M-Audio BX5a sound wrong?

[shishigami]

Hi,
 
I was looking for a replacement for my old speakers and found this - decided to get the BX5a.
 
I am successfully getting sound, but it sounds really 'distant' - for instance, if I watch a movie or listen to music I can hear the SFX really well but the voices are so far in the distance, I can't even hear them (instead of voice, there's just some weird noise)
 
I connected the speakers to my soundcard (Creative Xtreme Music) like this (both green cables lead into some Y-connector)
 
Right now, they just sound downright wrong - could I resolve this by using other cables (I've been told these or these would work) or is this just how those speakers sound?
 
Any help is appreciated.
 
// As you can tell, I'm very new to this stuff

 

[Roseval]

[size=medium]Don’t waste your money on cables before you have checked all the audio settings on your PC.
Is the output stereo or 5.1? Maybe you are listening to the rear channels.
Silly things like enhancements as voice cancellation set to on?
Etc.[/size]
[size=medium]Plug in some ear buds, if you have the same problem it is not the speakers but a setting[/size]

 

[shishigami]

The sound is great with my Beyerdynamic DT 880 - althought I'm using it with the Fiio E10 so it doesn't use my soundcard.
 
I've tried plugging the speakers into my onboard soundcard and it does sound much more natural
 
I feel like there's some sort of EAX being applied (think Amphitheatre or something like that) although I've deactived EAX in the sound card drivers. I didn't get that effect which my old speakers
 
// EDIT : It now sounds broken on both, sound card and onboard. I fixed that problem the first time when I just pulled the cable and put it back in - doesn't work anymore. I really hate windows.
 
I tried playing the same song on my iPhone and it sounds great. On PC there's really weird noise

 

[Kawai_man]

Yeah it soundsd like your listening to the rear speakers, or  aybe youre cable or output froms oundcard is broken, like when you plug headphones in but not allthw ay into ipod it wyoull get sound but it wont sound right, it possible something like that is happening.

 

[shishigami]

I tried the speakers on my laptop - same results

I also tried playing some music on an Ubuntu Live CD (using my onboard soundcard) with the same results. I am considering returning them in case they're broken - but it's working fine if I use them with my iphone..

Where would I see if they're set as rear speakers?