Laptop Audio Amplification

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dannyck

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I have a pretty new toshiba laptop (Satellite M35-s456) that came with a STAC9750TG codec chip sigmatel audio AC'97 Rev 2.2 compatible. However, I just bought the Logitech z-5500 5.1 set and tried to plug it into the headphone jack as an analog stereo set and the amplification was incredibly weak. Although the speaker set said that it had 500 watts rms, it didn't sound even as loud as my friend's 2.1 200 watt set. I was wondering what i had to do to amplify the audio. I bought the soundblaster audigy 2zs notebook sound card in order to be able to plug all three plugs in for 5.1 audio but will that make it louder? What can i do to be able to make the set really loud? any help would be appreciated.
 
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Hello,

As long as all your settings are correct, then you should get more than acceptable volume. Check to make sure that all sound outputs are at max in the Master Volume panel, that all the cables are hooked correctly (very important) and that the volume control knob is up. You might want to check the settings in the Control Panel too.

You definately do not need a secondary amplifier or something else to amplify the sound. Those speakers are more than adequate enough to supply the power needed to crumble the walls of your room!!! Your settings are probably mis-configured, or perhaps even a hardware fault may be causing the issue.

Activating all the satellite speakers in your 5.1 setup won't make the sound louder, but instead extend the audio output. You should be able to feel the bass with your 5.1 setup.
 
I doubt you are expecting too much, I've heard great things about those speakers...and I'm guessing you're not trying to fill a huge room?

As Alvin said, it is very possible that you have some software settings turned down or otherwise wrong somewhere. I would definitely check those first.

However, I believe it is also very possible that the signal that your laptop is putting out from the headphone jack is simply very weak. I don't know the specifics, but I know that your headphone jack is putting out a certain voltage and a certain wattage of electricity (it's signal), meant to power headphones.

As such, if it is a very weak signal, the factory settings on the built-in amplifier on your new speaker system may not be optimized for recieving such a weak signal.

For this very reason, car audio amplifiers (the only external amps I've had experience with) have a variable gain control. This tells the amp what strength of signal it will be recieving from the head unit. Some headunits send a 2.2volt signal, others send a 4 volt signal. The gain would need to be turned up when using the 2.2volt headunit and down when using the 4 volt headunit (relative to eachother). Well, with computer speakers, as far as I know, you are at the mercy of the factory settings (which I'm sure work perfectly under the intended circumstances).

I hope you see how this relates to your situation, because I've realized I'm sort of rambling now :).

So what I suggest that you do, as a last resort, but nonetheless a very promising one, is this: Go to RadioShack, or wherever you prefer, and buy a headphone amplifier. This really isnt much of an amplifier at all, but with such low signal strength it really boosts it a lot. Plug that into your headphone output, and then plug your speakers into it. It should cost about $20. I remember one I was looking at at RadioShack a while back when i first got my laptop was about $20 and had an amp and also provided like 3 additional outputs.

Hope this helps!
 
Oh yea. If you do this, make sure you have the volume on the speakers set very low when you first start testing.

Another oh yea. 200 watts can easily be louder than 500 watts. I don't feel like explaining this very much, but if you look up 'efficiency' on some sort of audio site you will realize how this is possible. Basically, it doesn't matter if you are feeding a speaker 500 watts if it is burning off 400 watts as heat and whatever else it wastes the energy on that we can't hear (not quite sure on that part :)). A more efficient speaker could recieve only 200 watts but only waste 50 of those watts, thus using 150 watts vs 100 to produce sound.

The specifics in my explanation may not be true, but it is the concept that is what matters, and that I know is correct. I said I wasn't going to type about this....damn I'm in a type-itive mood. Like I said, the explanation I gave will give you the right impression of why effeciency of speakers is VERY important in determining volume, not just the fact that you have 1,000 watts going to your audiobahn subwoofer. If you really want to get into it though, go to www.bcae1.com.
 
yeah i get what youre saying....i think the problem is that the headphone jack has a different impedence as the input of the speaker system.
 
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