Audio very quiet and tinny

[boristhemoggy]

I've just had a new all-in-one PC built using Windows 7 HP 64 bit SP 1 and the audio is listed as:
Audio Adapter: Intel Cougar Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [B3]
High Definition Audio Codec: RealTek ALC887

The sound is absolutely appalling compared to my laptop, hardly any volume and no bass to speak of.

Is anyone familiar with this hardware and can tell me if there's some secret to enabling it?

 

[boristhemoggy]

I've checked the spec and it says...
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Speakers 2 x INTEGRATED 5W SPEAKERS HIGH QUALITY SPEAKERS

If there is a lot of traffic outside I can barely hear the speakers when a DVD is playing. I have to run it through an amplifier and external speakers. There must be something you can enable here. I've been into the HD audio manager but really there's not much to change. Quadrophonic or stereo...they are both the same. Virtual surround....there's no difference. I could use some help on this.

 

[mantadog]

Hardware buttons to change the volume?
The volume slider in the bottom corner of the screen?

Not familiar with the AIO chassis, though I plan on getting one for business use soon. If you play with the volume what happens? Just get quieter?

 

[boristhemoggy]

Hardware buttons to change the volume?
The volume slider in the bottom corner of the screen?

Not familiar with the AIO chassis, though I plan on getting one for business use soon. If you play with the volume what happens? Just get quieter?

There are hardware buttons on the keyboard but they do same as the volume slider. Yes it goes up and down, but max volume is quite quiet and certainly not 7.1 surround quality. I use this a lot for DVD's so if the sound isn't going to get better than this I need a new sound card.

 

[mantadog]

Its shouldn't be terrible, Might be faulty speakers, best ring PCS and see if they can diagnose it over the phone. It shouldn't be a setting causing this, have you tried a reinstallation of the drivers?

 

[boristhemoggy]

Its shouldn't be terrible, Might be faulty speakers, best ring PCS and see if they can diagnose it over the phone. It shouldn't be a setting causing this, have you tried a reinstallation of the drivers?

I've not tried reinstalling drivers. I think the speakers work fine they're just 2 of them, and they're not very good. But whilst it says 7.1 surround there isn't any such thing on my PC so yes I think I have to ring them again on that expensive number that they use to cream more money off people with a problem :s

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've not tried reinstalling drivers. I think the speakers work fine they're just 2 of them, and they're not very good. But whilst it says 7.1 surround there isn't any such thing on my PC so yes I think I have to ring them again on that expensive number that they use to cream more money off people with a problem :s

The 7.1 stated is what the soundcard is capable of with a 7.1 speaker set attached to the laptop, it has no relevance to the internal speakers (which will be 2.1 at best). Sorry if I'm stating the obvious but it sounds like you're expecting stellar 7.1 without any actual 7.1 arrangement?

 

[boristhemoggy]

I wondered about the 7.1, my laptop had 5.1 and did indeed have 6 speakers in. I think tbh I'm less concerned about how many speakers and more about the quality and volume. It's not loud enough to overcome outside traffic noise, and a variety of music shows that quality is very poor. For 2x 5w speakers you'd expect at least volume if nothing else.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I wondered about the 7.1, my laptop had 5.1 and did indeed have 6 speakers in. I think tbh I'm less concerned about how many speakers and more about the quality and volume. It's not loud enough to overcome outside traffic noise, and a variety of music shows that quality is very poor. For 2x 5w speakers you'd expect at least volume if nothing else.

5 watts is nothing in speaker terms. That setup is designed for a 7.1 speaker arrangement to be added which will use the soundcards full potential.

That being said, have you got the speaker output a s 7.1? If so, as there are only 2 speakers, it would only be sending a small frequency range to the 2 speakers and trying to send the remaining mids and bass frequencies to the other speakers that don't exist. If this is the case, try changing the speaker output to 2.0, or 2 speaker configuration, that would probably improve the overall sound achieved.

 

[boristhemoggy]

No I simply set the speakers to stereo. The only choices I have are stereo or quad. Both sound the same. As I had such top sound in my laptop I expected it in this machine which is much bigger physically. I should have checked as I play music and DVD's all the time, hence the high specced laptop. I don't want separate speakers so may have to look at upgrading altogether