How to force 5.1 through 2.1 speakers?

Hi,
This is a bit of a head scratcher for me, as searching for the necessary terms just leads to lots of options that are, at best, the reverse of what I’m looking for, or have nothing to do with it whatsoever.

What I’m trying to figure out is how to force 5.1/6.1/7.1 audio through 2.1 speakers.

Existing, stock audio software seems to handle everything quite well, except for the center channel, which gets lost somewhere along the line. Probably, many of you have noticed how on a movie or TV show, the dialog will be so quiet you can barely hear it, while a scene’s ambience and background music come through way too loud.

I know a lot of that has to do with the sound mixing in Hollywood, but I also know for sure that not all 5.1 channels are being squeezed out of my 2.1 speakers. And it seems to just be the center channel that’s being dropped. FR RR are being routed through the right speaker, and likewise for left. Why isn’t the center channel coming out through one or the other or both?

How can I get this to happen?

inxi output:

$ inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host --width
System:
  Kernel: 5.9.16-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.9-x86_64
    root=UUID=e5c17dd5-7570-4969-bf7b-5acdbb61e285 ro quiet apparmor=1
    security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: GNOME v: 42.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.33 wm: gnome-shell dm: 1: GDM
    v: 42.0 2: LightDM v: 1.30.0 note: stopped Distro: Manjaro Linux
    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: X570 AORUS ELITE v: -CF
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Gigabyte model: X570 AORUS ELITE v: x.x serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends v: F30 date: 09/15/2020
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present?
Memory:
  RAM: total: 31.37 GiB used: 4.24 GiB (13.5%)
  RAM Report:
    permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required.
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2
    family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 0x71 (113) stepping: 0 microcode: 0x8701021
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 12 tpc: 2 threads: 24 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 768 KiB desc: d-12x32 KiB; i-12x32 KiB L2: 6 MiB desc: 12x512 KiB
    L3: 64 MiB desc: 4x16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2264 high: 3594 min/max: 2200/3800 boost: enabled
    scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 2812 2: 2004
    3: 2047 4: 2193 5: 3594 6: 2159 7: 2203 8: 1917 9: 2082 10: 3287 11: 1967
    12: 2057 13: 2358 14: 1974 15: 1968 16: 2196 17: 2432 18: 1865 19: 2196
    20: 2195 21: 2196 22: 2494 23: 2056 24: 2097 bogomips: 182152
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm adx aes aperfmperf apic arat avic avx avx2 bmi1
    bmi2 bpext cat_l3 cdp_l3 clflush clflushopt clwb clzero cmov cmp_legacy
    constant_tsc cpb cpuid cqm cqm_llc cqm_mbm_local cqm_mbm_total
    cqm_occup_llc cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists extapic extd_apicid
    f16c flushbyasid fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate ibpb ibs
    irperf lahf_lm lbrv lm mba mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor movbe
    msr mtrr mwaitx nonstop_tsc nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw overflow_recov pae
    pat pausefilter pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_llc perfctr_nb
    pfthreshold pge pni popcnt pse pse36 rdpid rdpru rdrand rdseed rdt_a
    rdtscp rep_good sep sev sha_ni skinit smap smca sme smep ssbd sse sse2
    sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 stibp succor svm svm_lock syscall tce topoext
    tsc tsc_scale umip v_vmsave_vmload vgif vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wbnoinvd
    wdt xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveerptr xsaveopt xsaves
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass
    mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
  Type: spectre_v1
    mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP:
    conditional, RSB filling
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT]
    vendor: XFX Pine driver: amdgpu v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-1,DP-2 empty: DP-3,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 0b:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:731f class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.3 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.1
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa gpu: amdgpu
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1016x285mm (40.00x11.22")
    s-diag: 1055mm (41.54")
  Monitor-1: DP-1 mapped: DisplayPort-0 pos: primary,left model: Sceptre T24
    built: 2019 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2 size: 520x320mm (20.47x12.6")
    diag: 611mm (24") ratio: 16:10 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  Monitor-2: DP-2 mapped: DisplayPort-1 pos: right model: Sceptre T24
    built: 2019 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 gamma: 1.2 size: 520x320mm (20.47x12.6")
    diag: 611mm (24") ratio: 16:10 modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400
  Message: Unable to show GL data. Required tool glxinfo missing.
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 10 HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
    gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0b:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab38
    class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0d:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.9.16-1-MANJARO running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.51 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: Gigabyte driver: igb v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 04:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:1539 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp4s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
    broadcast: <filter>
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link
  Device-2: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168NGW [Stone Peak] driver: iwlwifi
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0
    chip-ID: 8086:24fb class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: wgpia0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
  IP v4: <filter> scope: global
  WAN IP: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Message: No bluetooth data found.
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found.
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found.
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.66 TiB used: 1.03 TiB (28.2%)
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Intel model: SSDPEKNW010T8
    size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
    lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 002C temp: 41.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Toshiba model: HDWD130 size: 2.73 TiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD
    rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> rev: ACF0 scheme: GPT
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: Linux model: File-CD Gadget rev: 0318
    dev-links: cdrom
  Features: speed: 1 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: no rw: none
    state: running
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 345.05 GiB size: 338.63 GiB (98.14%)
    used: 13.79 GiB (4.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5 maj-min: 259:3
    label: N/A uuid: e5c17dd5-7570-4969-bf7b-5acdbb61e285
  ID-2: /home raw-size: 608.19 GiB size: 597.64 GiB (98.27%)
    used: 169.04 GiB (28.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 maj-min: 259:2
    label: home uuid: c91ed9e2-7319-44c3-bd09-2ad48ce3a4cd
  ID-3: /run/media/one/Storage raw-size: 2.73 TiB size: 2.69 TiB (98.39%)
    used: 875.02 GiB (31.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: Storage
    uuid: ead6264d-e3f0-4511-9d85-24353fd36e73
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 size: 513 MiB fs: vfat label: N/A
    uuid: 466F-0D84
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 6 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-2:2 info: INSTANT USB GAMING MOUSE type: Mouse,Keyboard
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 1.5 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 30fa:1701 class-ID: 0300
  Hub-2: 1-3:3 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 05e3:0608 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-4:4 info: Integrated Express IT8297 RGB LED Controller
    type: Keyboard driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 048d:8297 class-ID: 0301
  Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-4: 3-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 6 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-5: 3-6:2 info: Genesys Logic Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    power: 100mA chip-ID: 05e3:0608 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-6: 4-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-7: 5-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 4 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 5-1:2 info: SINO WEALTH Gaming KB type: Keyboard,HID
    driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    power: 500mA chip-ID: 258a:002a class-ID: 0300
  Hub-8: 5-3:3 info: Hitachi ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 045b:0209 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-9: 5-3.1:4 info: Hitachi ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 045b:0209 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 5-3.1.2:6 info: MediaTek Armor 9 type: <vendor specific>
    driver: usbfs interfaces: 2 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA
    chip-ID: 0e8d:201d class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: 5-3.1.3:7 info: Lenovo Android type: Mass Storage
    driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA
    chip-ID: 17ef:7bc5 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter>
  Hub-10: 6-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 6-2:2 info: Genesys Logic All-in-One Cardreader
    type: Mass Storage driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 3.1 speed: 5 Gb/s
    power: 896mA chip-ID: 05e3:0748 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter>
  Hub-11: 6-3:3 info: Hitachi ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 045b:0210 class-ID: 0900
  Hub-12: 6-3.1:4 info: Hitachi ports: 4 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s
    chip-ID: 045b:0210 class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.5 C mobo: 16.8 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 51.0 C
    mem: 56.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Processes: 478 Uptime: 16h 8m wakeups: 2 Init: systemd v: 250
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.2.0 clang: 13.0.1 Packages: 1510
  pacman: 1506 lib: 445 flatpak: 4 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16
  running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.15


please post the output of the inxi-command below to get a first overview that is needed (which audio, which gui, etc…) this inxi is a good basic information for all others to start with help

:+1: Welcome to Manjaro! :+1:

  1. Please read this:
    [HowTo] Provide System Information
    and press the three dots below your post and press the :pencil2: to give us more information so we can see what’s really going on.
    Now we know the symptom of the disease, but we need some more probing to know where the origin lies… :grin:
  2. An inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host --width would be the minimum required information for us to be able to help you. (Personally Identifiable Information like serial numbers and MAC addresses will be filtered out by the above command)
    Also, please copy-paste that output in-between 3 backticks ``` at the beginning and end of the code/text.

:+1: