I'm heaving some REAL problems..i bought yesterday x-fi extreme gamer & logitech z-5500 and i triple-cheked all the preferences on 5.1 on my software,OS, and whenever i play music(6ch direct effect) it hears normal through my front 3(center,left,right) but the back 2 are wery unclear and somewhat strange,silent and if i change the effect on control pod to sorround x2 i can normaly hear all of them except the central speaker aint working i tested all the speakers and they work correctly and when i test them the sound is clear and normal but durring playback i'm heaving heavy difficulties..please help me..i don't know what else to do..thank you in advance..btw don't mind bad english..from croatia..peace

DVD-Audio - 5.1 discrete
SACD - 5.1 discrete
Audio CD - 2 channel only
MP3 / WMA, etc. - 2 channel only

Discrete sounds are mastered at the studio giving the technicians ability to specify what sound each speaker will produce.

To play 2 channels signal to 5.1 channels you need to activate the Matrix from Z5500 by setting the Input: Direct 6 channels and Effects: PL2 Music or PL2 movie. Matrixing 5.1 only put delay sound to the rear channels, that why it's only called surround.

When playing a DVD-Audio or SACD disc, use P-DVD or similar player or Creative’s own DVD audio player to play. If WMP (Windows Media Player) is used, you need a plug-in to play that format. DVD-Audio and SACD is discrete 5.1 so sounds on all channels are clear than one produce by Matrix. This time you just set your Z5500 to direct in and no effects. However if digital connection is use it’s easier to just use the Z5500 decoder than creative. But on games is always better to use direct in with no effect.

Basically use PL2 music or PL2 movie if 5.1 is needed from 2 channel signals and no effect if the material you are listening to already have surround encoded to it. Just make sure your player is capable of decoding it.