Upgrading internal speakers

So as some of you may know I have a PS157SM notebook and wanted to upgrade the internal speakers to something else, since they are REALLY tinny.

I know the best solution would be to get external speakers, but i actually look for an internal solution. I know the speakers are 2.2watt so I was wondering if I could simply take Macbook speakers (they are 2w as far as my research showed me) and replace them with my Onkyo ones?

Or if anyone knows even better 2W speakers i'd appreciate info about them. Also can i simply switch them out without issues or will i face some issues down the line?

 

Sure, it's just a voltage + ground and draw is similar, so this should be plug & play.

That's not to say it will have a better sound, of course, since the dac and amplifier are also different. Better do a dry run first and only work on fitting it inside after you're satisfied it will make an improvement.

 

I'm rather a newbie when it comes to that kind of stuff. Mind explaining a bit?

I'm not sure what Dac is and didn't know that my notebook had an amplifier? How to i change anything on those things? Since you did mention that you can improve on those.

Also would I be able to build higher Wattage speakers in my notebook despite having 2.2watt as standard? Or would the mainboard not deliver enough power?

 

Ah ... well, you need something to translate bits to a varying electrical current, which is necessary because your speakers are basic electromagnets. Wikipedia will do an infinitely better job than I ever could; Digital-to-analog converter.

Don't worry about that part though; you can't change anything here anyway, the audio circuit being embedded in the motherboard. Just solder the voltage and ground wires to the new speakers and see if these will do better. If you're lucky then they have identical connectors, so it'd be plug&play. If the cable length doesn't match that's of no concern for testing purposes; leave them dangling outside the laptop and make a cursory comparison. Could leave left speaker to stock and swap only the right speaker, that'd make it easier to compare (after volume-adjusting each separately, of course).

 

So basicially I'll cut the wires, solder the new speakers on and see what happens.

As far as I read there should be no issue getting 4w speakers instead of my current 2 watt speakers. Since that all is getting handles at the speaker itself, is that about right?

Also I have a question about the Subwoofer:
I have a subwoofer here from an HP notebook, it's rather big and I thought about replacing that thing with the small one the clevo already has, BUT i heard from a friend that i could break something due to different resistance, and before I break something I wanted to ask about that as well. What do I have to look for when I want to replace that thing?

 

If you hook up higher rated speakers it depends on the circuitry, it could either blow it or just be quiet.

 

↑ What your friend and Meaker said.

 

How can I check if the speakers are compatible without blowing them up?

I get my multimeter tomorrow so i can start measure things. When would you not recommend trying it out?

 

When you buy them see what they are rated for.

 

I was considering those speakers:
https://www.amazon.com/60YWR-L521X-Replacement-Speakers-Right/dp/B00UX3628I

But as far as i read they are 4-Watt stereo speakers, while the current ones are 2.2Watt speakers. So if I build them into the notebook they will basicially blow up or be very quiet?

 

I've not analysed the audio circuitry in that detail, it's not a popular mod.

 

Guess it's up to try and see what happens....

So if i should try it out, the worst that could happen is that the speakers/Subwoofer break, but not the mainboard right? becausse the subwoofer i got is pulled from an already broken notebook, so if it breaks, I wouldn¨t mind, but if the board from my P157sm breaks that'd be a problem.

 

I would certainly keep the audio volume low to begin with

 

Well duh, Obviosly not gonna start full volume

But as i already aksed, if i just try it out, would I risk damage the mainboard or just the speakers/subwoofer?

 

It's the motherboard that's at risk rather than the speakers.

 

Alright so i measured the resistance of the subwoofers.

The Clevo has 4ohm resistance and the other has also 4ohm resistance.
Does that mean i can safely try out the other subwoofer without being scared that the board breaks?

 

Yes, but it's maximum volume may be a bit lower than the old one. That is, if the circuit can't deliver more and the new one really needs 4W to get the same dBs the old speaker did at 2W.

Do make sure to let us know whether you can actually hear a difference between the two. Use IEMs myself, but there's scores that use the speakers, so there'll be a good deal of interest in this mod. Assuming it'll make an improvement, of course.

 

Just talking about the subwoofer atm, gonna troy and measure speakers later. When they arrive

 

Alright, update from my end.

Changing the subwoofer to something bigger, improved the sound massively. The sound got improved so much, that I'm considering not ordering new speakers. My Clevo had very clear high tones, mid tones where meh, whereas the bass was almost completely gone.

With the new subwoofer, the high tones are clear, the mid tones clear and the bass is nothing compared to a GT72 but it's present and sounds good. The maximum volume was higher than before. I had the subwoofer loose dangling from the case, I'll start tomorrow making the subwoofer fit. I got some possibility to create my own plastic form, I'll keep you updated on the progress. I'll probably decide after that if I'll get new speakers as well or not.

 

Nice, share some pics too if you can

 

I'll provice some pics and a recording of before and after sound. I got a podcast mic, I think it will give you a pretty good idea about before and after

 

It would be cool to hear, especially with different kinds of music.

 

I guess it does represent it somewhat. The sound was really lacking bass and was really tinny, but after the upgrade the sound is way more balanced and has way more bass in it.

 

Update:
I did quite some research on how speakers work and now improved the sound even furter. Thanks to the new knowledge, I was able to create my "own" speakers. The sound quuality is now REALLY GOOD. It's pretty much on par with an MSI Notebook.

I'll make a new comparison with the newest update. I'm actually so happy right now that I won't touch the speakers anymore, since I it's highly unlikely that I can get the quality even further.

To anyone who plans on making this kind of project here are some things you NEED to consider and do.
- You need a multimeter to check the resistance of the speakers.
- You need to open a lot of things to get to the speakers, you will need the knowledge to literally take your whole notebook appart.
- Most speakers have 4ohm resistance, if you have speakers who have more or less resistance DO NOT attempt to try it out, you risk blowing the speakers and maybe even short your mainboard.
- You need a solder station because it's very likely you need to connect cables with each other, be aware that you need to connect it properly otherwise you will short your board. (ground is ALWAYS black, so connect black with black and the other color with whatever the other color is)
- Measure your room you have in your case. In my case the room for subwoofer and speakers are VERY limited, so you need to get speakers who can fit unless u plan on making case modding.
- Make sure you get some fluffy things under your subwoofer / Speakers (either in the actual box or outside), because otherwise they will vibrate and distort sound heavily on higher volume.
- You NEED to create your own custom speaker boxes (THIS IS A MUST). If you don't build proper speaker boxes,your sound will be VERY tinny and poor.
- When testing a speaker or sound after you're done, try the sound stepwise, if you hear that your sound is tearing, you need to fix some things.

 

I'm interested to see the results of that too. Have you managed to shock mount them too?

 

Yeah, everything is shock mounted. Meaning no vibrations causing loss in audio quality.

 

Alright i tried to record today and It didn't go well at all. The sound is so much better that the microphone literally doesn't know how to record it properly, when recording the stock and the slight upgrade it would mainly focus on the voice and put the bass in the background. Now that the sound is well rounded and has nice bass, the microphone goes apeshit and adds alot of noise. It has huge problems capturing the bass. I really don't know how to solve this issue, any ideas how i can improve the mic so it catches the sound properly?


If i'd have to express the improvement in perfect then i'd say this:
Stock: 100%
Added new subwoofer (without making new custom box etx.): 135%
Complete revamp with new boxes and big subwoofer: 250%

 

Last thing that I did here was to make some new drivers.

I had to change a couple of things since i noticed that the subwoofer and speakers werent really utilized. The options i had in XFI-3 and instability made me change the enancher to something more stable. Now that the speakers and subwoofer is used correcly, my Clevo beats a GT 70 2PE Dominator Pro in max volume, Bass and clearity. Yes, i managed to make a Clevo P157sm sound better than a damn GT 70, it was quite some effort but in the end totally worth it. watching movies on my notebook is REALLY emmersive.



If anyone want to go for the same mod as I did, you should opt for Dolby Digital Home Theatre V4, It's really good, never crashes, has decent options and a neat Bass Boost u can use.

 

Love the mod that you did, would it be possible to have some pics from the inside of the laptop. We know the wiring will be messy so don't worry about that

 

This is the final product. The sound is full, clear, has deep bass, still balanced. Tinnyness doesn't exist anymore and it's not bass heavy like most MSI notebooks. The maximum volume is VERY loud and even very high tones are very clear, no distorts whatsoever.

I hope even tho my phone microphone is rather bad, that you can get a pretty good idea from the final product of my hard work and lots of tweaking.

It's so hard to believe that the sound is actually coming from a clevo P157sm.

 

Blocked for copyright infringement it's so good

 

Wow, apparently the quality was good enough for youtube to think i actually uploaded the real song. Welp........ I hid the video, is it acessible now?

I'll change to vimeo. Gimme a couple of minutes.

EDIT:
Here it is boys:

 

Do you have a pic of what the internals look like now?

 

I'll make one once i work on the touchpad, I want a Dota 2 Logo in it, also when I switch the graphicscard. It's a real pain to close the notebook, as the subwoofer is literally big enough that it takes all the space between the lid and the bottom case. On the top and bot are these pads that prevents the subwoofer from vibrating. I basicially have to fiddle around until I can close the lid properly because there is only milimeters space to work with and the subwoofer i made is apparently a couple of mm to big so it's a piece of work to close. I guess you understand that

Also i found a guy who has a P170em, which should have the same speakers and subwoofer as a stock p15x, If possible I'll make a comparison video with those 2 if I get him to lend it to me for an hour or so

 

The 17 inch models can sometimes have a slightly different speaker setup but it should be pretty similar.

 

Wow that is a very big improvement. Can't wait to see the comparison