Crackling sound at right speaker of 2020 M1 MacBook Air

[Yebubbleman]

I own five base model M1 Airs that are Space Gray and a sixth that is silver. No speaker issues thus far. There was an audio/notifications glitch in Apple Silicon versions of Monterey and version 13.0 in Ventura (thankfully they finally fixed it in 13.0.1) that sounded like a speaker problem, but it wasn't. But that problem persisted across multiple kinds of M1 Mac that I've operated (iMac, MacBook Air, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, etc.).

 

[jaxtothemax]

I had the same issue. The reason is dirt in the little holes of the speaker grill. It blocks the air from vibrating inside out so all the frame starts to vibrate. You can test that even better by touching the grid on the lower side. The sound will change immediately because you stop the grid from vibrating. This is unwanted behaviour, since the grid is not supposed to be the speaker.
So the solution is simple, use a toothbrush to pinch threw all the tiny holes to get them free. Glassclear sound returns immediately.

This fixed my speaker exactly thank you!

Only issue is I feel like a fool for spending ~$80 on replacement left and right speakers before trying this.

 

[josehill]

The reason is dirt in the little holes of the speaker grill. It blocks the air from vibrating inside out so all the frame starts to vibrate. You can test that even better by touching the grid on the lower side. The sound will change immediately because you stop the grid from vibrating. This is unwanted behaviour, since the grid is not supposed to be the speaker.
So the solution is simple, use a toothbrush to pinch threw all the tiny holes to get them free. Glassclear sound returns immediately.

Thanks - this solved the problem on my M1 MacBook Air. I remember being very impressed with the sound quality from the built-in speakers when the computer was new. Recently, music has become essentially unlistenable from the built-in speakers.

Even though I couldn't actually see any dirt in the grille, thirty seconds of gentle brushing over the grille restored the sound quality to the original high quality. My only note is that you need a toothbrush with very fine bristles.