That all checks out. When I'm in Lions Arch, the sound is perfect. I hear NPC's just fine and when I initiate the new story line events, I can hear the first radio call and my character's replies just fine. Its when I go to the new area that the dialogue goes silent in the center channel. My onboard sound inputs share the center speaker and subwoofer and I've switched the two just to make sure they are hooked up properly, but that doesn't help either. Something with the new area is confusing that center channel. I do have an old 5.1 soundcard that I'm tempted to install but I want to try some storyline missions with the core and HoT areas first just to confirm my suspicions. I'll update my situation soon.