The right speaker on my Macbook 2.0 sounds distorted. I went to the nearest Apple Store to do an exchange bringing my iPod along to compare the sound quality with the other Macbooks there. They all had the same right speaker distortion. To take it further, I tried an old Powerbook. No problems at all. Clean sound from both speakers. I just cant see all of those Macbooks having defective right speakers. Assembly or Software problem? What do you guys think?
Apparently a known problem. There have been numerous threads on this issue. I have the same problem with my MBP. It came via Fedex yesterday and I noticed the speaker problem as soon as I cranked up Itunes. The only other issue is that volume control is not calibrated properly...no detectable sound until about 1/2 scale and then very coarse control above that.
I spoke to a very nice lady at Sales Support today. She and the gent I spoke with at AppleCare told me that these are known problems that they are working on getting a fix identified for. They will exchange my MBP now, but I told them that I would rather wait until after the fix had been incorporated in manufacturing.
I suppose that the good folks at Apple are a bit embarrassed about this, a blemish on an otherwise outstanding product. Laptop speakers will never meet an audiophiles standards, but these are most definitely defective and not up to the manufacturing excellence that Apple is known for.
I've had my MacBook Pro for a week. The only circumstance in which I have trouble is when using iChart AV - which I do two or three times a day. The RH speaker only is active then (the LH one being muted because the microphone is located close to it so would otherwise give +ve feedback), so not only does the sound volume need to be towards the higher end of the range, any tendency for the RH speaker to give distortion is exacurbated and more noticeable. When video chatting with my wife who is currently several thousand miles away, there is a serious resonance. Her voice is not high - but chimes in right on the natural frequency of the speaker assembly! Excites a frightful tinny buzz, especially on transients. With other buddies (all male so far) the effect isn't nearly so obvious and the resulting audio is, I'd say, acceptable. And no, to anyone tempted to suggest I get another wife, the reply is: "Done that - got the T-shirt!" I'm going to record my problem with Applecare, but I'm not letting my machine go back until I know Apple have a real solution - need it right now. A check using a pair of JBL 'bud-type' earphones and the sound is great. But I don't like them and I might get the little Sony speakers at $24.95 - on the Apple Store pages. Other than this, the machine is brilliant.
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.5) 2GHz/1GB RAM/100GB HD; 2MB/s DSL/Thomson 510 router
This is the biggest problem with my MBP right now. Using headphones isn't a solution. Without the sound up, I get the whines. With the sound I get distortion. I hope apple fixes this.
I hope they also fix the sleep problem. I've noticed some buggy stuff with waking the MBP from sleep. Last time I put it to sleep it took quite a while to sleep, which isn't as big of a deal as the screen not functioning after I tried to wake it. I could increase volume, and use the computer, but the screen was completely black. It was like it was awake, but with it's eyes closed.
I'm having the same problems with my right speaker. It's muffled when it plays certain ranges of sound. (e.g, a man's voice when using iChat AV). I don't know if it is hardware or software though because the speaker sounds fine when I am running Boot Camp.
I think that I will get this fixed at some point, but I'm not in any rush as it doesn't affect the use of the computer on a day to day basis. When the good engineers at Apple get this figured out, then I'll give them a call.
Although my MBP right speaker works perfectly, I think I know what the problem might be. (Don't trust me because still suck when it comes to computers) It could be two different problems. the power button could be muffling the speaker. If you have ever blown on a pair of cheap headphones you probably know this problem. if air gets blown onto the speaker, then it will crinkle the part of the speaker that moves and will distort the sound. try putting a vacuum cleaner on top of the speaker.
Mine had horrible sound distortion in the right speaker out of the box. I sent it in for repair for that (along with a monitor problem). They said they replaced both speakers. I've had a noticeable improvement from when I sent it in
*however* the right speaker is
*still* distorted. It makes listening to a simple audio discussion with a man's voice in it painful. I'm frustrated about having to send it back, but the computer is also having some serious heat issues now, so it needs attention anyway. Aargh!
MacBook Pro 15.4" 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, 100GB HD @ 7200 RPM Mac OS X (10.4.6) PowerMac Dual 1.8GHz PowerPC, 1.5GB RAM
