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Author Topic: Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet  (Read 6421 times)

chaoticag

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Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet
« on: September 18, 2011, 07:00:07 am »

So I've been kinda struggling with this on and off. Every once in a while, I like to take my headset off to let my ears breathe, but then my laptop sounds like this. Even at 100% volume, that's much too quiet to hear anything other than ambient sound at best. I've turned on loudness equalization, but it seems to make it about this loud. Clearly not enough.

Is there any way to up the sound that comes out of these speakers? This is kinda silly.
I'm using Realtek audio drivers, if that helps.
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2011, 07:26:19 am »

Is it all sounds, or just specific applications? My laptop speakers usually sound alright, but sometimes when I connect or disconnect a device, some mechanism likes to throw the volume of my Media Player to around 20%. This isn't in the player itself, but in the "mixer", a kind of selective volume adjuster built into Windows. When you click the sound system icon in the tray, below the volume slider itself is a link to this "mixer". Open it and see if all volume dials are set to their maximum.
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chaoticag

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Re: Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2011, 07:37:48 am »

Huh, looks like Chrome was being extra quiet for that reason. That seems to make things more reasonable, but I'd still be curious if there is a way to make it louder in some other way? It seems useful to know anyway.
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Stargrasper

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Re: Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2011, 08:52:47 am »

Head over to Control Panel and look for anything having to do with sound.  On my Windows machine, it shows the generic Sound system and another sound system that's probably part of my sound drivers.  You might be able to tweak things from there.  Otherwise, the Mixer is pretty much the master control for sound in Windows.

It's worth noting that they make the internal speakers on laptops quiet for a reason.  Laptops are designed to be used anywhere, so they want you to be able to hear what's going on without disturbing everyone around you.  Headphones have a higher gain because you aren't bothering anyone with sound while wearing them.  External speaks have a higher gain because their getting their sound from the same headphones port and because they typically have some form of amplifier (so you can adjust volume).  At least that's my understanding.  I'm more used to messing with an actual sound board than using my computer as a sound board.
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chaoticag

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Re: Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2011, 09:09:04 am »

Head over to Control Panel and look for anything having to do with sound.  On my Windows machine, it shows the generic Sound system and another sound system that's probably part of my sound drivers.
I've already done that sorta as explained on the OP. The idea is that loudness equalizer boosts the sound produced a bit, but to access it you need to go to the control panel and set it up that way.



Quote
It's worth noting that they make the internal speakers on laptops quiet for a reason...
Well, the thing is I tend to use my laptop mostly indoors, and very rarely would use it in a public place. The reason this is a laptop and not a desktop is because it isn't as big a demand of space, and because at any weekend, I may end up in one of 3 different houses, so portability is a good idea.
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Lectorog

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Re: Laptop speakers are incredibly quiet
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2011, 01:09:47 pm »

You could try leaving the headphones as the sound source and turning them way up.

You could buy some speakers to use. Not exactly efficient, but it would probably work.
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