I currently have Logitech 4.1 surround sound speakers and an Audigy Gamer sound card. I have suffered with popping and crackling in the speakers with the more advanced 3rd party add-ons for FS9. I've tried all the suggested trouble shooting tips to no avail.Some have told me that new speakers may do the trick. They're about 2 years old. I would like to upgrade both, and go to 5.1 surround sound, but I can only do one thing at a time. What would you hardware experts out there think would likely solve the problem?I was looking at the Audigy 2 LSTim

I think it's most definetly a hardware problem, but I can't say for sure. When I built my new computer I bought a Audigy2 ZS and all I can say with FS perfect audio, full accleration and best sample conversion, the only thing I did in FS was changed Audio quality to low, mostly becasue I heard no difference on any other setting and with my Altec Lansin 2.1 speakers, sounds very nice. Have you tried changing the sounds quality in FS to low? That might help. And turning Direct sound acceleration down to Basic.

Yes I have tried that. I have tweaked everything little thing I can with no change. It's strange that I notice it only in the 3rd party add-ons, speciffically in my case are the PMDG 737 and the DF 727. The crackling occurs when I go to full power and then pull the power back in both internal and externall views.Thanks for your suggestions. I've heard some people say that there's simply an inherent problem with The Audigy and Windows XP (which I'm running) but then I know people who are using Windows XP and the Audigy Gamer with no crackling.So, perhaps it is the speakers. If it happens to be the speakers, that opens up a whole new post for me, because I'm clueless as to which speakers to buy.Thanks,Tim

Well of course the best way to try would be if you had a set of other speakers, even some cheap one sitting around to try. That doesn't surprise me that your having trouble with the PMDG 737 and DF 727, mostly because there audio is very high quality and your card simply may not be able to keep up. Are you sure you have the latest drivers for the card?

Yeah, I have the latest drivers from the Soundblaster site, but it doesn't seem the drievrs are updated very often. Is there somwehere else to look for them?Thanks for your idea of testing the speakers. I'll give that a try when I get a chance. Unfortunately the PC in question is at school, and at home on break.Thanks,Tim

What's your system setup?The reason I ask is because some motherboard/Audigy combinations have been known to cause audio issues.Have you tried your Audigy in another PCI slot, or tried adjusting your latency timings?If none of the above work's & your keen on sticking w/ Creative cards then you might try out one of the Audigy 2 series. There's been alot less reports of crackling & general audio issues w/ them. Just make sure you do a good cleanout of the current drivers/software you have installed for your Audigy Gamer before you install any new card.If your not a hardcore gamer & really enjoy music & movie watching on your PC there's other soundcard options out there you might consider trying out. "Audiotrack" has some nice cards out on the market as does "M-Audio" w/ their Revolution 5.1 & 7.1 products. All are reasonably priced & are nicer sounding cards than the Audigy's, but keep in mind they don't have hardware acceleration which means in games your CPU will have to work a little harder. If you have a fast system I doubt you'll really notice, but on a slower one you might.I personally have an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 & it work's great. I've owned Audigy's in the past and never had any real problems w/ them but the Revolution seem's to cater to my needs better in that it's a more musical card & also handles the occasional game I throw @ it without issue.I have my PC hooked up to a surround sound receiver which I'll post a pic below.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/102416.jpg

Thanks for your suggestions. I have tried different PCI slots as well as playing around with the latency timer. I'm using an Intel board. The model is D865PERL. I'll check out some of the other cards. It's not set in stone that I MUST have another Soundblaster card. They're just the only cards I've ever used and am most familiar with. Here are the rest of my specs:Intel Pentium 4 3.00 GHz1024 MB DDRGeForce FX 5700LE 256 MB DDRWindows XP HomeThanks,Tim

Nice setup that you have there! Would you identify the monitor that you are using?-GeorgeM at 5B6

I'm using a Sony 17'' flat screen monitor.Tim

Tim: Thanks for your response but I was actually referring to the monitor depicted in Jaimee's post.-G