W3J: adjusting speaker volume

Just in case some of you fellow W3J owners haven't noticed yet: the speaker volume can also be adjusted in the BIOS. The factory setting default is at level 4.. you can set it up to 8 max. This explains why the speaker sound was low.

 

would you concider the sound level at the true max volume to be adequate? What is the sound quality at that level? Is there bass? Could you annoy the neighbours?

 

Wow thats great news! I havn't picked up a W3j yet, but would you mind taking a pic of what you have to change in the BIOS, and how you did it? Also, does it sound ok, maxed out at volume level 8? Is it double the sound? I would imagine that it might be a little distorted at high volumes. But that was actually a big disapointment to me, the speakers on the W3j. Maybe its not too bad after all. Great find! +rep

 

are you sure this just isnt for the asus screen at the very beginning of the boot?

 

Comparing with my Z70va.. when set to max volume, the sound is still slightly lower.. but then again.. the Z70va has 4 speakers compared to the 2 the W3J has. The placement of the speaker and how it is angled down doesn't help push the sound out much also. For me it is adequate. I mean you really can't expect much out of notebook speakers.. especially for a 14". There is not much bass to it.. mostly treble. And no.. it's def not loud enough to annoy the neighbors.

No distortion at all. I actually watched a DVD on my W3J last night with just the speakers to test it, and it sounded fine. I'm at work right now, but I'll see if I can borrow a digital cam later to show you the BIOS setting.. If I don't get a hold of one.. I'll just write down the steps to get to it... not hard at all. If the speakers are the only thing holding you back from getting the W3J.. I say don't worry about it and just go for it!

At first I thought that it was just for the bootup screen.. but after changing the BIOS volume setting down to low.. I noticed that the speaker sound while in Windows became lower too.. I'll keep testing with other programs and games though. But as far as I know.. from my personal experience.. it should also affect the Windows sound.

 

Are you serious? I'm only asking because a question like this could come out of a lot of members and be totally serious..... if you are, snap back to reality.... the speakers on any laptop are smaller than your thumb...... on a 14" notebook like the W3, most people should say they need or would like external speakers in order to fill their room with sound..... the speakers are not meant for more than personal enjoyment and at the size they have to be to fit into something like the W3 or the W7, that would have to be personal enjoyment in a decently quiet room....... you're not going to hear anything from the speakers if you're say in a subway station.....

 

Quite serious... except the neighbours part.. lol

 

Wait can anyone give me step by step instructions how to find the volume control? For the life of me I can't find it anywhere in the BIOS.

 

ok, this is the step, pleaser follow it one by one....
1) press F2 to go to BIOS when starting up the machine
2) move the cursor to "Advanced"
3) move down to "Speaker Volume", default is "4"
4) adjust the volume up to "8", max only up to "8"
5) exit and "save changes and exit"

After booting up the windows, you will feel that sound is a little bit bigger than before.
Thanks
Joseph

 

^ Thanks Joseph! I was gonna type that up once I got home from work (per Jason's and royrules22's requests above), but you saved me the time!

 

Ok.. after doing some more tests in a real quiet room.. I feel that I have to take back my original post. I really thought that my initial change from level 4 volume to 8 in the BIOS made a real small increase in volume.. but after testing over and over on different volume level settings (lowest 0 - max 8) and with different types of media.. I didn't hear the change I thought I heard the other day. I guess that unconsciously, I really wanted the volume to increase, so my mind must've been playing tricks on me. So I apologize for getting your hopes up. I would still like others to test for themselves though.. to make sure that I'm not just crazy.. so please let me know if changing the settings work for you. Thanks.

 

Jerk


You're forgiven... for now *points finger*

 

Haha.. thank you kind sir for your forgiveness!
But it wasn't just me.. MilestonePC also noticed a difference.. so maybe the W3J has mood swings?

 

Well I must find at times that the speakers could do with being a bit louder, at full volume I am trying to get closer to the laptop to hear soft dialogue in movies better. However the most important thing for me is quality and using headphones the sound is fine and this thing would rock if was hooked up to a descent stereo system! to be honest most laptop speakers are minimal at best and I was planning to buy additional speakers even before I got the W3J.

My friend at work said he has used software to boost the Volume on his old laptop, he was going to find a link for me, but hasnt got round to it yet, but here is one I found (I only had a quick look)

http://www.maxxplayer.com/pdf/technical01.pdf

Another thing I have done in the past is on car stereo speakers if you install a capacitor in series with the speakers it acts as a low end crossover cutting off the bass, also when doing that the power (not used for bass) increases power for other frequencies, thus increasing volume (I used to use this method if you had systems with subs, if you put caps on the normal speakers it cutts out the bass (which is normally the frequency that makes them distort anyay) and that means that the sub is handles low frequencies and the other speakers handle the high end, and at a much higher volume. and laptops dont reproduce bass anyway, so that wouldnt be missed.

One problem, I had a quick look and the seakers are not easily accessible, so wouldnt want to void my warantee ripping into it

but have a look online and see what you can find, I am sure there will be apps to increase the volume

 

I thought I was going crazy when I couldn't find the Speaker Volume option in the BIOS, but this happened because I disabled the "Play POST Sound." So far, the only change in volume comes in the POST sound (the chime that plays when the ASUS screen pops up). I haven't noticed any changes in the operating volume, even when it's switched from 4 to 0.

 

Sorry ledzepp14, it give you a trouble. The volume level only have an effect from "Play POST Sound" when Asus and Centrio logo pop up on screen, but it is not any change under the Windows even playing the music. End up, the BIOS cannot give user any suprise for adjusting the volume from speakers.

Cheers,
Joseph

 

It's cool.. at least we all know now that we have the option to adjust the BIOS sound level and even turn it off. I have my W3J hooked up to an external sound system and a sub most of the time anyway.. so the internal notebook speaker volume level is not really an issue for me.