Topic: Surround Sound in Wii Mode

Hi everyone

I'm getting my Wii U tomorrow and wanted to ask about surround sound: I have a AVR that can process LPCM 5.1 and has HDMI in and outputs, so for Wii U games I won't have any problem.

Now, I never had a Wii so I'm already looking forward to playing Zelda: Twilight Princess, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 and the Metroid Trilogy. I understand that the Wii had Pro Logic 2 for 5.1 surround sound and the Wii U doesn't. And I don't care specifically for Pro Logic 2, I just want good 5.1 surround sound when playing Wii games on the Wii U. 5.1 surround sound that comes as close to the Pro Logic 2 that was on Wii as possible or that is even better than PLII. What settings will I have to perform on Wii U to ensure that?

Many thanks for your help!

Just choose surround, but play the sample to make sure each speaker is working. Wii does Dolby Pro Logic II(2.1 channel), and Wii U does Linear PCM 5.1. The Wii basically uses only the left and right speakers plus a sub, while Wii U uses f,r,c,sr,sl, plus a sub. Alot of the games for Wii U only use the front speakers for the most part still, using sound 'tricks' to make it sound like it's coming to the side of you too, but you have to be playing based on how your settings are. In otherwords, the rear speakers aren't really being used except for COD BO2, and Nano Assault Neo as far as I know(I have those games, and maybe ZombiU). Sonic Racing, Nintendo Land, and New Super Mario Bros. U don't use the rear speakers. They use the sound 'trick'. Wii uses the same 'tricks' to make it sound like surround sound with front speakers and a sub, so Wii U is pretty much using Dolby Pro Logic II, but it's enhanced slightly. Currently, I have 7.1 channels going for Wii U games when the games actually support 5.1 by using the Dolby Pro Logic IIz setting, and it sounds great, but if the game doesn't support all 5 speakers, the reciever will auto choose the best sound settings to get the most out of your setup.

thanks!!! So I understand right that the Wii never had 5.1 and Pro Logic 2 is in fact 2.1? If that's the case, then I'm fine with 2.1. I'd just like to play the Wii games the way the were intended!

You for sure have the right equipment to get the best sound from your Wii U, whether it be playing Wii or Wii U games.

So to be perfectly clear:

1. I set my Wii U to stereo and my AVR to Dolby Pro Logic IIz --> I get the best sound in Wii games
2. I set my Wii U to surround sound in case I play a Wii U game that supports LPCM 5.1

?

Just set your Wii U to surround in the settings. The Wii U will put out whatever sound it's supporting, and the reciever will adjust to whatever format(DPL2, PCM 5.1) the Wii U is putting out.

Ok, im also asking because in here they are saying something different: http://www.reddit.com/r/wiiu/comments/13k06t/wii_u_surround_s...

They're only telling you to put it on stereo, so you can get sound from all the speakers. Like I said, ONLY Call of Duty Black Ops 2 and Nano Assault Neo play in full PCM 5.1 surround sound, while Mario, Sonic, and ZombiU(accoriding to the artical) play in PCM 2.1 like they said(and I, just didn't say 2.1 specificalky). They are telling you to put your Wii U in stereo mode, so you can get essentially DOUBLE stereo going, which is different than full surround(and 2.1) because your front and rear speakers will be putting out the same sound. The difference is literally left and right if you set it to stereo. I still just leave it on surround, because the little tricks they use to make it sound like there's stuff beside you and such. It's the crossover frequency(I think) that's apparent when it sounds like something is behind you, even though there's not a speaker there. Same goes for stereo. It might sound like there's something in front of you(in the middle of the screen) using the crossover from the left and right speakers to make it seem that way. Whenever you defeat a boss in Nano Assault Neo, there will be an explosion that sounds like it's happening behind you, but there's no speakers behind you, and is the act of the surround speakers creating sound that 'meets' halfway and 'collides' to give it a definative sound in an certain area. I recommend leaving it on surround mode. You won't get the virtual sound tricks if you change the setting to something else. Another example of multiple stereo, is listening to the radio and having all the speakers going. In that case it doesn't really matter if you have multiple stereo going, because regular radio stations don't use surround techniques. If I turn on my radio right now, it will put out sound from all 7 of my speakers and the sub.
This is my setup: S
R=Right _________fR hL Center fR hR
L=Left
h=high
s=surround______ sL Seating Area sR
S=Sub

There are 3 speakers each on the left and right, 2 being beside the seating area. I basically can get tri-stereo for anything not decoded in surround sound, and mono for the center I think. I do technically have dual-stereo for 5.1 for for the front speakers, which makes hL and hR put out the same sound as fL and fR. Does this explain it? Sorry for such a long post...

Thank you so much! In that case im just gonna leave it on surround sound to get what the developers intended. I certainly dont want some strange artificially mixed double stereo just to get sound out of every speaker. It needs to sound right and how it was intended. If that's 2.1 like you explained im very happy

If you are playing Wii games, and you want surround sound, you need to put the Wii U into Stereo, otherwise the Wii U will output Stereo as 6 channel PCM - in this case the receiver won't switch to Pro Logic II and you will find you get no sound from the Centre or Rear Speakers - Wii games mix their audio specifically so they work with Pro Logic II.

For WII U games, surround is the correct setting.

I did a LITTLE more research on a good setting for surround sound stuff. I have Dolby Pro Logic IIz going right now, using the 'standard' 5 speaker channels going, plus the sub, then the additional height speakers that put out the same sound as the regular left and right speakers if there's no height sound(7.1 height).

Whenever I play a Wii game, it will automatically resort back to stereo, and use virtual sound effects to have the effect of suuround sound. So in otherwords, the Wii games were not designed to make use of all channels of speakers. This is fact, BUT, there are ways to get the sound out of different channels regardless. I still do not recommend changing the Wii U setting to stereo as a 'quick fix', but should instead change the settings on your reciever to get a different effect.

It really comes down to what you prefer in your setup. I'm actually thinking of changing my height speakers to rear surround speakers totalling 3 front, 4 back, and the sub, so I can get a more 'right behind me' sound going.

So in conclusion, you might as well try to get sound from rear speakers going from your surround speakers, but don't do it by just switching Wii U to stereo. Try changing the settings on your reciever to get the other speakers going first, and if you can't get them to work without changing the settings on your Wii U, just go stereo(as last resort). You really should be able to get surround without changing your Wii U settings(to stereo), and let your reciever do all the work, but we don't know specifically what kind of reciever you have(model, capabilities, etc.) and the different programs it might have. The virtual surround effect in Dolby Pro Logic II is to compensate for speakers that aren't there, so having the rear speakers going will 'ruin' the virtual surround, and replace it with an actual speaker. The virtual sound effects are interesting, but overall are just sound 'illusions' to make it seem like speakers are there when they're not. I'm honestly trying to find the best setup for my entertainment center and stick with it too, but there's always a TON of options, and more stuff coming out all the time. IMO, 9.2 surround sound is probably the ideal setup, but after that you're just adding speakers with no real value besides multiplying stereo. The highest system as of right now is 22.2, and was mainly an experiment by THX. You could probably even use your multi out jacks on the back of you reciever to get even more speakers going, but whether the extra speakers are going to have exclusive sound, is a different story. People barely even ever use more than 5 speakers, plus the sub in typical media. Sorry for such the long posts...

Another post FYI... I just went and messed around with the settings on my reciever on Wii Mode to find a setting that would get surround sound going for stereo sources without changing your Wii U settings(to stereo) every time you change your game. Ok, so I know for a fact that Sonic Racing, COD Black Ops II, and Nano Assault Neo use TRUE 5.1 surround sound using the the 'standard' setting with all of your devices in unison, while the other games such as Mario, Zombi U, etc, are still technically sending 5.1 signals, but only using the front speakers. So all the games are putting out 5.1 surround sound signals to use all the speakers, but whether they actually use the 5.1 setup is up to the creator of the game. I currently have the setting on my reciever as HD-D.C.S/sub setting Studio, which is an exclusive decoder by Sony that reproduces the content playing EXACTLY how the creator of the content(in this case, Wii games) as they 'intended'. This comes back to exactly what brand of reciever you have, and what settings it has, because I was able to get all the speakers going without changing the Wii U to stereo on Wii games. I left it at the surround sound setting, and changed the settings on my reciever. For games that make full use of the 5.1 PCM surround, I would say use the highest setting you can to get the most out of the system, which in this case for me would be Dolby Pro Login IIz/x(uses all standard channels of content, plus adding the extra height/rear) Dolby Pro Logic IIz/x is only available in 7.1 systems, but for 5.1, use regular decoding that still makes use of the surround, which comes down to your preference. I will use Dolby Pro Logic IIz/x for Nano Assault Neo, and COD Black Ops II, but I will use the HD-D.C.S. setting for everything else. My reciever is less than a month old, so it might have some extra features and such, but there are ways to get all speakers going without changing your Wii U settings constantly.

I think in your case you must have some other processing mode going on, beyond the Pro Logic, which it causing reverb effects or similar to the otherwise silent speakers giving the impression that you are getting the true surround effect.

The Wii U outputs 6 channel PCM at all times, and for stereo content outputs just the left and right front channels, and the center, and rears are silent - Wii games are designed to work with Pro Logic II - almost all receivers I have had will only engage the Pro Logic II when a stereo input - either 2 channel PCM, OR DD, Or analog are input - as the Wii U outputs stereo as 6 channel PCM, then with most receivers the correct Pro Logic II audio will not be heard.

The only way to hear Wii games, as they are intended to be heard with Pro Logic surround is to set the Wii U to stereo - this outputs audio as 2 channel PCM, and so will work properly with all receivers. The cost to this is that true 6 channel PCM audio, as output by Wii U games will be down mixed to two channels, and so when playing wii U games surround should be selected in the audio settings.

Well, I know for sure I'm getting all speakers going through my reciever with Wii games, without changing the Wii U setting to stero. Like I said, my reciever is less than a month old, so it probably is a fairly new decoder that "converts" 2.1 to 5.1?7.1. When I have my reciever set to Dolby Pro Logic IIx/z, the Wii games will revert back to their original format of playback, but with HD D.C.S/Studio, it turns the sound input from Wii U 2.1 formats to 5.1/7.1, so I was able to get surround sound(multiple stereo) going without changing Wii U to stereo(leaving it at surround). Recievers get better all the time, and it's no surprise to me that it can convert 2.1 sound to 5.1.