested the sound sys on the laptop.
That leaves the plug itself as the most likely cause. If a stereo 3.5 mm jack isn't pushed in completely it produces *exactly* this effect....only left connects. The other possibility is poor manufacturing: Technically all 3.5mm plug and ports should be compatible....in practice the manufacturing tolerances sometimes suck...and then one channel does not connect.
The last possibility is that there is actual hardware damage....flakey connector or cable. This can really screw one over with the troubleshooting. e.g. While connecting it to the laptop, you wiggled the cables/connectors in a manner that causes it to work despite flakey cable/connecter. These audio cable can actually break on the inside & then the angle in which the cable is placed decides whether it works in that moment. :/
I'm assuming when you say "twisting of the plug" you mean the sub cable plugged into the snd card?
First, to clear up some confusion. You've got a 2.1 system with 3 physical speakers/sub. All of these are fed via the audio cable going from the sub to the green port on the audio card. This cable can carry only 2 channels (left & right). Two channels, three speakers. This means that the electronics in the sub box split off the low frequencies from the left & right and uses that as the sub channel. The net effect of this is that all the software settings must be set to stereo, not 2.1.
This makes things easier to test though.
Was this done using the green port too? Or USB? Or front panel?
Set everything to stereo & turn down the vol. Put a headphone into the green port and slowly turn up the vol. Make sure left & right work as expected. I'm thinking it will be 100%. If yes then it is def not a software/PC issue. You've already tested the sound sys on the laptop.
That leaves the plug itself as the most likely cause. If a stereo 3.5 mm jack isn't pushed in completely it produces *exactly* this effect....only left connects. The other possibility is poor manufacturing: Technically all 3.5mm plug and ports should be compatible....in practice the manufacturing tolerances sometimes suck...and then one channel does not connect.
The last possibility is that there is actual hardware damage....flakey connector or cable. This can really screw one over with the troubleshooting. e.g. While connecting it to the laptop, you wiggled the cables/connectors in a manner that causes it to work despite flakey cable/connecter. These audio cable can actually break on the inside & then the angle in which the cable is placed decides whether it works in that moment. :/
I'm assuming when you say "twisting of the plug" you mean the sub cable plugged into the snd card?
100%
Tested them on all, seem the rear Audio plug has a problem, I have the speaker set plugged in the front audio port and its perfect (surprisingly, they gave me problems before.) I think I will invest in a cheap sound card just to make life easier though.
nope, between the sub and the satellites.
Thanks for all your help guys!
KalMaverick
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Really?
They should say 2/2.1 Speakers or just stereo. Never seen a stereo option and then 2.1 channel separately. I don't even have a stereo option in my settings.
So obviously it would depend what options there are, so you very well might have to select 2.1
HavocXphere
Honorary Master
I'd consider returning it. Depends on the connections though & so I can't really judge.
Yes. It is specific to this particular setup though so its not a universal guideline for deciding between stereo/2.1/whatever.
I'm not convinced you understood what I'm saying. What is the sound card supposed to do with the third channel (the .1 part) if you've only go 2 channels worth of cables going into the card?
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KalMaverick
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I might not be understanding you correctly.
For example I have a Sound Blaster sound card and 2.1 speakers.
My speaker setting options are:
Headphones
2/2.1 Speakers
4/4.1 Speakers
5.1 Speakers
6.1 Speakers
7.1 Speakers
From what I understand you said in the quoted post all software settings must be set to stereo, as you can see I don't even have a stereo option. I have the 2/2.1 Speakers option which is stereo but so are headphones.
So what I meant is it would depend on what your software options are. If you tell someone they have a 2.1 system they must select stereo and not 2.1. It doesn't seem right.
Kal if the 2.1 speakers are cheapies then they take a stereo feed and filter it between all the speakers, if it is a decent make then it would require 2 jacks, Left+Right and subwoofer+center (usually combined in 3.1)
KalMaverick
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You're not getting what I said.
Look at my above post again, tell me what option I would set my cheapie 2.1 speakers on and non-cheapie 2.1 speakers on.
Looks like it would be 2/2.1 (stereo/2.1) for both.
KalMaverick
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See my confusion?
HavocXphere
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Yes. I'll have one last go at explaining this.
You get 3 versions of this business:
1) What physically happens with the audio channels
2a) What the marketing guys wrote on the box, meaning number of channels (2 channels)
2b) What the marketing guys wrote on the box, meaning number of speakers (3 speakers)
3a) What the developers choose when labeling options, meaning number of channels (2 channels)
3b) What the developers choose when labeling options, meaning number of speakers (3 speakers)
I talked consistently in terms of 1). You're using a mixture of all 5 & hence confusion.
For a system like Tpex's Marketing generally picks 2b. The developers should pick 3a, because that is what the sound card physically produces (Remember they don't know what kind of system will be attached). However, they know people can't wrap their heads around the splitting issue and will consequently look for a 2.1 for their "2.1 system", despite actually needing stereo. The easiest way around this is to just combine the two even though technically that means one is mislabeled.
i.e. In your "2/2.1" option the first part refers to channels (2), the second part refers to the system the developers guessed confused customers would be attaching (3 speakers). This guess works out OK since afaik nobody really sells 2.1 systems wired with 2 cables.
I wouldn't be surprised if in Tpex's setup the stereo and 2.1 setting does exactly the same btw. The one label caters for people aware of the splitting, the other for the people who don't think beyond what it says on the box. End effect is the same - it works. I told him to select stereo because I know that definitely will work. With 2.1 its a case of me having to call the developers bluff correctly - and risking that his developers actually do follow the rules and did cater for this mythical 2.1 system with 2 cables in which case he'd get thin bass and be pissed at me.