My experience with speakers and screen tint on new AW14

2 things I wanted to share with you guys:

1: Try setting the speakers to Dolby (music preset) and just turn off the graphic equalizer completely. Sound is still really loud, but less distorted. Play music on your computer, do not stream anything

2. This could be my imagination, but when I got this laptop I was like "ugh this screen has a yellow tint and I hate it." I installed the windows 8 pro pack yesterday, and my screen is amazing now. I swear it has changed and the tint is completely gone, but that doesn't make any sense and I'm not 100% sure it isn't my imagination (but really I am sure). It isn't just the brightness, the tint is gone at all levels and I just say "wow" every time I look at my start screen

Anyways take all that with a grain of salt, I expect very mixed results from anyone that might try any of this, but that's been my experience so far. Hope it helps

 

Thanks for the feedback. Did you get the 1080p screen or the 720p one? just curious.

 

1080p, although I can see why some people would want the lower res screen... I have everything set to like 150% zoom haha

 

Thanks for the feedback, we appreciate that

 

Windows 8.1 is supposedly going to fix scaling issues.

 

What does windows 8 pro pack do to fix that yellow tint on the display? What is windows 8 pro pack anyway? Does it work on regular windows 7 or windows 8 non pro AW14?

 

ReadandBlack - I'm not sure if your yellow tint issue related to some color space or ICC profile, but I'll be providing a color calibrated ICC profile for the ISP panel once my 14 arrives.

 

Honestly I have no idea what it would do or why--the only reason I think there is any correlation at all is because I installed windows 8 (yellow) applied pro pack (yellow gone) reinstalled windows 8 from scratch (yellow) reapplied pro pack (yellow gone). The pro pack upgrades windows 8 to windows 8 pro (same as what the windows 8 pro upgrade does for windows 7--they are the same thing but for different starting points). I certainly wouldn't recommend getting it just for the tint, especially since slickie is going to post his calibrated color profile soon, but I am curious if the people complaining of yellow tint all have home versions of windows 8.

Again, there really should be no reason for the screen to look any different, it just does.

 

Well the tint is gone now, but I'll definitely check that out when you post it. Thanks for the heads up

 

R&B - I also do not understand why the tint is appearing or disappearing based on the windows 8 versions, but it is weird that it is consistent for you multiple times. As long as it is working fine, I do not care lol
Thank you Slickie.

 

Got my alienware 14 and my subwoofer doesnt seem to work. I tried uninstalling audio drivers and re-installing, and nothing fixes it. Tried changing settings to activate the sub and nothing works.

Also, is there a way to turn off the t-pad? the FN+F11 doesnt work

 

you should be able to right click on the Alienware logo in the running processes in the taskbar and click go dark. It should turn off all the lighting zones. As to the subwoofer, I'm not familiar with the 14's Internals as I haven't had a chance to play with one yet. You should probably call up support and see if they can help you troubleshoot it.

 

i re-installed the touchpad drivers, and that fixed the issue with the touchpad not turning off. But I opened up the laptop and played music and had my finger on the sub and it's def not playing music. My m14xr2 had a nice amount of thump, this one has none. I guess i have to call now and deal with dell's terrible customer service. I never get anywhere talking to them.......

 

Call alienware and not dell, they are much more helpful from my experience.

 

No need to call, send me a PM with your service tag and I'll look into it.

 

I'm having the same issue, and I opened up the back to see if I could discover whether the subwoofer was working, and I honestly don't see it. Where should I be looking?

 

so what was the outcome of this? was it a unit with faulty hardware? or a setting needed enabling?

 

The subwoofer is right beneath the palmrest, in the front part of the laptop. It looks like this

We're currently working on it, if you're experiencing a similar issue please feel free to send me your information.

 

i'm almost about ready to pull the trigger and order my 14. but the reports of subwoofer not working are putting the order on hold and concern me. another poster has just said

 

I contacted Alienware and they said this lack of bass is normal on the new Alienware 14. As long as you can feel the vibration either around the track pad or on the bottom of the machine the sub woofer is working normally.. Seems like they dropped the ball on this one!

 

and can you feel the vibration as advised?

Nexus 4 via Tapatalk 2

 

hmm strange, I guess if I do end up buying one I might be trying to figure out a way to boost the base.

 

This was the whole process:

He took me to a youtube video that was named: the sub woofer test.
After playing it he said to feel the bottom of the laptop where I couldn't feel any vibration.
Then I told him I felt a vibration behind my touch pad. He referred to his technician and proceeded to tell me that the sub woofer was working normally
So at the bottom of the laptop, No i don't feel it but behind the touch pad, yes there is a vibration.

The bass on this laptop is minimal if this is normal, which kind of sucks to be honest.

 

I don't think that this is the case. My guess is that you're feeling vibration from the normal speakers, which, when equalized, are actually pretty respectable. I feel a faint level of bass vibration in the laptop, as well, but it's obviously coming from the speakers above the keyboard.

I'm confident that our subwoofers aren't working properly or at all.

 

Well the alienware people arent doing anything about it then. They were willing to change my machine but I don't have time. I asked for a technician for this and another problem they are sending a technician for the other problem but this they said was normal.

 

i phoned alienware direct today on 0800 2799751. i wanted to get some feedback from them before placing a £1200 order. the guy i spoke to was not aware of any subwoofer 'issue'. so he put me on hold for a couple of minutes and spoke with his team. coming back to me, he said they were not aware of any 'issue' either.

 

Anyone with experience with Alienware before know what to do here?

 

I just tried a couple of "subwoofer test" videos on YouTube, and all I hear is a faint whispering sound. No vibration, no bass. Not sure if that's handy info to anyone, but I figured I'd mention it.

I'd say just wait it out. The reps on this forum are aware and have a ticket in to figure it out. Support wouldn't have any knowledge of this yet. Dell isn't going to publicly admit to an issue like this as being anything serious at this point.

It sucks for now, but I have some confidence that the reps will come back and let us know what's going on once they find out. Either give it some time (and send them your info) or return it if it's going to be a big issue for you.

 

If I go to either of these subwoofer test videos

THX Subwoofer Test - YouTube
Bass Test 100 Hz to 5 Hz Ultimate Subwoofer Bass Test - YouTube

all I can hear is some extremely faint crackling IF I turn the volume up all the way. That to me = non-functional. Looking at the Dolby EQ I can see that the audio processor is supposedly playing something in the appropriate ranges, but it's just not being output. No vibration either.

 

Hopefully its just a software oversight and can be fixed with a quick bios update. This should have been fixed during before release.

 

Yep I'm just waiting it out for now.. I've already given my info to a rep and hes looking into the issue. Lets keep our fingers crossed!

 

Those tests might be a bit ambitious for the size of the 14's "subwoofer." Most full size subs output between 20-200 Hz (and humans typically can't hear frequencies below 20 Hz) and they're like 6 inches+ in diameter. I don't know how big the sub in the 14 is but I'd imagine its probably around 1 inch (the size of tweeters, which output 0 bass).

I'm not saying the subwoofer is working normally btw, just saying that those tests are probably a bit unrealistic for the Alienware 14.

 

Agreed. So I ran some tests and it would appear that the woofer is only capable of playing back ~145Hz and greater. At least I think it's the sub that's playing it back. Will have to test further once I leave work. I'm in a really loud datacenter atm..

 

I just received my 14 today. Still checking everything out. Played a blu ray and music and my sub is definitly working. Can you all feel the vibrations underneath your palmrest? Mine is pretty noticeable and I can hear it from the front. I'm loving this thing so far. I have so much crap to put on it from work and play I believe it will take most of the weekend. Yea! I hope you guys get your sub problems resolved.

 

any updates from the tech team on this luis?

 

I received my 14 a couple days ago. I've had approximately 18-20 notebooks so far. To date the best laptop I've owned in respect to sound is a MSI GT70. That being said this is my third AW machine. The sound from my 14 sounds much better than the g75vc I own that is going to my daughter now that I've tested and decided to keep the 14, I like it that much. For a 14 laptop with this kind of power te soun is great. Battlefield 3 had a deep rich sound. I actually enjoyed playing without headphones for once.

The screen (I got the hi res screen) to me is stunning. I have it sitting beside my rMBP (15 inch) and the s teen on this little machine is great. I did calibrate it withy spyder 4 elite calibrator. It did make a difference, especially when I'm looking at my captures in Lightroom. But before I actually calibrated it I was happy with it.

Great machine AW! And the fort AW I have owned that I like, think is worth the premium and had given me that apple feeling of quality I never got with windows machines.

 

I just got a brand new alienware 14, and the sub sounds like its not working at all.

The equalizer software also does nothing, and it does not appear as a tab within the sound control panel for the audio device (which I have seen online on videos for others).

My alienware M14XR2 had way better audio than this, even though I am pretty sure I blew the sub within the first 5 minutes of having it. I think maybe I should just have opened a support ticket for my M14XR2 and perhaps rethought the purchase of this new Alienware 14.

I have an extremely hard time believing that I am the only person having issues with their sound with this machine, and there are no solutions available.

 

There is a new bios update dated 10/25/2013 taking this unit to A06. Now my dolby EQ works, but it still sounds like an old AM handheld radio, but now it has equalization. Also still no Dolby tab in sound control panel, I have seen pictures of people that have this, but I still do not. I can not be sure that this is a problem or not because maybe that tab only shows up with some older driver.......

Very not impressed.

 

at least their support is good as always, I dont know why people say such bad stuff about their support.

They are shipping new subwoofer and entire speaker array, should be replaced in a couple days. I will report if this addresses the issue, and to what degree, after this occurs.

 

I would be very interested in this report. I cannot tell if my sub is working or not. I thought I felt a faint vibration on the trackpad but am uncertain, it could be in my head LOL. Do you think taking off the back cover and feeling or looking underneath will help better identify this issue?

 

OK so they replaced the speaker array, and the sub woofier. Doing sub woofer tests resulted in mostly silence, or limited tiny clicks (short static bursts).

After the new sub was inserted, it was EXACTLY THE SAME.

By turning off the dolby software (or by turning off the surround virtualization in dolby if im not mistaken gave same results) the sub woofer tests would actually have bass come out of the woofer instead of just silence or clicks.

After all this, the tech said alienware support wanted me to contact them directly as they want to work further to address my dissatisfaction if possible. I have not called them yet as I am playing with settings etc to maximize performance before I make the call.



To recap: the dolby software was not working at all, PLUS I had 0 sub output until I did the 10/25 bios update. After this, I had the entire speaker array and the subwoofer replaced by support. Still no GOOD fix. Disable Dolby software: got bass output instead of silence or clicks. Still sucks.

nearly final verdict: The software is badly configured but correctable. BIOS update seems necessary to some degree (it was for me). I guess the nearly final verdict is THIS SUBWOOFER SUCKS, EVEN ONCE YOU GET IT WORKING.



Hope this clears up any confusion some people may have, as there is a definite difference between not working / barely working / and just sucking but fully "working". 3 different levels of suck, but all different.


My M14XR2 had way better subwoofer output.


So does anyone have any fixes for the "yellow" display?

 

I found out that the tint is completely gone in switchable mode, while it is very obvious when I am in dedicated mode.