The woes of my new SR. Help!

So i initially praised the SR and was VERY EXCITED for it, but some things have been kind of a buzzkill. I will not post a full review until a week-2 weeks from now either way, but i would like to resolve these problems....

A) I'm not sure what software to remove and vista is very new to me...not making it any easier to remove the bloatware, so if anyone can post me to where there is a list of stuff i can and cannot delete/processes i can remove. That would be great.

B) The speakers are..the worst speakers i have ever heard on anything, and they may be blown. The right speaker, on high volumes, particularly during internet use(ala youtube) crackles, upon research, this is not an uncommon problem with sony OR dell notebooks, but it only happens on high volumes and at certain pitches(like in shows when people talk...but not as much during a song). I have not tested music/video on itunes, so i will update if it is an internet/wifi disruption problem. Any suggestions/fixes? Do i need to return/replace the machine, is this software based, is this common?

C) Icon issue Resolved!

 

AFAIK, icon files can contain various resolutions - basically bitmaps based on the original vector icon art - inside them. The AOL icon probably just doesn't contain the larger sizes, hence Vista is scaling up one of the smaller sizes and making it look crappy.

Vista (and bloatware) is new to me too, but I'll be uninstalling the trialware I think - Office, McAfee, etc. I'm going to give Google Desktop a chance but I'll most likely disable Windows own indexing if I decide to keep Google (why use both?).
There's an online guide to which Windows background services you can safely disable or switch to manual to save some resources - try Googling for Black Viper Services and you should find the guide and instructions.

I dunno about the speakers but in my experience all laptop speakers are pretty awful (I don't expect anything else from my Z, although I haven't tried turning the volume up yet). If you want decent quality sound without distortion, just use headphone or external speakers. That's what I'll be doing.

 

You can hold Ctrl and scroll (USB mouse preferred) to change the size of your icons on your desktop.

I learned to live with the crapware, but I removed the obvious ones, and kept most of the Sony ones. Vista still boots up decently for me, but is slower than my M1330's fresh Vista install.

 

Any input on the speakers falcon? You have an SR.... does it have the same issue in regards to the speakers? (distortion/crackle on the right speaker at high volumes...)

 

yep.. hold down the control key and rotate the mouse wheel to change icon size to what you want..

 

I would really appreciate more input on this if anyone has some suggestions/info/advice, thanks!

 

It's the crappy speakers, not a software problem.

If good speakers are a necessity for you, then you will need to shop for a laptop with that specific need in mind, as most models are fairly poor. Even so, notebooks like the HP dvxx are built with more robust speakers(Altec Lansing), but I've read reviews stating they are still fairly dissapointing. I think you would need

I'd suggest using the stereo blue tooth transmitter of your laptop... you can buy BT headphones, or even BT recievers that you can plug in directly to any stereo's line in mini jack.

 

It's probably the nature of the speakers. Giving them too much current will cause distortion/clipping to occur, which is probably what you're hearing. I cannot test my speakers because I'm in my dorms, making testing slightly difficult.

 

Why is it only a problem in the right speaker if the speakers are in general crappy? The right speaker sounds distorted and crackly at high volumes, but the left is fine....

 

Here's a test to see if it's just a problem with the right speaker or if both speakers are just that crappy. Download Audacity, and open up an mp3/wav file that causes the crackling/distortion on your right speaker.

Click to the right of the file name where there's a black down arrow and select "Split Stereo Track." Mute the left stereo soundtrack and play the file. Confirm crackling/distortion in right speaker and no sound from left speaker. Switch left/right stereo soundtracks (again, right-click the file name arrow, select "Right channel" for the left channel and vice versa). Mute right stereo soundtrack. Play the identical sound that's leading to the right speaker crackling. See if left speaker has the same problem.

 

I have the same problem when i put the Volume to maximum

 

I will perform the audacity test when i come home from work, thanks!

Hamud, do you think everyone suffers from this?

Im trying to get to the bottom of the issue, as in, is there a fix, is it a problem with ALL SR's or does it need to be exchanged....

 

I thing it's for all SR because of the space under the speaker and then the cpu under it !! so the movement of the speaker under the maximum volume may cause this !!

any way !! the speaker of this laptop is not that great so I always use logitech headphone or sony headphone !!

 

Isnt the cpu on the left side of the computer...not the right? Hence why the left side is warmer... if anything the left side should have distortion and noises on it...but only the right speaker does... hmmm

 

i have the crackling in the left speaker not the right but i will check coz i didn't test which one make this !!

 

Was the balance control removed from volume control box in Vista? Would be a bit simpler than installing new software?

 

the balance control indeed was removed in vista, and if it wasnt, i dont know where to find it.


I've had some theories as of latley... My old laptop was to the RIGHT of my notebook, which may have caused interference in the speaker, also my laptop is neer my ps3...(which was off) and close to a modem and router...those things cause interference...i believe?

So I will do some further testing when i get home, ive been surfing on nbr all day at work, not good!

 

Just on the speakers.
I have to say, the SZ's speakers are great.
They will offer a sound as good or slightly better than "portable" headphones.
So nothing like extraordinary base or so but a good and clear sound.

So your SR should have decent speakers - unless Sony was saving money.

 

They definitely saved a lot of money...my SR is amazing on every front save the bloatware and the super-crappy speakers. But the headphone-out is pretty good so it's no big deal for me.

I would guess that the Z would have better speakers, because that's the true successor to the SZ?

 

Are your speakers simply super crappy, or does your right speaker also sound crackly and/or distorted at higher levels?

 

I turned my speakers up way loud yesterday because there was some music playing that I didn't want to listen to (Dragonforce), so I turned up some punk music I had, and it didn't sound all crackly or anything. It was alright, but nothing as great. It's not as loud though as a 15" laptop though... but I was able to down out the crapforce... I mean Dragonforce music.

I dunno, but mine aren't having that problem of the crackling speaker? Hmm.

Definitely think that Sony was saving money, of course. @_@ I need to buy some speakers in which to listen to stuff with.


Sadly, I have heard worse speakers in a laptop though, but these aren't exactly all that -great- either. You know?

 

For me, both sides get pretty crackly at high levels, except what I have isn't so much a crackle as a "buzz" on the low-end and vocals in harmony sound gurgly . I get some crackliness with drums and cymbals...overall it just really, really sucks. But when it's not turned up that loud the sound quality isn't THAT bad...I've certainly heard much worse.

 

Ahh.... Mizo....you've hit the nail on the head. Thats exactly what mine is like, its on vocals that it becomes a problem and certain noises....i see you've narrowed it down more, but yeah... i was using "crackle" as a general term. It almost seems like the speaker is buckling from much power or something, like crappy car speakers with a new radio(higher amp power).

Wierd that its only on my right.

 

So what I really need to know, and would like as much input as possible from people.

should i exchange the SR due to this problem or should i investigate further and see if something can be done to resolve the problem and/or accept that in general the SR speakers will be bad and even with an exchange the notebook speakers will be poor. I just feel wierd keeping a new product that has something that seems to be a defect.

 

Well, "bad sound" is pretty subjective and tough to tell over the Internet if you're just more sensitive to speaker quality or if your speakers are genuinely bad.

Do you have an audio recorder somewhere to record the sound your laptop makes when playing it? You could upload it somewhere and people can tell you if they're hearing the same thing or if yours really is a unique situation.

 

I know this is an old topic, but just to chimp in,
I have a sony vaio Z series and i am experiencing the exact problem,

its gone so bad that on low volume there sometimes isn't ANY sound from the right speaker, upon turning the volume up, the right speaker will suddenly come into play but with a crackled sound, very weird.... debating whether i should take it into the sony service center to have a look

 

That sounds like you may have to send it in for service? Currently, I experience the crackling problem when I'm watching the Colbert Report (heh, apparently Colbert's voice is on some sort of weird frequently when he yells). Most of my music is still okay and I can definitely hear sound from the right speakers, though.

 

Herm,

I can't believe this seemingly ancient thread was resurrected. The problem, as i have discovered is not hardware related in the slightest. I can watch movies on dvd or downloaded from itunes or a wherever(offline stuff) with NO CRACKLING and perfect sound. The problem, occurs only when watching streaming videos or something from a browser source. It's not a browser related problem, so my guess is that its the driver and flash not working together well as in there is some kind of intereference from them.... that or the wireless radio and the speakers are too close to each other and it causes interference.

Can someone plug in their vaio... and test if there is still crackling from the SR from like youtube or www.cbs.com or whatever?

If you dont watch streaming video on wifi you may never even notice the problem. I have found that if i watch a downloaded version of a tv episode and then watch the exact same episode on-line...i will only hear the crackling from the right speaker online...and im pretty sure that the right speaker is right near some wifi components(the wifi card or antennas)...

 

i think i have a worse problem, crackling from both speakers at all volumes and even with headphones. i think it may be a software program. it only seems to happen when listening to piano songs.

 

Can you turn off your wifi and use itunes or another music program and confirm this?

That seems bad though, you may want to try upgrading your sound drivers...and see if it goes away... because otherwise, you should bring the laptop in...that's not normal.

I have 5.1 speakers(in matrix mode...) hooked up through the headphone jack and there is ZERO and i mean zero noise/interference/crackling.

I've listened to classical music as well via the speakers(through the headphone jack) and can confirm that it's not normal to hear crackling when listening to music off line EVER(regardless of source)...

 

I think somehow my problem is probably hardware related,
as I said, I have no problems listening to anything through using headphones, but if I use the speaker I get the crackle and distortion; and it is regardless of whether I play my own music cds, mp3s, videos or playing games online or offline.

I have just sent the unit to the sony service center, they told me they should have it checked out in 3-4 days.