Volume too quiet - Win98 volume and speakers are at maximum - any software to increase level?

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K

km

I have given one of my charity members a PC put together with various
donated parts.

The Crystal CX 4235 soundcard and small mains powered speakers are
producing a very low volume level even at maximum setting.

Is there a programme which will overcome this?

I would wish to avoid buying more powerful speakers - lack of funds -
and presumably they would take up more space.

KM
 
km said:
I have given one of my charity members a PC put together with
various donated parts.

The Crystal CX 4235 soundcard and small mains powered speakers are
producing a very low volume level even at maximum setting.
Click to expand...

A low volume playing what? Are you certain that you have set the volume for
the correct mixer in Windows Sound Volume? Or even that you have Windows
Sound Volume set to display the correct mixing control?

--
dadiOH
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LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
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A low volume playing what? Are you certain that you have set the volume for
the correct mixer in Windows Sound Volume? Or even that you have Windows
Sound Volume set to display the correct mixing control?
Click to expand...


The problem seems to be with any sounds. Playing for example an mp3
file or AVI/mpeg file. One was through WinAmp the other through WMP.

The volume control was set to show all devices and sliders taken to
the top.

Must admit that I put the speakers on when I was at the ladies room in
her Charity Centre Home and can't recall whether they were the same
ones I used when testing the system. (I suspect that I used my own,
more powerful speakers at that time and that is why these difficulties
didn't seem apparent at the time).

One thing I can't be certain of was whether Microsoft Sounds were low
as well. I am pretty certain that the Win98 StartUp tune was low.

If there isn't a utility to push the sound levels up I will have to
take alternative speakers and check them out. The journey involved
makes it a little difficult thats why I was hoping that a small
freeware programme may exist which would solve the problem even if the
speakers were not up to the job. As stated previously I only have
cheap speakers, all likely to be similar to the ones currently used.


The more I think about it the more likely it seeme it is the speakers
not doing a good job, nevertheless, does anyone know of a utility to
push volume level up?

KM
 
km said:
The problem seems to be with any sounds. Playing for example an mp3
file or AVI/mpeg file. One was through WinAmp the other through WMP.
Click to expand...

I've had this problem before; it was Media Player Classic initiating
weird software conflicts all over the place.

There is freeware or trialware about to test your soundcard; I have no
suggestions though.
 
Is there a choice of output jacks for the speakers? Some sound cards have
two: one typically labelled "Spkr" and the other "Line out". If you have
such a choice, you might try the other choice.

A neighbour of mine has this problem too; seems that cheap speakers typicaly
do not provide any amplification capability whereas speakers which come with
a power connection (power brick/transformer) typically do amplify the sound.
Perhaps your speakers are connected to what the sound card treats as
"headphones?"

HTH
 
Is there a choice of output jacks for the speakers? Some sound cards have
two: one typically labelled "Spkr" and the other "Line out". If you have
such a choice, you might try the other choice.

A neighbour of mine has this problem too; seems that cheap speakers typicaly
do not provide any amplification capability whereas speakers which come with
a power connection (power brick/transformer) typically do amplify the sound.
Perhaps your speakers are connected to what the sound card treats as
"headphones?"
Click to expand...

The card has a Line In / Line Out / Microphone and is powered through
the mains via a transformer (ie is not a passive speakers).

It would seem that there isn't an obvious solution using software.

KM
 
The card has a Line In / Line Out / Microphone and is powered through
the mains via a transformer (ie is not a passive speakers).

It would seem that there isn't an obvious solution using software.

KM
Click to expand...

If you're plugged in to the "line out" and the speakers are mains powered
it should work if the items are serviceable.

There may be a volume control on the speakers for coarse tweaking,
sometimes fairly well hidden as it's a sort of preset rather than
operational - you haven't mentioned if there is one.

Can you plug the speakers into someting else like a walkman, or line out on
a stereo. This would establish if they function.

And there's teh possibility of oneleggedness due to a dirty jack/socket,
bad seating of sound card, giving it all a bit of a severe tweak and WD40
might help

mike
 
If you're plugged in to the "line out" and the speakers are mains powered
it should work if the items are serviceable.

There may be a volume control on the speakers for coarse tweaking,
sometimes fairly well hidden as it's a sort of preset rather than
operational - you haven't mentioned if there is one.

Can you plug the speakers into someting else like a walkman, or line out on
a stereo. This would establish if they function.
Click to expand...

There is a volume control on the speakers and it does turn volume up
and down. Unfortunately when turned up it is only low enough to hear
when sitting close to them. The recipient of the system would benefit
more if I could turn the sound up and she could sit further back if
music or video was playing. The speakers are working but too low to be
of a lot of benefit.

I haven't tried the speakers on any other equipment. The
circumstances, as described earlier, make it inconvenient to test them
out.


KM
 
There is a volume control on the speakers and it does turn volume up
and down. Unfortunately when turned up it is only low enough to hear
when sitting close to them. The recipient of the system would benefit
more if I could turn the sound up and she could sit further back if
music or video was playing. The speakers are working but too low to be
of a lot of benefit.

I haven't tried the speakers on any other equipment. The
circumstances, as described earlier, make it inconvenient to test them
out.
Click to expand...
A quick test is to plug the speakers into the headphone jack of a known working
computer cdrom/cdrw. Put an audio cd in & play it. If the sound is louder, then
you may have a faulty sound card and/or connector as was mentioned earlier. If
the sound is the same or lower then it may be your speakers that are toast :)

ozzy
 
Thanks for all the guidance about the speakers.

I hoped that someone knew of software to enhance the volume.

KM
 
Thanks for all the guidance about the speakers.

I hoped that someone knew of software to enhance the volume.

KM
Click to expand...
I sense a certain politely expressed frustration; sorry, but unless someone
knows better, you're in a difficult area.

I presume the digital sound as processed by the computer is of a level that
will completely load the digital to analogue convertor to fully drive the
analogue output amplifiers.

Increase the digital and the DAC's will go into horrid distortion or just
compress off.

After that you're into analogue and software doesn't apply any more, so
there may be no fix apart from finding the fault.

mike
 
I have given one of my charity members a PC put together with various
donated parts.

The Crystal CX 4235 soundcard and small mains powered speakers are
producing a very low volume level even at maximum setting.

Is there a programme which will overcome this?
Click to expand...
This app does NOT do what you require, but, you need to start with a
consistent sound source. SigJenny can be run from a CD.

SigJenny turns your PC into a flexible and powerful audio signal
generator for free.

It can create multiple waveforms, sweep, fire single or repeating tone
bursts. You can save your sound as a wav file, display a frequency
response, use SigJenny a bit like an oscilloscope, and do a very good
impression of a police car!

http://www.natch.co.uk/downloads/SigJenny/SigJenny.html
 
This app does NOT do what you require, but, you need to start with a
consistent sound source. SigJenny can be run from a CD.

SigJenny turns your PC into a flexible and powerful audio signal
generator for free.

It can create multiple waveforms, sweep, fire single or repeating tone
bursts. You can save your sound as a wav file, display a frequency
response, use SigJenny a bit like an oscilloscope, and do a very good
impression of a police car!

http://www.natch.co.uk/downloads/SigJenny/SigJenny.html
Click to expand...

Same site :
http://www.natch.co.uk/downloads/NWin/NWin.html

NWin is a software package designed specifically for production
testing loudspeakers and other audio transducers. It can make
sophisticated pass or fail decisions and report on production
performance. The user creates the tests they need and then combines
them to create a test sequence. You will need a PC fitted with a
sound card, a microphone (possibly with a pre-amp), a power amp if
you're doing this seriously, and a loudspeaker ... to test.

-- The Despicable Stewart
-- Perfidious Alban
-- http://www.ian-stewart.dsl.pipex.com/
 
km said:
I have given one of my charity members a PC put together with various
donated parts.

The Crystal CX 4235 soundcard and small mains powered speakers are
producing a very low volume level even at maximum setting.

Is there a programme which will overcome this?

I would wish to avoid buying more powerful speakers - lack of funds -
and presumably they would take up more space.

KM
Click to expand...

Hi,
I had the same problem with a system that I purchased at a yard
sale. The problem turned out to be the modem. I took a look at the
hardware configuration via System Device Manager in Control Panel, and
noticed that the modem had an option for managing .WAV files. Ditto
for the Sound Blaster board. There were no conflicts showing. As a
test, I disabled the modem from the hardware profile, rebooted, and I
now had full volume from the system.

So, check the Multi-Media setting in Control Panel, and see what the
preferred device is for Audio Playback. If there is more than one
preferred device, there may be a conflict between them.

Joe
 
Knowing how often I would've liked to know the outcome of posts in the
Newsgroups I visit I feel it worth giving a progress report.

I took another set of small speakers, linked to the mains through a
transformer to see whether I got better results. The problem was the
same. Both this and the original set of speakers work satisfactorily
when connected to other computers.

A large set of speakers which plug directly into the mains power
supply work satisfactorily when connected to the PC which was causing
the problem.

I have, therefore, swapped her PC for one which works OK with one of
the sets of small transformer dependent speakers.

I think this all narrows it down to the soundcard having a problem
with speakers receiving power via a transformer.

Not something I have come across before as this type of speakers has
performed perfgectly well with all other systems.

Thanks to everyone for their contributions.

Something of a mystery to me.

Also thanks to Mike Ring who gave what seems to me to be the best
reason why I didn't get the software I was looking for.


KM
 
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