Logitech X-540 - Speaker fade

[m0pelley99]

I'm about to go insane...

I have this set I bought here on the forums about 4 months back. I haven't changed any settings on my end since selling my old Edifier M3300 2.1 set, which worked flawlessly (and even sounded better).

These speakers are fading in and out, sort of like the volume is going up and down. It's only really noticeable while playing music and watching movies during lowish volumes. It happens when I plug my phone into it as well.

Is this a common problem with these speakers?? Is there any God forsaken fix? I've done everything I could possibly do to fix the problem... Made sure all connections are secure, wiggled all wires, changed boatloads of settings, turned Matrix on/off, turned bass up and down, plugged it STRAIGHT into the wall, tried only the front two speakers - nothing at all seems to be helping the problem.

I'm using back ports of my Gigabyte 870A-UD3. Realtek ALC889 drivers. I even tried uninstalling the conventional Realtek drivers and installed Gigabyte's drivers with no avail.

This is rotten. Can't play and enjoy my music anymore...

Please tell me it can be fixed!

TIA!

Edit: Just sent Logitech a ticket about the issue. Going to hope they honor their products enough to take this set back.

[Dragonstongue]

I noticed this ALOT more with the onboard sound then now using my ASUS Xonar DX, the fade was something atrocious, it doesnt help when the speakers are not a true 5.1 in my books(should use 5 independant plugs not 3)

Anyways, I believe it might have something to do with the Realtek itself, not directly the speakers(Realtek might be on pretty much every motherboard now, but they still suck, always have, always will, more freinds I have have issues with them then any user I know that uses a discrete sound card, or USB sound solution) Something you could try is to up the amount of channels it can feed to it concurrently, I have my X-540 set to use 8 channels. Also, this may help as well.

Right click on the little speaker icon on desktop(if using windows 7) go to the playback device being used(example speakers) hit the properties button of it, under advanced, set the default format as high as it will allow you, and uncheck the allow applications to take exlusive control and the one under it. This may help.

Another thing you could try, is to up the volume of the different speakers and turn down the other ones, in my case the front left/right and center are louder overall then the rear/sub, so I turned down the 3 and left rear left/right and sub turned up, it help the "fade" to be not nearly as noticeable, however, there are some games that I play(world of tanks) that the sounds directionality or panning whatever its called is SUPER noticeable, though I do not think its the speakers but the game and the way it handles audio to begin with.

[Dragonstongue]

O, I know having the channels set to 8 helps, Also, if you change any settings, relaunch the program to make it take effect. I have also discovered, running the speakers in 5.1 is fine as long as the per channel is maxed out, not to mention running the "matrix" mode tends to make it really quiet when it pans between each channel.

I know for my DX card, if I set it to use dolby anything, then the volume goes up/down as I change directions in most games, and have noticed this in music/movies as well, its very odd, not sure what you have turned on realtek wise, but make sure the driver is not set to upscale to 7.1 or whatever, as well as the levels for subwoofer and such are where they should be. Also any extra features like Dolby and such may not for whatever reason work correctly with these speakers, it may have somthing to do with it being fed from 3 jacks vs 5 jacks, I do not know.

[m0pelley99]

Originally Posted by Dragonstongue

I noticed this ALOT more with the onboard sound then now using my ASUS Xonar DX, the fade was something atrocious, it doesnt help when the speakers are not a true 5.1 in my books(should use 5 independant plugs not 3)

Anyways, I believe it might have something to do with the Realtek itself, not directly the speakers(Realtek might be on pretty much every motherboard now, but they still suck, always have, always will, more freinds I have have issues with them then any user I know that uses a discrete sound card, or USB sound solution) Something you could try is to up the amount of channels it can feed to it concurrently, I have my X-540 set to use 8 channels. Also, this may help as well.

Right click on the little speaker icon on desktop(if using windows 7) go to the playback device being used(example speakers) hit the properties button of it, under advanced, set the default format as high as it will allow you, and uncheck the allow applications to take exlusive control and the one under it. This may help.

Another thing you could try, is to up the volume of the different speakers and turn down the other ones, in my case the front left/right and center are louder overall then the rear/sub, so I turned down the 3 and left rear left/right and sub turned up, it help the "fade" to be not nearly as noticeable, however, there are some games that I play(world of tanks) that the sounds directionality or panning whatever its called is SUPER noticeable, though I do not think its the speakers but the game and the way it handles audio to begin with.

Hey Dragonstongue, thanks for the reply.

I have no option for 8-channel, only an option for Stereo, Quadraphonic, 5.1 Surround and 7.1 Surround. I have mine set to 5.1 Surround, with the rear speakers rerouted as side speakers, via Realtek HD Audio Manager.

I changed the default format as high as I could, and unchecked exclusive control. This seemed to fix the problem!!!

I never tried your last step, as the step before seems to have been the solution.

Edit: It sounds a lot clearer too. The bass is actually crisp and sound from the rear speakers is a much greater quality.

Could have sworn it happened while my phone was plugged into it the green plug...may be just my mind playing tricks, though.

Will update if it starts happening again, but so far it sounds great. Thank you. :)

[bigFOIG]

Hmmm, I have the same speakers and I don't have the problem at all.

[m0pelley99]

Originally Posted by bigFOIG

Hmmm, I have the same speakers and I don't have the problem at all.

Do you use the same audio chip? Realtek ALC889?

[bigFOIG]

No, I have an Asus Xonar DX. But back when I used onboard, I didn't have the problem either.

Now thinking about it, my friend has this exact same problem with onboard sound and 2.0 speakers. It bugs the hell out of me, but my friend never noticed nor does he care... Don't know if he has the ALC chip though.

[m0pelley99]

Originally Posted by bigFOIG

No, I have an Asus Xonar DX. But back when I used onboard, I didn't have the problem either.

Now thinking about it, my friend has this exact same problem with onboard sound and 2.0 speakers. It bugs the hell out of me, but my friend never noticed nor does he care... Don't know if he has the ALC chip though.

I see a lot of researching pointing at the Realtek chip as being the problem, as dragonstongue suggested... I'll probably have to invest in an audio card to remove the noise.

[bigFOIG]

That makes sense. When I was using onboard, it wasn't an ALC chip so your guess is probably right. I wouldn't use onboard sound ever nowadays anyway. :P

[mo' power]

I'm using the same speakers and I was having the same problem with the onboard audio. While gaming, volume would increase or decrease as I turned my head in FPS games. I switched to an Auzentech xplosion and it has been trouble free ever since.