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new unibody MBP q's - right internal speaker louder, and top dented in near apple

G

groovetrain

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2008
8
0
So when I'm playing a song in iTunes, I noticed that the right side of the keyboard seemed to be louder, when I center my head above the keyboard, it seems like someone has panned most of the sound to the right side.

Only high-end sound is coming from the left hand-side, and most of the bass seems to becoming from underneath the enter key or the quote key. Anyone else with a new MBP having issues like this?

Also, I noticed when I run my hand over the apple logo on the back of the display, that it's not perfectly flat, in fact it seems to kindof dent in all around the apple logo slightly. Anyone else see that on theirs?

Thanks in advance! Happy to finally join the community with my first Mac purchase!!

Groovetrain
 
I have the speaker problem, going to go to the Apple store later and get it changed out..
 
From what I've seen from the iFixit.com dissections, it seems that the new MBs and MBPs have a subwoofer built in (new feature) along with the two regular speakers on the sides. It may be that the subwoofer is on the right side therefore that side is louder. From the pictures of the MB I can tell that the subwoofer is indeed on the side with the SuperDrive, not sure about the MBP but could be the same.
 
TheCakeIsALie said:
From what I've seen from the iFixit.com dissections, it seems that the new MBs and MBPs have a subwoofer built in (new feature) along with the two regular speakers on the sides. It may be that the subwoofer is on the right side therefore that side is louder. From the pictures of the MB I can tell that the subwoofer is indeed on the side with the SuperDrive, not sure about the MBP but could be the same.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I thought too, also looked at the ifixit photos, (look at me justifying my intelligence...haha) anyway, the crossover frequency must be set pretty high to produce that much of a noticeable difference. I mean it's noticeable with just spoken voice... weird.

groovetrain
 
Unibody Right Speaker Issue

I'm so relieved to read this thread and see that someone else has the exact same issue.

When I'm in front of the laptop, it sounds like it's all coming from the right side. There is still sound on the left if you place your ear very closely against it.

In order to balance it out I had to go to the sound preferences pane and edit the balance of the speakers to the right. This is a ridiculous work around and is not a solution since I have to change it back to middle everytime I plug in my headphones.

dr. shdw could you please tell me if you were able to obtain a replacement? Have you been able to fix the issue groovetrain? Please keep me updated on how it works out, I'm probably gonna drop by the Apple store and see if I can get a replacement.
 
I have noticed the same thing. If I play stuff through each individual speaker, the right one doesn't seem to sound 'louder', but there seems to be more bass in the right one, to the point where the poor left speaker is overpowered by it.
A non-issue for me, though.

A nod to TheCakeIsALie - there seems to be a tiny subwoofer on the right side.
 
I think the problem is more than the bass.

I tried on purposely listening to songs with little bass and turning on the 'bass reducer' equalizer on in iTunes to minimise the output of the subwoofer, yet the music still sounds like it's coming from the right side of the Mac.

One of the major reasons I got a MacBook Pro is because it is equipped with some best laptop speakers in the industry, so this really annoys me.
 
ived also noticed that the right speaker seems to be louder.. at first i just thought that i was crazy. im glad that someother people have noticed this...
 
antoningu said:
I'm so relieved to read this thread and see that someone else has the exact same issue.

When I'm in front of the laptop, it sounds like it's all coming from the right side. There is still sound on the left if you place your ear very closely against it.

In order to balance it out I had to go to the sound preferences pane and edit the balance of the speakers to the right. This is a ridiculous work around and is not a solution since I have to change it back to middle everytime I plug in my headphones.

dr. shdw could you please tell me if you were able to obtain a replacement? Have you been able to fix the issue groovetrain? Please keep me updated on how it works out, I'm probably gonna drop by the Apple store and see if I can get a replacement.
Click to expand...

I got a replacement computer for a video out issue, however the sound remains the same. It's louder by default on the right. But it really doesn't concern me since they are just laptop computers and I'm sure the balance can be corrected by Apple on a software level later on. Plus the speakers...really aren't THAT great, good for a laptop, but nothing I'd fret over.
 
Hey guys,

I just wanted to update you all on how the replacement went. I ended up getting a new one (classified it as DOA) and the new replacement MBP's speakers are considerably improved, with hardly any deviation to the right speaker at all.

So if you have a really noticeable and non-trivial deviation of loudness in your speakers, you should go talk to a Genius about it (preferably in the DOA period) and they should sought you out.

Finally fully loving my new unibody MBP without any faults!

:D
 
I have this same problem with my 2.8ghz macbook pro received yesterday. When I first started the machine, I immediately noticed the sound coming mostly from the right side, somewhat like the macbook air LOL!

On further testing, and playing with the speaker balance in system preferences, I have verified that there is sound coming from the left side, but it is missing a lot of dynamics, and resulted in it sounding like sound is coming mostly from the right speakers. And I had verified this with mono soundtracks.

Other than the few of us here with issues, can those without problems with the their speakers respond and let us know that this is indeed a manufacturing defect? I'm gonna call AppleCare later when they are in operation...
 
linux2001 said:
I have this same problem with my 2.8ghz macbook pro received yesterday. When I first started the machine, I immediately noticed the sound coming mostly from the right side, somewhat like the macbook air LOL!

On further testing, and playing with the speaker balance in system preferences, I have verified that there is sound coming from the left side, but it is missing a lot of dynamics, and resulted in it sounding like sound is coming mostly from the right speakers. And I had verified this with mono soundtracks.

Other than the few of us here with issues, can those without problems with the their speakers respond and let us know that this is indeed a manufacturing defect? I'm gonna call AppleCare later when they are in operation...
Click to expand...

There's a subwoofer on the right side but not the left, hence the missing dynamics.
 
TheCakeIsALie said:
From what I've seen from the iFixit.com dissections, it seems that the new MBs and MBPs have a subwoofer built in (new feature) along with the two regular speakers on the sides. It may be that the subwoofer is on the right side therefore that side is louder. From the pictures of the MB I can tell that the subwoofer is indeed on the side with the SuperDrive, not sure about the MBP but could be the same.
Click to expand...


Don't believe its a new feature, pretty sure they've had third 'subwoofer' speaker since powerbook days?
 
dr. shdw said:
There's a subwoofer on the right side but not the left, hence the missing dynamics.
Click to expand...

Well, the missing dynamics includes high frequencies too, so I definitely suspect it is a faulty speaker. All the music vocals sound like they are coming from the right hand side, and I certainly do not want to spend so much on a machine that sounds like the MacBook Air speakers.

Anyway I have given Apple a call, the guy on the phone asked me to do all the standard call centre procedures like PRAM reset and checking for new software updates, and finally declare it DOA and will do an exchange for me. Hopefully the next one will be good, but it'll be another long wait, as they need to collect back this set before doing the processing for the new set.
 
Hi,
I have the same effect, on the right the sound is a bit more loud.

So this problem can be fix, or it is exactly the same for each mackbook pro unibody ?

Thank you :)
 
I'm afraid to ask the replacement of my MBP to find again the same problem on a new machine.

It will be very nice if owners of MBP unibody can test that, to know if it's a very isolate problem, or everybody have this problem of balance between the 2 speakers.
 
I also have that problem but I know there are others that don't. Mine is a replacement and in the first one the speaker seemed to be well balanced.

It looks like it is almost impossible to get a flawless machine. If it is not one thing it will be other. Very poor quality control for such an expensive machine. If you decide to ask for a replacement you can have some other issues.
 
linear said:
I also have that problem but I know there are others that don't. Mine is a replacement and in the first one the speaker seemed to be well balanced.

It looks like it is almost impossible to get a flawless machine. If it is not one thing it will be other. Very poor quality control for such an expensive machine. If you decide to ask for a replacement you can have some other issues.
Click to expand...

Right... very expensive, and not exempt of issues :( For a first experience with a mac, i'm a bit disapointed.

I ask today for a replacement, i hope i will be more lucky this time.
Thanks for your answer!
 
Sorry to revive this old thread, but I only just noticed the right speaker of my MacBook (non-Pro) to be considerably louder than the left one. I'm pretty sure the MacBooks don't have the Pro's subwoofer, so it surely can't be that. Also, fiddling with the balance controls reveals an extreme difference in sound (not volume) between the left and right sides. The left side is very dark and flat, while the right side is very crisp. I'd say the right side is how the sound should be. The speaker on the left side is definitely not right. Or there's a bug in Mac OS X that's causing this weird sound behaviour.
 
Right speaker louder

Glad I found this thread. Yes, I'm experiencing the same problem. Right speaker considerably louder and better quality than left. Disappointed with my first Mac experience - otherwise, love the interface. Also, overall audio quality is poor compared with my old HP with Harman Kardon speakers. I've been without a computer for 3 weeks + as they were trying to fix my old PC but am going to ask for a replacement laptop. Previous post is correct that headphone outputs sound fine.

Thanks for the info already posted on this.
 
Got my first MBP yesterday and sounds like I have this problem too with the right speaker louder.

Anyone know if I can get it exchanged at a Apple store if I bought the MBP from Amazon.com or can I only exchange my unit through Amazon?
 
system pref

Not to sound like a jerk, but I'm assuming people checked their system pref sound panel to make sure it was set to the middle? system pref -> sound-> output. I'm sure it's probably not this, but I had to ask...
 
Reading all these comments really scares me

Whether it's 500 computer or 3000 Apple laptop, it's stll mini notebook speaker

What do you expect ??????? Bose quality bass and no quality high ? Geez

And why you even compare to harmon kaka or whatever speaker you stated

Apple guys whines too much

GET USED TO IT

This is why idiots tries to sue apple fir quick buck

They go through every single detail to find

Ok typing in iPhone but tired so I end here and I gave vocab quiz yonkiruw
 
I have this as well. I'm pretty sure it's not a defect, just has to do with the subwoofer. The extra "oomph" down there always makes the right side sound much louder. Until we have someone who definitely notes this issue and has JUST the speakers replaced, we can't really tell if it's a problem or by design.
 
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