My PC speakers are too soft

Is it possible that your old computer had the amplifiers on the sound card and your speakers have no amps? This kind would not have a power supply wall wart. You might try some new amplified speakers. Glenn Gundlach

This is a very typical complaint when playing DVD movies on a PC, especially a laptop. Is that what you are doing?

One possibility: your proud new "XP PC" has a cheesy sound chip. After you check all the software settings (to make sure you don't have volume turned down somewhere in the MS muddle), buy a reasonable sound card.

Another possibility, less likely but cheaper and easier to fix: you have the speakers plugged into the "line out" port instead of the "speaker out" port.

-- Al Brennan

I had a similar problem. It turns out that one of the volume controls for a seemingly unrelated partion of the sound system was turned way down. IIRC it was the Line In control (Control Panel/Sound*/??). I am not at an XP computer right now (win2000, so the controls are not the same) -- I am describing it from memory.

Just keep looking in the Control Panel, in the Sound devices for a control window that has a bunch of volume controls (Microphone, Speaker, Line Out, Line In, etc.) and "play" with those -- one of them might fix the problem.

Hope this helps.

Hmm. What's a "standard" PC?

-- Al Brennan

It was a rhetorical question. There was no need to embarrass yourself further by answering. As a matter of fact, the "speaker out" is the terminal that is most often missing from the simpler sound configurations, as most speakers built for PC are powered.

No matter. Since you know, without asking, all about the configuration of the man's computer, go ahead and use your telekinesis powers to fix it. Let us know how that works out.

-- Al Brennan

"line out port" ? if there was any, yes.... but it's a "line in" on a standard pc

have

simple : at current time an ATX mobo, and even most sound cards haven't got a line out

After

volume

Care to recommend one specifically? I don't know of any currently available that have onboard amplifiers. The OP needs some "reasonable" amplified speakers. Most new boards have either a Realtek or C-Media (weaker features) sound chipset, no power amp. The days of 5W output sound cards is likely gone forever.

have

The green jack (usually) *is* a line-out, it just happens to be adjustable. The blue jack is line-in (or optionally the rear outs) and the pink is the mic connector (or optionally the front center and subwoofer outs).

definition of "line out" :

- An analog port for a sound device that allows a device to send a line-level audio signal and has no amp on the signal path. This is opposed to an amplified signal on a speaker out port which has usually low impedance

- fixed level (0.7 ... 1.2Vpp)

- output impedance 800...1200 Ohm

I also wonder how a "line out" even could be mixed up/interchanged for a "speaker out" since a speaker connected to a "line out" would only produce say 1mWpp of power, so it can hardly be heard

The statement remains : a common soundcard / PC has NO "line out" in *any way* since "speaker out" and "line out" are not interchangable (however, a "speaker out" *can* be used as a "line out" if the voltage level remains low enough bu adjusting volume, but distortion might arise since no impedace matching exists)

Wow, you have some kind of grudge going or something? I'll take a minute and answer some of your objections. It would have been nice for you to identify message ID's, but I know that strained emotions sometimes interfere with rational thought.

First, in message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com I said: ==

The tolerance. I think gold is 1%. == "I think gold is 1%." That's not a claim, that's a guess, a dim recollection if you like. If it bothered you so much, you could have corrected me then. I guess I should take this opportunity to correct you, in that I did not "claim that it was 5%," but rather guessed that it was 1%. Forgive me if I do not make my correction in the same childish and scolding manner as yours.

Your second objection apparently deals with this message: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com

What is your point about impotency? I don't follow your logic, would you care to explain where you got that idea? Attempting to read my own post objectively (a tough task but I tried), I see frustration with bureaucracy. What position of great power do you hold? What allows you to read that frustration as impotence, and why does it disturb you so?

Finally, what do you mean by a "rhetorical question dodge?" I posted a couple of suggestions, and I got flamed. Ok, fine. I flamed back, I suppose too subtly for some of the crew. You see, I believe there is no such thing as a standard PC. I have about eight different types of motherboards in my den, five working (the others too old to mess with), and all five are different in many respects, from type of memory to type of processor to bus board configurations, etc. Perhaps you'd care to let me know how many PCI slots a standard PC has? Is the video AGP, PCI Express, or just PCI? Does it have SATA or not? What brand BIOS does a standard PC have? C'mon John, my question was dripping with sarcasm. "What is a standard PC?" Do you truly not see the irony?

Simply focusing on the subject of sound cards, the array of what can be purchased is almost dizzying. Go to Frye's and browse their inventory. Go to a store such as Guitar Center, and see the kinds of things a serious musician can plug into a computer.

Take a look at these messages: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com

And tell me where I'm "intent on gradually turning [my]self into an authoritarian dick." Do you notice in that last message where I tell the poster I am replying to "...that sounds like a great suggestion...?"

John, what's your beef? Are you the newsgroup doorman, and did I forget to bring my invitation?

-- Al Brennan

Al, FYI :

- *anyone* being really involved in electronics (be it PC or otherwise) *knows* the meaning of the coloured bands on components, so 'guessing' is beside all professionalism as far as I see it...

- the point was SOUND CARD I/O, and not mobo's or whatever else, so I don't see the point of getting those in to make your point since *most* users only see what's outside a PC

- and since *most* of us are no guitarists, *most* of us (+/- 95% ?) have "standard" sound card connections thus having *NO* line out (ok, non standard things do exist I must admit, I even *designed (=HW) AND programmed (=SW)* some of those as well in as out of PC environment, but are those the point in this 'generic' discussion ??)

- and for the definition of "line out", see my previous mailing at news:c8nPd.9829$ snipped-for-privacy@phobos.telenet-ops.be so there's no mixup in "line out" and "speaker out" to 'sarcasm' on ;-))

- and for the remark /quote/ "As a matter of fact, the "speaker out" is the terminal that is most often missing from the simpler sound configurations, as most speakers built for PC are powered" /end quote/: *every* (even the simplest) sound card has a "speaker out" terminal, it's where one connects the speakers. It's a normalized 'regulated amplified output' capable of driving real low-impedance speakers. Reading the definition of 'line out' makes clear they are not interchangable and thus a "standard PC" has *NO* "line out".

You didn't note the rather obvious quotation marks then. It's pretty obvious by the rest of your post that, even though I took a lot of time and patiently responded to your insulting first post, that you only care to respond to your very shallow first impression of me with repeated insults based on nothing more than some obsessed inner hatred of people who dare to express their opinions.

If you have no intention of going over every post of mine, then why did you do it in the first place? If you're going to obsess, then obsess with gusto!

One of us did. I gave it a chance, I responded to your insults with rationality. You responded with more and increasingly bitter insults, and no substance. It's pretty obvious which one of us is "mean spirited."

I'll continue to post as I wish here. You may continue to obsess, or you may ignore. I really don't care one way or the other, people like you aren't worth getting upset about. Life's too short for such juvenile indulgences.

-- Al Brennan

This is a discussion forum. The question posed asked what the band meant. I responded, "Tolerance." That's a correct answer. I then posited a guess as to what tolerance it is. There's no shame in making a mistake, especially when it is admitted up front that it's a guess.

You're repeating a mistake. The bottom-dollar on-board sound will have a line-out, not a speaker-out, as myself and others have stated. Now, take a look at what you are saying here, and read your admonition in your first paragraph about my misguided guess.

But - "line out" is an indication that the signal requires amplification. It does ill service to start throwing around terms too loosely, redefining them at will. Again, read your first paragraph. If you preach it, you should live it. Myself, I'm willing to cut breaks in the hopes that the favor will be returned. We all make mistakes.

And oh by the way, thanks for not turning this into an insult fest. FWIW, I suppose I was a little curt in previous statements, so I apologize for that, and appreciate that we could communicate as adults.

-- Al Brennan

Hey Kim, This happened to me once and I was trying everything to fix it and it was operator error. Did you double click the speaker icon and turn up wave, SW synth and anything else you might see? My problem was the CD audio turned way down and I was using a good set of desk speakers with it's volume turned up.

-Ray

In addition to all the good suggestions everyone pointed out, you might also try the Volume Up/Volume Down keys on your keyboard - on my home computer, they are above the numeric keypad on the right, next to the Sleep button.

That is, if your computer has these buttons above the numeric keypad.

Mike