Laptop sound amplification? - Printable Version
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Laptop sound amplification? by ZrednaZ on 07-25-2007 at 09:53 PM
I've bought a new Lenovo ThinkPad T61. It's indeed turning out to be a nice machine except for the fact that the internal speakers for the most part can't be turned up loudly enough. It's not a limitation of the speakers themselves as the audio output is loud enough if the source is loud. Isn't there some software amplification tool out there to crank up the general sound volume in Vista? 
/Zred!
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nathan on 07-25-2007 at 10:23 PM
Hmmm, if you have a realtek sound card, then go to control panel and you might see: "Realtek HD Sound Effect Manager" Or something similiar, go onto the equalize bit, and crank everything up to full.
It won't sound as good, but it will be louder.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by ZrednaZ on 07-25-2007 at 10:41 PM
I'm afriad I don't have that control panel option. I have checked the regular control panel sound options: Sound --> Speakers properties --> Levels tab --> bar set to Max, but this bar is simply connected to the regular Loudspeaker sound bar in the Windows Mixer. And the Windows Mixer sound bar is also connected to the computer's actual volume buttons located under the screen, so all these have been checked and turned up to max.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nathan on 07-25-2007 at 10:43 PM
Hmm, Are you using iTunes, I believe that has a equalizer built in.
If not, search for some simple, free programs that has an equalizer
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Voldemort on 07-25-2007 at 11:28 PM
18:27:11 <btoo> .g define: equalizer
18:27:14 <Effexor> A component designed to alter the frequency balance of an audio signal. Equalizers may be graphic, parametric, or a combination of both. @ http://www.google.com/search?hl=all&q=define:%20equalizer
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nathan on 07-25-2007 at 11:29 PM
point being voldemort...
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Voldemort on 07-25-2007 at 11:32 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Voldemort
alter the frequency
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by CookieRevised on 07-25-2007 at 11:38 PM
Point being that frequency and volume are two unrelated things.
ZrednaZ, make sure your 'Wave' output (and the likes) are also set high. What you changed might be just the 'master volume', not the individual volumes of the devices (or vice versa)...
at least, that would be all I could suggest, I cba to restart PC in Vista to take a screenshot etc
Other than that, dunno
but changing the settings of the equalizer is certainly not a proper thing todo (unless all freqencies were set to 0 of course)
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Voldemort on 07-25-2007 at 11:44 PM
quote:also check:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
ZrednaZ, make sure your 'Wave' output (and the likes) are also set high. What you changed might be just the 'master volume', not the individual volumes of the devices (or vice versa)...
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nathan on 07-25-2007 at 11:51 PM
I am correct in a way, he is wanting a louder sound, therefore boosting the frequencies up, it makes it higher pitched (and eliminates the bass the laptops speakers cont support too well) and therefore your ears adjust to it.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Voldemort on 07-25-2007 at 11:55 PM
Yeah.... distorting the music... nice.
RE: RE: Laptop sound amplification? by CookieRevised on 07-25-2007 at 11:55 PM
quote:Exactly what I wanted to say....
Originally posted by Voldemort
quote:also check:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
ZrednaZ, make sure your 'Wave' output (and the likes) are also set high. What you changed might be just the 'master volume', not the individual volumes of the devices (or vice versa)...
Although the master volume is set to 50%, the individual device sounds are also set to 50%, making the actual sound only 25%.....
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nathan on 07-25-2007 at 11:56 PM
quote:Nope, he is pretty much eliminating the bass that most laptops cant support.
Originally posted by Voldemort
Yeah.... distorting the music... nice.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Voldemort on 07-25-2007 at 11:56 PM
That won't make music any louder
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nathan on 07-25-2007 at 11:57 PM
It will seem louder, you're ears are adjusted to hearing higher pitched frequencies more easily than lower pitched frequencies
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by ZrednaZ on 07-26-2007 at 07:57 AM
Windows mixer was already turned up - including every individual program (they follow the master volume bar up to max unless you manually turn them down).
RE: RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Verte on 07-26-2007 at 02:06 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Voldemort
That won't make music any louder
It will, actually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Voldemort on 07-26-2007 at 04:46 PM
quote:I meant that it won't increase sound intensity, which is what ZrednaZ wants.
Loudness, a subjective measure, is often confused with objective measures of sound intensity such as decibels.
RE: RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Verte on 07-27-2007 at 03:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Voldemort
quote:I meant that it won't increase sound intensity, which is what ZrednaZ wants.
Loudness, a subjective measure, is often confused with objective measures of sound intensity such as decibels.
In absolute measures, with perfect speakers etc, you're right. On the other hand, given the resonance of the speaker and the ear, cutting the bass allows more energy to move in the more efficient part of the spectrum. As an example, consider earphones. If you turn the volume right up and move away, you only hear the cymbals and other high-frequency sounds. They are actually a lot better at creating high frequency sound, although stuck in your ear there is no where for the low sounds to go, which makes up for that.
The other important thing is that we actually hear the time-derivative of the speaker movement. For a speaker moving at a low frequency to displace the same amount of air per second as one at a higher frequency, it will need to move further. Considering speakers can only move a certain distance from center before they distort [just as important, they can only move a certain distance before saturating their power supply], speakers are usually more efficient at higher frequencies.
Laptop speakers are usually about 5cm in diameter, which means they have good midrange output. Rolling off the low frequencies allows the midrange to get closer to saturation. Yes, you lose quality, but the difference in perceived volume can be quite significant [easily +10db, not counting inner ear resonance which is more pronounced in the midrange].
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by ZrednaZ on 07-28-2007 at 11:53 PM
While a bit of theory is always nice, do you guys have any concrete suggestions to downloadable equalizers? I guess it all boils down to this: Basically I need something like Winamp's equalizer
![[Image: amp-eq.jpg]](http://fliptech.net/amp-eq.jpg)
which has the "Preamp" bar that will actually make most any audio source LOUD when cranked up (and I frankly don't care about how that's achieved
) Only difference is that it needs to be able to affect ALL sound output on the puter.
This is a terribly common laptop problem, I'm surprised the web isn't oversaturated with solutions to this...
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by andrewdodd13 on 07-29-2007 at 10:59 AM
Winamp's pre-amp increases the "volume" of the sound by 20dB by increasing the amplitude of the sound wave before it's output.
TBH, my HP laptop has Altec Lansing speakers built in which can put out some fairly loud sound. The thing is, by trying to put the sound past the systems maximum you might just end up distorting the sounds.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Nefzen on 07-29-2007 at 12:56 PM
Media Player Classic has a boost option, and there's a codec that should do the same (both are included with the CCCP)
RE: RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Phillip on 07-29-2007 at 02:34 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Nefzen
Media Player Classic has a boost option, and there's a codec that should do the same (both are included with the CCCP)
quote:
Originally posted by ZrednaZ
Only difference is that it needs to be able to affect ALL sound output on the puter.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by Jesus on 07-29-2007 at 05:38 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Voldemort
quote:
Originally posted by Voldemort
alter the frequency
quote:meaning you can set a different volume for each frequency range. This has nothing to do with altering the pitch in any way.
Originally posted by Effexor
alter the frequency balance
ZrednaZ: An equalizer can help you out; you can lower the volume of the lower frequencies and amplify the better supported higher frequencies a little more. Then you can adjust the preamp to a point where the sound is almost distorted to get the maximum out of your laptop speakers.
Most sound card manufacturers include an equalizer in their driver software. If your sound card uses default windows drivers the equalizer may not be included. I don't know which sound card you have, but you can try downloading the drivers from the manufacturer's website to get the extra software.
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by CookieRevised on 07-30-2007 at 06:06 AM
quote:Because it is not a solution.
Originally posted by ZrednaZ
While a bit of theory is always nice, do you guys have any concrete suggestions to downloadable equalizers? I guess it all boils down to this: Basically I need something like Winamp's equalizer
which has the "Preamp" bar that will actually make most any audio source LOUD when cranked up (and I frankly don't care about how that's achieved
This is a terribly common laptop problem, I'm surprised the web isn't oversaturated with solutions to this...
Moreover, all the equalizers which are talked about here are for players which send the sound on their turn to your drivers, the equalizers will not work for the sound output of your sound drivers. If you need to equalize the sound of the drivers, you need to look for an equalizer in your driver software itself. If it isn't present, you're out of luck.
Also, I don't see how it is a "common" problem. I never seen a laptop which has too silent sound output. A laptop isn't a discobar, but the sound is quite often more than loud enough. If you're laptop sound is really silent I would check if the speakers aren't busted, or if you really have the correct drivers and really have set up the volumes of all the individual components correctly, or if the sounds you're playing are recorded properly and with a normal volume, instead of trying to totally distort the sound in order to hear 'something'.
The laptop model (Lenovo ThinkPad T61) should be able to play sounds with a decent volume (so this is not a problem of your speakers not being able to play loud enough, it is a problem of what you are playing or how you've set up the drivers, an equalizer is not going to fix that).
RE: Laptop sound amplification? by ZrednaZ on 08-02-2007 at 08:51 PM
The driver doesn't have an equalizer of its own.
>I don't see how it is a "common" problem
Well, it is, whether it be due to the software or a limitation of the speakers. Of the five different laptop models I've tried turning up to max volume, two of them were quiet (one of them being the Lenovo T61, the other being some sort of Acer Ferrari). I don't know about the Acer, but in my case it's a software limitation, making the problem theoretically solvable. The speakers are not busted; as I said, they play loudly if the source is loud.
>The laptop model (Lenovo ThinkPad T61) should be able to play sounds with a decent volume (so this is not a problem of your speakers not being able to play loud enough, it is a problem of what you are playing or how you've set up the drivers, an equalizer is not going to fix that).
No it ain't, it's a problem with the (preinstalled and correct) driver and not the way I've configured it. I'm not the only Lenovo T61 owner with this problem. Reviews confirming that the speakers are quiet:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=...eview=ThinkPad+T61 (search for 'quiet')
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=123374 (search for 'quiet')
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-IBM-Lenovo-Th...tebook.3972.0.html (search for 'Speakers'. "During DVD playback the maximum volume was just sufficient")
Come to think of it, the audio on this system also tends to glitch a few times a minute, so the driver sucks in several ways.. 
For any other T61 users who happen to read this: Apparently the only known workaround for this is to use playback applications that have an option to turn up the volume. For WAV/MP3, Winamp is a good bet. For DVD/AVI, PowerDVD can be used as it has a 'laptop option' that boosts audio by 25%.