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Stereo sound on 2007 Macbook?

E

Elwood128

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2009
3
0
I bought my Macbook in July 2007 and believe it or not I never noticed whether or not it had stereo output. :confused: I think it must have, otherwise I would have noticed it before. I know Macbook Air is mono, but I can't find any info on the white Macs. I checked sound under system preferences, but the only option is to adjust the balance which is normal.
 
The output is all Stereo. The output via internal speakers are Stereo for the MacBook (Pro) but it is Mono for the MacBook Air since there is only 1 speaker.
 
Ok so how do I get it to play sound from the right speaker? My music sounds lame in mono :(
 
Ok I guess the left speaker is the only one being used because for example when a second guitar comes in that's supposed to be on the right it's silent and I only hear whatever's coming from the left speaker.
 
Elwood128 said:
Ok I guess the left speaker is the only one being used because for example when a second guitar comes in that's supposed to be on the right it's silent and I only hear whatever's coming from the left speaker.
Click to expand...

It could be the song/file you're trying to play. The plastic macbooks have 3 speakers. Left is louder then the right side. However, the right side uses 2 (Speaker + subwoofer) to match the same sound. (I might have got the left/right mixed up)

longball11 said:
Man Ive got a black Macbook and the sound sucks compared to my XPS m170.
Click to expand...

Huge difference. You're comparing a 13" vs a 17" beast.
 
ayeying said:
It could be the song/file you're trying to play. The plastic macbooks have 3 speakers. Left is louder then the right side. However, the right side uses 2 (Speaker + subwoofer) to match the same sound. (I might have got the left/right mixed up)



Huge difference. You're comparing a 13" vs a 17" beast.
Click to expand...

17''??!! It's only 15''.
 
ayeying said:
It could be the song/file you're trying to play. The plastic macbooks have 3 speakers. Left is louder then the right side. However, the right side uses 2 (Speaker + subwoofer) to match the same sound. (I might have got the left/right mixed up)
Click to expand...

Isn't that just on the new ones or the white MacBooks too?
 
I just tried it in garageband, the left chanel has only one speaker where as the right has the "woofer"... Kind of stupid considering only one connection would have made the woofer mono and have the other ones true stereo. Still shouldn't be all that annoying as most low isn't hard panned, usually. And the overall sound quality isn't all that great to start with either.
 
paolo- said:
I just tried it in garageband, the left chanel has only one speaker where as the right has the "woofer"... Kind of stupid considering only one connection would have made the woofer mono and have the other ones true stereo. Still shouldn't be all that annoying as most low isn't hard panned, usually. And the overall sound quality isn't all that great to start with either.
Click to expand...

How can you even tell, the macbook has barely any bass response!
Also, woofers filter out high frequencies, if you have a surround sound system and unplug all the other speakers leaving only the woofer, there will be no high response.

Therefore I assumed the macbook had a 2.1 speaker set-up. But since the speakers are so close together, I only ever notice panning when a sound is 100% panned to left or right
 
seb-opp said:
How can you even tell, the macbook has barely any bass response!
Also, woofers filter out high frequencies, if you have a surround sound system and unplug all the other speakers leaving only the woofer, there will be no high response.

Therefore I assumed the macbook had a 2.1 speaker set-up. But since the speakers are so close together, I only ever notice panning when a sound is 100% panned to left or right
Click to expand...

The single speaker has a high frequency response while the other has a lower one. True the bass is hardly noticible, but put it next to your ear and you'll hear a difference.
 
seb-opp said:
How can you even tell, the macbook has barely any bass response!
Also, woofers filter out high frequencies, if you have a surround sound system and unplug all the other speakers leaving only the woofer, there will be no high response.

Therefore I assumed the macbook had a 2.1 speaker set-up. But since the speakers are so close together, I only ever notice panning when a sound is 100% panned to left or right
Click to expand...

I made a synthesizer patch that spreads quite wide in the audio spectrum. I played it centered, pan left then pan right. There was clearly less bass at left.

Here's what I think the setup is :2 identical speakers for left and right spread left and right. A center woofer that plays only the lower tones. But the center woofer is plugged in with the right speaker but is fairly centered in the laptop. So, it only plays the bass that are in the right channel. It's not 2.1, it's stereo 2.0 but with two speakers on the right channel.

Kind of like this :

............left regular speaker
........../
amp--
.........\ low frequency speaker
..........\ /
...........right regular speaker

(dots are only there because the forum removes empty spaces at the begining of a line.)

I don't think there was an argument here, but as I said, unless you're playing hard-panned music witch is quite unusual, mind you should be noticeable in say beatles song, snow hey oh by the red hot chilli pepers (the guitar is panned right). I never really noticed before I tried it, but now it's fairly noticeable that the left side of the laptop is quieter.
 
Stereo sound guys. Welcome to the 1980's :D :apple:

The first time I found out that my Macbook only had one speaker, I seriously cringed a little. Such is life though.
 
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