Vortex II - Audio Guide

[M3zxu]

Since I've seen so many topics about issues with the sound of vortex II here I thought I'd post my 5 cents related to the issue.

I personally own a Vortex II 15" so my experience to differences with the 17" model is limited. The 17" model has a toggle for "enhanced audio", which is FN+5. I haven't heard the difference myself so it's hard to describe what it does. The most plausible explanation that I found was that it would toggle the THX program on/off.

After I got the laptop I installed a clean installation of Windows 7 Ultimate. Then I installed all the drivers included on the CD that came with the laptop. It is important to install both the realtek drivers and the THX Trustudio Pro. I also noticed that the sound was a bit silent at the beginning so I started to look into it - nowadays I rarely raise my volume above 50%. A word of warning - while the laptop does okay in terms of movies and games, you just won't get the same kind of audio experience even by trying out the settings in this guide as you would get from your Ipod.

When using the laptops speakers, it is essential to make sure you have set the speaker configuration to either 5.1 or 7.1 in realtek control panel. This depends on your own personal taste on which sound image you like better out of the two. You can also turn off rear speakers after making this change as they are not really present (17" version has them) but after testing, the signal that would go to rear speakers is guided to the front ones.

THX panel is where the tweaking is done.
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Surround: This is pretty self explanatory, but reducing the value can boost your laptop speaker volume. However, my advice is to toy with it and pick a level where you like the sound

Crystalizer: Boosts bass and treble.

Speaker: This one makes rather little difference, my personal opinion is to leave it at the default level.

Smart Volume: This one should be maxed to boost overall volume.

Dialog Plus: Boosts vocal range in music and movies, tune to your preference. Can also be left off if you don't think you need it.

Smart Volume is the main thing here, maxing it will boost the volume quite a bit. This is pretty much all that is necessary to tweak the performance of the laptop speakers.



Headphones:

The main reason for the poor performance of headphones I've found to be is that when you plug them in THX recognizes them as "external speakers". The fix is to go to the THX Trustudio panel again and to open the drop down menu and pick options. It will show three devices and you should pick the option "headphones", this will make all the difference in the world. The sound image will be completely different. When you do do this, you also get to the option to change "crossover frequency". This means that you can select the frequency point where the audio output to your headphones is split into two - low and high frequencies. Try out this option to find you perfect settings. I am looking into why headphones aren't automatically recognized or why there isn't a popup to pick which type of device was plugged in.



Hopefully this will help people struggling with the audio issues. The guide itself is very much a work in progress right now.

*** Last Update 13/03/12 ****

[JakAttack]

Very helpful M3zxu, thank you! Also helps out with the Vortex II 17" variant.

Edit: Made this a sticky as it's very useful.

[AndyL]

1) There's a fundamental difference between Vortex II 15" and 17". In 17" issues are generally fixed by pressing keyboard combination Fn+5 which turns on all speakers.

On my Vortex 17" the Fn+5 doesnt do anything.

[M3zxu]

@ AndyL

Thanks for the info. I did some more research and even the manual is pretty unclear of what it does. However, it is said that it is a toggle between "standard" and "enhanced" audio. Another source said that it's a toggle for THX Trustudio Pro. There also seems to be a difference in the effect depending on whether you have configured audio to stereo or quadrophonic/5.1/7.1.

[gstoyle]

Thanks for tips.

I got a Vortex II 17" a couple of weeks ago. Initially a default audio driver was installed which gave mediocre sound performance but didn't allow access to the THX control panel.

I've since installed the Realtek drivers from the CD and played around with the settings as described here. The result is a bit disappointing - very tinny sound with no bass whatsoever! My older, much cheaper laptop had much better sound.

I think I might just put the default Windows drivers back on, although that seems a bit daft. Does anyone have any suggestions to improve the audio? Maybe I'm missing something?

Many thanks in advance.

[M3zxu]

You can try installing the latest Realtek Drivers from this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sage...er-thread.html (go to last pages to see most up to date ones).

For 17", the toggle fn+5 is important. There isn't much to do in realtek settings except for making sure speaker configuration is 5.1. Then you have to check that THX is on and settings are being used. You can use the following video to test if the sub is on at all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC7WEQsiz08 .

[gstoyle]

You can try installing the latest Realtek Drivers from this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sage...er-thread.html (go to last pages to see most up to date ones).

For 17", the toggle fn+5 is important. There isn't much to do in realtek settings except for making sure speaker configuration is 5.1. Then you have to check that THX is on and settings are being used. You can use the following video to test if the sub is on at all http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC7WEQsiz08 .

Thanks for that

I've tried installing the latest Realtek drivers but unfortunately they render THX inoperable - it just says device not supported. Fn+5 doesn't do anything with either driver installed.

If I install the driver on the disk supplied with the laptop I can use THX (Fn+5 still doesn't work though). However, although there is a slight improvement in sound it's still nowhere near what I would expect from a £1800 laptop! There is no bass whatsoever. I also tried the THX sub test you suggested on Youtube - the sound is barely audible but it does make a noise...bit like a wet fart!

Do you think there's a problem with this laptop?

[venomco]

On my Vortex II, Fn+5 turns the sub on underneath the laptop - a very clear difference.

The thing that seems to have solved all my problems with sound has been to turn on "Loudness Equalization" - It makes the speakers far louder and much less tinny.

To turn LE on:

1. Right Click the (white) speaker icon in the system tray (bottom right)
2. Open Volume Mixer
3. Click on the Speaker Icon - not the drop down menu
4. You should now see 'Speakers Properties' with 4 tabs
5. Select the 'Enhancements' tab
6. Select 'Immediate Mode'
7. Select 'Loudness Equalization'
8. Click Apply

Ta daaa!

[Jiyuu]

Thank you Venomco, that worked perfectly!

[AndyL]

On my Vortex 17" the Fn+5 doesnt do anything.

OK, so rather embarrassingly I have to admit that I was wrong, it does infact turn on more speakers (which make the sound much better and louder!)