Macbook Pro 2011 Speaker Issue

[amoergosum]

I just discovered an issue with the internal speakers of my Macbook Pro 2011.
The balance of the left and right speaker is off.
When I move the balance slider all the way to the right only the right speaker is active (as it should be). When I move the balance slider all the way to the left, the left speaker is active, BUT also the right (not as loud as the left though).
Do you have the same problem?
I'm pretty fussy when it comes to stuff like that....so I'm thinking about returning it.

 

[Treeman574]

Just noticed the same thing. I wouldn't worry about it, but if you just got the laptop I would get whoever you bought it from to have a look.

 

[amoergosum]

but if you just got the laptop I would get whoever you bought it from to have a look.

I'Ve received it (ordered online > Apple Store) 10 days ago.

 

[amoergosum]

Just noticed the same thing. I wouldn't worry about it

Well...if it is like that on all MBPs I'm not going to return it of course.

 

[grazykid]

wow you are right, i noticed from the beggining something weird with the speakers but could not understand what it was. this sucks

edit: maybe the right speaker is louder in db?

I am wondering if this might cause panning issues with songs..;

 

[amoergosum]

edit: maybe the right speaker is louder in db?

Definitely!
I just checked it...when the balance is set to the middle the right speaker
is louder than the left one.

 

[amoergosum]

A member from another forum has confirmed the problem.

 

[amoergosum]

Well, I just contacted Apple Care.
I was told that there's a subwoofer which is located
somewhere on the right.
But still...if the balance slider is moved all the way to the left,
only the left speaker should be active, right?

 

[Lumpydog]

I found that my 15" 2011 MBP exhibits the same issue. Google MacBook Pro and audio balance... this issue has been around for a while. I don't like this, but I just adjusted the balance in my audio settings until it was to my liking. I don't use external speakers.... so not a big deal - I'm not sure if it changes the headphone output - I rarely use headphones. Sounds great and I've forgotten about it.

Apparently external speakers and headphones are nicely balanced without tweaks.

 

[AFPoster]

Well, I just contacted Apple Care.
I was told that there's a subwoofer which is located
somewhere on the right.
But still...if the balance slider is moved all the way to the left,
only the left speaker should be active, right?

In regards to a subwoofer no. A subwoofer will always have sound to it, it's more of the beat of the sound not the words itself, but it will always have something. Speakers on the left and right will lose sound depending on where you slide the balance.

 

[amoergosum]

Google MacBook Pro and audio balance

>>>
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-notebooks/130783-speaker-imbalance-towards-right.html

Quote (from 2009):
"I too have noticed the Right Side Imbalance of the sound, when you put the balance all the way to right it completlely
blocks out the left channel/speaker which it should. But when you put the balance all the way to the left, you can still hear
sound coming out of the right channel/speaker."

 

[amoergosum]

Check this out >>>

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3336

Quote:
"You may notice that when you move the Balance slider in the Sound preferences pane far to the left speaker that you can still hear sound from the right side of the MacBook Pro.
This sound is actually generated by the sub-woofer, but because of its placement, the audio from the subwoofer seems to be coming from the right side speaker. Due to the placement
of the subwoofer it is normal for the sound stage to seem shifted slightly towards the right speaker. If you prefer, you can adjust the balance control to shift the sound stage to the left or right side."

 

[Lumpydog]

Check this out >>>

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3336

Quote:
"You may notice that when you move the Balance slider in the Sound preferences pane far to the left speaker that you can still hear sound from the right side of the MacBook Pro.
This sound is actually generated by the sub-woofer, but because of its placement, the audio from the subwoofer seems to be coming from the right side speaker. Due to the placement
of the subwoofer it is normal for the sound stage to seem shifted slightly towards the right speaker. If you prefer, you can adjust the balance control to shift the sound stage to the left or right side."

Excellent find - I had not seen that. It provides an adequate explanation. Not the best design, but I get it.

 

[StudleyBarbour]

Speaker imbalance

Bit of a thread bump, but I just had this experience myself on my new Macbook Pro 15". I normally use headphones or external speakers, which work fine - balance is perfect. But with the internal speakers the sound is noticeably stronger from the right, especially higher notes. With music, all the vocals seem to come from the right speaker. Similarly when watching movies, voices emanate from stage right.

Adjusting the speaker balance slider leftwards didn't seem to help much, and was annoying to reset anyway when I went back onto headphones. Suspecting there was a fault I took it into the Apple store. Two different techs claimed it sounded normal - "within tolerances". Now I have had each one of my 6 flatmates sit in from of this thing and played music at them, asking if they noticed anything. 5 out of 6 said it sounded like the balance was off, with more coming from the right. The sixth is half deaf anyway.

I tried out 3 demo machines at the Apple store today - all 15" Macbook Pros. On every one I got the same thing: the right speaker overshadows the left, giving a mono effect. Now I learn that it is due to the placement of the subwoofer. Searching for similar stories I find threads going back to 2008 with people wondering if their speakers have a fault. They do, but it's an inherent design fault rather than one with their machine.

In a way I am happier to know that "They all do that sir." It's a fantastic machine in all other respects. But it is a bit of a disappointment to find that numerous complaints about speaker imbalance on earlier models have still not been addressed on the new Macbook Pro.

 

[Criticalmass]

Check this out >>>

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3336

Quote:
"You may notice that when you move the Balance slider in the Sound preferences pane far to the left speaker that you can still hear sound from the right side of the MacBook Pro.
This sound is actually generated by the sub-woofer, but because of its placement, the audio from the subwoofer seems to be coming from the right side speaker. Due to the placement
of the subwoofer it is normal for the sound stage to seem shifted slightly towards the right speaker. If you prefer, you can adjust the balance control to shift the sound stage to the left or right side."

Doubtful. because of the low frequencies involved subwoofer placement matters very little as we have a difficult time determining where the sound is coming from. (we, being humans).

Besides, Subwoofer frequencies do not jump into ranges like what is being described here. Apple is covering for a design flaw.

 

[Wafflausages]

Doubtful. because of the low frequencies involved subwoofer placement matters very little as we have a difficult time determining where the sound is coming from. (we, being humans).

Besides, Subwoofer frequencies do not jump into ranges like what is being described here. Apple is covering for a design flaw.

i honestly dont know how there would be a design flaw like this especially with apples engineering. its a subwoofer in a laptop it wont have low enough frequencies for it to have the ability to "hide" its location

 

[randomrazr]

go to settings u can set the balance manually there

the left side i believe has the sub woofer, so that may be why it sounds weird

give it a few days u get use to the speakers