Mandrake 10.0 Official - Sound Card Advice

[Xyphus]

Greetings all...

 

I am currently running Mandrake 10.0 Official and have a sound card question. The machine I am using is dual-booting WindowsXP and Mandrake 10. The sound card I have in the box is a SoundBlaster Live! Value edition. Sound works flawlessly under Windows, and works pretty well under Linux. However, it seems that at defaults, even though I get sound from all speakers (Cambridge Soundworks 4.1 Surround) in Linux, the sound is a bit "tinny" sounding. If I try and adjust the bass even a hair the front speakers start "farting" and making a terrible noise. If I put the bass back to default everything sounds okay other than the lack of any bass response. Even if I try lowering volume (currently at about 74%) it makes no difference, as soon as I adjust bass the front speakers start "farting" again. The rear speakers sound fine though. If I turn off the front speakers and leave only the rear and the sub everything sounds great.

 

My main question is to wether there is a fix or solution to being able to adjust bass *and* keep the front speakers, or should I try a different sound card. In my spare parts bin I have an old SoundBlaster 128, and a Hercules GameTheatre XP. I had the GTXP in the box originally, but at the time, there really was not very good support for the card under Linux so I pulled it in favor of the SBLive.

 

Would I have better luck with one of the other sound cards, or should I just deal with "tinny" sound and keep the SBLive?

 

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

[axel_2078]

I have a similar problem. I've got a soundblaster Audigy card and I have a 4.1 setup as well. For some reason, sound only comes through the two front speakers. Adjusting the bass (what very little there is) only causes severe distortion.