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Question

Sound not loud enough

Apr 25, 2012 1:05PM PDT

Hi everyone,

I recently bought an HP-1270t with Windows 7 Home Premium [64-bit] OS.

I have some very old speakers that I hooked up from my last computer, though I do plan to buy some new speakers ASAP. In the meantime, the sound coming from the computer is really, really lacking. I've even seen on the internet where people have good speakers and still feel like the Windows 7 sound is not enough.

Can I download any kind of codecs or anything off the internet to make the sound much louder? I enjoy loud music and videos at times, so this is pretty important to me.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Speakers
Apr 27, 2012 1:16AM PDT

You didn't say much about the older speakers that you are using or how you are hooking them up. Are they powered? (A/C) or USB input only. If you want better and/or more sound then depending on the system you would typically use powered (A/C) speakers as opposed to USB (System driven) units. Many also upgrade to an aftermarket sound card or use SPDIF hook ups if available.

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They are Polk "E" audio speakers
Apr 27, 2012 2:18AM PDT

I bought them with my HP computer 10 years ago. They worked fine on my old computer, right up until it died recently. Sound was loud, I think I had even downloaded some enhancement codecs at one point on that machine. But I plugged these speakers into the out jack on the new computer I just bought, and the sound, even on max, was completely unacceptable. "loudness equalization", change from night mode to theatre mode, play with the wave bars, nothing worked.

So finally someone on another forum recommended the independently powered speaker thing also. He said that computers used to be wired to supply the speakers with power, so that's why these old speakers could just plug into the jack on my old machine and work fine. But he said newer computers don't supply any power for sound, therefore you have to buy independent powered speakers.

Does that sound about right?

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Powered speakers
Apr 27, 2012 11:33PM PDT

The answer would be YES you need powered speakers.

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Answer
I suggest
Apr 27, 2012 7:01PM PDT

okay now just to be specific can you tell me what speakers you are dealing with, and are we certain the normal volume level is at high?