Z11 Speaker Upgrade?

Anyone think its possible to retro our Z's with better speakers?
These speakers are so terrible and I hate how they vibrate when I'm listening to the radio.

Thanks.

 

I think the easiest way is to buy yourself clip-on speakers running off the USB connection.

 

Get good quality external speakers.

 

Its near impossible to get good sounding built in laptop speakers. Get external speakers or headphones.

 

I have heard 'decent' sound in laptops, the sound in the Z is abysmal. Obviously I can use headphones but i'm not going to get external speakers because its not practical.

 

It's easy to upgrade the speakers on the Z. There's a jack in the front for that

 

are they really that bad? ? ?

 

They remind me of cheap laptops from 15 years ago. They are usable if you turn them up all the way to listen to a quick joke video that was emailed to you but that's about it. Also reminds me of trying to listen to music through my iphone speaker.

 

Lol, at least with the iPhone (I'm guessing your referring to the 1st generation) you can puncture holes where the speakers lay (that was the problem that iPhones had with the rubber covering up the speaker holes) then the sound becomes very loud.

This is a shame though as I have been looking at the Z but from one of the youtube videos it seems pretty loud enough.

 

lol and i was actually really impressed by my previous generation z's speakers! coming from an dell xps m1210.. i thought these must be the best speakers

 

In my experience, the Z's speaker is relatively loud, however with it comes some noises.

On the other hand, my MBP 13" has really good speakers, and I still don't know where the sound comes from, there aren't any speaker grills on that.

 

Things to do when I next open my laptop:

1. Add 'tint' to the power button.
2. Look at where the speakers are, and take pictures.

[Later] I'm staring at the 3 slots below the left and right hinges. I think that's where the speakers are If so, they're really small...

 

my z11 speakers are very bad compared to my SZ750

half as loud, and when i crank up the volume all the way the left side crackles on certain frequencies

the noise cancelling earphones are glorious i guess that's why they shipped them free with the laptop hahahaha

 

What is the model number for the headphones that are included with the Z11/12?

 

SERIOUSLY THEY ARE ABYSMAL.
My wife's Acer $350 laptop sounds better, my previous macbook sounds better. They are not TOO low but still not very loud. I listen to Stern everyday and at the highest volume they vibrate and crackle because they can't handle any bass whatsoever.

The speakers in this laptop are seriously embarrassing especially @ 2k

 

I've seen them when I opened the computer they are the size of a quarter or less. They are in the holes under teh hinge. They look like they cost $10.

 

I 2nd this, atm, I have an SZ6 and previously i had SZ4 and I have to say that the SZ has THE BEST speakers ive ever heard on a laptop of 14" and under, and i thought maybe the newest Z would keep ATLEAST the same quality and sound that the SZ produced if not better. Its a shame to think that they downgraded the speakers on what most people can say the most perfect laptop and with a price that high.


here is a picture of the SZ speakers its like the size of my top half of my thumb and just build a square around it.
here

if and when i get my Z i woudnt mind attempting to do a speaker replacement, but someone doesnt mind posting pics of the connection and the speakers then that would be really helpful

 

Maybe PM zoinks. I have opened it a few times and from what I remember they aren't housed by square things, they just are circular speakers. They are probably smaller than teh SZ's but if in fact they can go into the Z i'd look at buying those in a heartbeat.

 

What Bass do you expect from an internal laptop speaker? They are not designed for this purpose.

 

I think his point is that the Z's speakers are well below average, even for internal laptop speakers.

 

One tip : Try uninstalling the audio driver, let Windows 7 install its default audio driver, and see if you get more speaker volume.
In my FZ, the default Windows 7 audio driver boosted the speaker volume noticeably.

 

You obviously don't have a Z.
I don't even care about the bass but even listening to the radio I get crackling and vibration. They are seriously HORRIBLE.

 

Did you try my tip in the previous post? The fact is that the speakers by themselves are loud enough, but the audio driver which Sony provides, is good only for external speakers/ headphones.

 

I'm going to now

 

Figured it out. Its no better on the Sony one.
I think the Realtek + the Audio Enhancer is the best its gonna get.

Edit: Turning on the Audio Enhancer helps with bass

 

the new vaio z speakers are worse the the older z

i got both of them.

 

And considering that most cell phones have better speakers than the old Z, that says something about the new Z speakers...
FWIW, it appears to use 5/8" speaker elements, in case someone is tempted to replace them. However, the amp might be just as much part of the problem.

 

I'm actually doing the same exact move as you are. I think the M1210 speakers are adequate, but if you turn the volume too loud they start rattling which is very annoying. Just to confirm, are you saying the Z speakers are better than the M1210?

I just ordered the VPCZ1290X so I haven't heard them yet.

Last question, what is the position of the spaekers? Are they located on the screen part, or the keyboard part? I hate it when they put speakers on the keyboard part pointing straight up.

 

How does Stern sound with the Enhance turned on? Still getting crackling? I listen to him all day as well while I'm home and have been able to deal with the Dell XPS M1210's crackling and sometimes eardrum puncturing frequency disturbance, and hope it's better on the Z.

In my case though, the M1210 was a $3k laptop with all the bells & whistles and the "Audigy" software upgrade... what a joke that was.

 

Keyboard, right below the hinges. Pointing straight up.

I posted pics of the speakers and their connection, I'm not sure what connectors they use (I'm not that eager to swap them).

 

ugh, that is annoying. I find that when the speakers are pointing straight up it interferes with the webcam's microphone while using Skype. The interference comes first blasts feedback through the speakers and then knocks out the sound completely requiring a hang up & re-dial in order to fix it. Very annoying if you need to do it every 5 minutes.

 

Here is my chat transcript from talking with Sony customer support. After getting through the barrier of understanding what models I was talking about. I'm on the phone with Tech support now and they're checking if there are any differences in the speakers & sound cards between the 2 models. Stay tuned:

Marcelle E: Hello and thank you for visiting Sonystyle. How may I help you today?
Me: Hi Marcelle
Marcelle E: How can i help you today
Me: I've read some pretty terrible reviews on the new Vaio Z series laptop's speakers (this is the VPCZ model). Do you know if there have been any speaker upgrades between the VPCZ11x and VPCZ12x models?
Me: Also, where are the speakers actually located? Looking at the diagram in the Specifications section, it is not indicated. The link I'm looking at is here -> VAIO Z Series PC | Sony | SonyStyle USA
Marcelle E: we dont carry those 2 models of Z series we have VPCZ1290X VPCZ1190X-B VPCZ12BGX/SI VPCZ12CGX/X VPCZ122GX/S VPCZ12AHX/XQ
Me: that is what the x after 11 and 12 implied
Me: the VPCZ11 models are all the same, with different options. Same goes for the VPCZ12 models.
Me: VPCZ12 is just a mid-model refresh which now allows for the 1080p screen resolution option.
Me: I'm wondering if there have been any speaker upgrades from the 11 to the 12 models
Marcelle E: I have not heard about any issues with the speakers,
Me: I wouldn't suspect that you would.
Me: Do you know if there were any upgrades with the latest model?
Marcelle E: I have not heard of any upgrades to the Z series but if you would like to talk to our tech support they may be able to assist you (800) 476-6972
Me: ok thanks

 

Ok, so I found out the actual sound card is the same on both 11 and 12 models, but the 12 has a newer version of it.

11 = 6.0.1.6015
12 = 6.0.1.6028

I couldn't get them to confirm if it's just a driver difference, and hopefully one of you guys that already own one of these can confirm that.