Issues with 5.1 Surround Sound with Windows 10

Years ago, when I first started on the 5.1 saga, my first clue something was wrong was a very diminished signal coming from the surround speakers. This was back in Win8 or 8.1 days. I suspect you are experiencing what I experienced. My thought at the time was the channel amps were damaged. Accordingly I searched for a replacement amp for my Realistic 5.1 analog (RCA). During the voyage I discovered mmsys.cpl and then learned how to set 5.1/Stereo in Win10. I have no problem now with 5.1 in Win10 though limited experience with Apps and I suspect your problems are with the Apps,

Skype is an App and it does NOT handle 5.1. I can toggle Win10 back and forth between Stereo and 5.1, Skype malfunctions in 5.1 but works perfectly in Stereo.

My beef is with Skype, not Windows 10.

No stereo mix input.

So I just got this working with youtube videos from using Chrome and Firefox browsers. It now plays sound to all 5 of my speakers and subwoofer. The sound is pretty quiet from my surround speakers in comparison to my front but it is playing sound to all speakers.

Not sure if this will work for everyone but it worked for me.

Steps

1. right click the sound icon and select Open sound settings

2. select Manage sound devices under output

3. scroll down to input devices and select Stereo Mix and enable it

4. now go back to sound and ensure that under input and choose your input device

it says Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition Audio)

I thought enabling Stereo Mix fixed this for me, but I disabled it and I still get browser streamed audio output to all speakers so the previous steps don't look like they matter. I also don't have the audio enhancement speaker fill enabled either so... not sure why it works now. So, I am not sure how I got it to work now.

At this point I had to reset up the 5.1 surround sound on my computer, I did so in the following steps.

5. Now right click on the sound button again and select Sounds
6. Select playback tab, select Speakers, select Set Default and select Configure
7. Select 5.1 or 7.1 (whichever your speaker setup is) and click next.
8. Check that the speakers each play correctly when clicked(if not then you need to ensure speakers are plugged in correctly) then select next again.
9. For select full-range speakers I just left all speakers checked and clicked next, then click finish.
10. You should now be getting sound from all your speakers when streaming from your browser.

The sound may be pretty quiet from your surround speakers though. If anybody has thoughts on fixing that it could prove helpful.

There is a enhancement setting in speaker properties called speaker fill its function says that it "creates a virtual environment for playback of stereo audio on surround speaker systems" I enabled that but saw no increase in the surround speaker volume. But this could help getting sound to come out of all speakers for those that still get no sound after the steps I described here.

Thanks Man. This worked !!!!!!!!!!

I have a similar problem with Skype.  

Both Microsoft and  Realtek/Asus MB audio drivers work in 5.1 analog sound but Skype does not.  I can toggle back and forth between stereo and 5.1.  All the other apps (including Edge) seem to work fine when 5.1 is selected for output to speakers (RCA /analog) but Skype does not.  When I set the speakers to Stereo, Skype works as it should.

I should mention that I have not actually tested an audio out put from Edge or VLC or others that might ouptut 5.1 sound but the apps do a find job of putting out audio.  Skype's problem is quite apparent as there is no sound output, 0.0 channels.

You don't say what output you are using, digital or analog.  I am looking for another person who uses analog 5.1 sound who has the same problem with Skype.  

It took me awhile to find the mmsys.cpl in Windows 10 that is used to manage speakers.  So I was using Stereo probably since the upgrade from Win 8.1 to 10.  I found mmsys.cpl during my quest for 5.1 sound and tests of the drivers.