Call of Duty 3 audio problems?

[Gremal]

Let me preface this by saying I have not played the online/multiplayer version of CoD3--still making my way through the missions. The surround sound seems to be problematic. The volume level assigned to each channel seems to make no sense and doesn't provide a convincing, immersive experience.

Nearby loud noises like gunfire or dialog from a friendly next to me will sound distant and quiet if I don't move but simply turn to view a different area, putting the sound in a different channel. I have also noticed a lot of variability in the audio from mission to mission. The sargeant's voice and the foreign commander's voices will vary from very quiet to quite loud coming from the center channel, depending on the sequence that start each mission. It's almost as if different developers were working on these sequences and no standardization was done to ensure the audio was consistent from scene to scene.

My main complaint is that, as I turn to look or fire at different areas and targets, the audio levels in each channel simply do not make sense. Action that is close will sound far and vice versa, depending on where I am looking, not where I am positioned. It's very distracting and not realistic. Call of Duty 2 was better in this regard.

My audio setup is very good, with B&W Nautilus speakers in each channel and I have tweaked the balance to try to compensate for the problems I am perceiving, but no matter how much I boost the channels that seem "quiet", the problems persist.

Anyone had similar observations?