[MC-161943] Center speaker unused in 5.1 and 7.1 speaker configurations since Minecraft 1.14

The bug

When speakers are configured to use 5.1 or 7.1 surround (I haven't tested other configurations), the center speaker is completely unused. Both by positional game sounds and UI sounds. This wasn't the case up until 1.14.

Linked issues

is duplicated by 1

MC-161599 No audio from front center channel in 5.1 setups Resolved

relates to 1

MCPE-46909 Self-generated sounds don't play in center channel Resolved

Comments 4

Iosiv Visokogorskiy 2020-07-07T17:49:55Z

Still happens in 20w27a

Brain81505 2023-01-22T07:23:52Z

Can confirm in 1.19.3 and 23w03a

MP 2023-01-23T13:52:31Z

I may have found a potential workaround:
Edit alsoft.ini: (create it if it doesn't exist) ~/.alsoftrc for Linux/mac, %appdata%/alsoft.ini for windows.
Make sure there is the following lines

[general]
front-stablizer=true

this will make the game at least play from front center, but in my 7.1 setup I don't think it's playing from the LFE, but that doesn't bother me.

Dstendo 2024-02-09T18:59:37Z

I also have this issue in 1.20.1 with my 5.1 Setup.