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Computer speaker volume question - 9/29/2009 10:16:40 PM

Rule

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I have got a speaker with a volume knob (button?) that can be turned up to maximum. Even with that speaker on maximum and with the volume of windows XP also on maximum often when I watch a series or movie on my computer the sound is barely audible. How can I get a better sound volume? Should I buy better speakers, or a sound card? Or what?

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/29/2009 10:53:28 PM

WyldHrt

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Depends. Can you plug the speaker into a CD player or something to test the volume?
If the speaker needs to be replaced, I suggest getting a pair that comes with a subwoofer. The sound is SO much better with that little black box on the floor! I got 2 little speakers with subwoofer for $24US, and the sound quality is VERY nice.
Hopefully, someone else will be more help. Good luck!

ETA- you might also want to test the computer's volume by plugging in a headset. If the sound is good in the headset, the problem is the speaker.

< Message edited by WyldHrt -- 9/29/2009 10:55:59 PM >

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/29/2009 11:45:21 PM

purepleasure

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did you check the computer's sound level?

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 2:30:18 AM

MadameMarque

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Rule, hi! Try clicking on Start, then Control Panel, then Sounds and Audio Devices.

From there, it may be one of a couple of settings. Check your volume intermitently while you're adjusting settings, to make sure you don't accidentally adjust the volume too loud, and blow out your ears/speakers! 'cause there's more than one place to adjust.

Try clicking on the Volume tab, and adjust the Device volume, then click on Advanced, under Device volume, and adjust those levels. Leave Line In muted, and the rest not muted.

Then, still on the Volume tab, under Speaker settings, click on Speaker Volume and adjust that. While you're under Speaker settings, you can also click on Advanced and choose what kind of speakers you're using, for quality of sound more than volume.

You can also click on the Audio tab, under Sounds and Audio Devices, but unless you have to change your Sound playback Default device, the controls are the same as a couple of the ones you've just adjusted, under the Volume tab.

Hope this works for you! Let us know.

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 2:47:15 AM

MadameMarque

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P.S. - for quality of sound, does anyone else here know how to find and adjust a graphic equalizer for your computer's audio? I mean, not the graphic equalizer on a media player software, such as Windows Media Player or VideoLAN, but the sound quality when you're playing a show or music streaming it online, for example. Or does your default media player play that, even when the interface for the media player doesn't appear on the screen?

Thanks for any more info!

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 4:04:49 AM

sappatoti

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Rule
I have got a speaker with a volume knob (button?) that can be turned up to maximum. Even with that speaker on maximum and with the volume of windows XP also on maximum often when I watch a series or movie on my computer the sound is barely audible. How can I get a better sound volume? Should I buy better speakers, or a sound card? Or what?

Speakers with volume knobs also need some sort of power supply to power their inbuilt amplifiers. Is your adapter plugged in? Some can also work with batteries. Are they installed if opting not to use the power adapter?

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 4:14:05 AM

sappatoti

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quote:

ORIGINAL: MadameMarque
P.S. - for quality of sound, does anyone else here know how to find and adjust a graphic equalizer for your computer's audio? I mean, not the graphic equalizer on a media player software, such as Windows Media Player or VideoLAN, but the sound quality when you're playing a show or music streaming it online, for example. Or does your default media player play that, even when the interface for the media player doesn't appear on the screen?

Thanks for any more info!

Most media player software today, whether it be Windows Media, VLC, QuickTime, iTunes, or whatever will allow you to manually play streams through them. Doing so, however, may require a bit of investigative work on your part in order to find the URL of that stream and enter it into the media player.

As far as Flash content, like what you find on YouTube or other such sites, I'm not aware of any sound enhancers that work with the Flash player browser plugin (which is what is really playing those videos). You might want to try setting your browser to redirect those types of media files away from the Flash plugin and into your media player's plugin, but that's a guarantee (your media player also must be able to play those files).

There are utilities that allow you to capture a YouTube video and save it as a local media file for playback later through whatever media player you choose. The latest RealPlayer for Mac, for example, has a background agent that senses when your browser is about to open a Flash movie, keeps track of it in the browser's cache, then provides an opportunity for you to save that as a file. You may wish to see if the RealPlayer for Windows will do that as well. If not, I have seen such utilities available for Windows, though off the top of my head I can't remember any of their names.

I hope this gives you some ideas on where to start looking.

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 5:12:10 AM

MadameMarque

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quote:

ORIGINAL: sappatoti
...
I hope this gives you some ideas on where to start looking.

Sappatoti, thanks, that's helpful information and provides some clarification. I'll do some more research on it!

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 5:26:31 AM

sappatoti

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Sorry... needed to add an edit or two after the fact...

quote:

ORIGINAL: sappatoti
Most media player software today, whether it be Windows Media, VLC, QuickTime, iTunes, or whatever will allow you to manually play streams through them. Doing so, however, may require a bit of investigative work on your part in order to find the URL of that stream and enter it into the media player.

As far as Flash content goes, like what you find on YouTube or other such sites, I'm not aware of any sound enhancers that work with the Flash player browser plugin (which is what is really playing those videos). You might want to try setting your browser to redirect those types of media files away from the Flash plugin and into your media player's plugin, but that's not a guarantee (even if your media player also plays those files).

There are utilities that allow you to capture a YouTube video and save it as a local media file for playback later through whatever media player you choose. The latest RealPlayer for Mac, for example, has a background agent that senses when your browser is about to open a Flash movie, keeps track of it in the browser's cache, then provides an opportunity for you to save that as a file. You may wish to see if the RealPlayer for Windows will do that as well. If not, I have seen such utilities available for Windows, though off the top of my head I can't remember any of their names.

I hope this gives you some ideas on where to start looking.

If you're using a Linux based machine, it is possible to set up PulseAudio and/or Jack to reroute your audio through sound enhancers made for PulseAudio. Please don't ask me how; I've not played with Linux enough to know how to accomplish this. I have only started reading up on the possibilities.

On my Mac I use an application called Audio HiJack Pro which allows me to do the same thing. For more sophisticated processing, I can also use the Mac version of Jack to redirect the sound through my DAW and take advantage of all sorts of advanced plugins and processors availalble. If one installs the Mac OS X Developer packages, there is a fun utility called AULab (IIRC) that does pretty much the same thing. The Developer kit is not usually installed by default but is available on the system's software restore/install discs.

I know Jack is available for Windows and, being a major platform for audio production, would not be surprised if there isn't something like PulseAudio or Audio HiJack Pro availabe for it as well.

< Message edited by sappatoti -- 9/30/2009 5:34:23 AM >

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 5:44:45 AM

HatesParisHilton

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hi, Rule,

sometimes on XP, if I watchd an mp4 or realplayer file in realplayer (the free one), and for whatever reason turned the sound on that file down and forgot to turn it back up again, the sound would be lower in my windows media player as well, not matter what else I "tweaked".

However, the moment I played something in realplayer with the volume at highest again, everything was "back to normal". Dunno why.

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RE: Computer speaker volume question - 9/30/2009 6:01:00 AM

sappatoti

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That sounds like RealPlayer is hijacking the audio from the system's control. It's maddening and there's no excuse for the bad programming that Real used. It's also one of the reasons why I abandoned the Windows platform ten years ago and went with Macs for audio production work.

I don't know the state of RealPlayer on the latest version of Windows, but on my Mac it doesn't hijack the system volume. Turning down the volume in RealPlayer only turns down the volume for that application, leaving the volumes for the other apps and the system alone.

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