Alienware 14 Subwoofer

Hey,
I'm wondering how good the bass on the Alienware 14 is. I've heard the bass was deep and generally satisfying on the old models and the new one but on my model I get next to 0 bass. Is this normal or do I have a bad product?

UPDATE:
I contacted Alienware and they said this lack of bass is normal on the new Alienware 14. As long as you can feel the vibration either around the track pad or on the bottom of the machine the sub woofer is working normally.. Seems like they dropped the ball on this one!

 

Others are reporting this too. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/726152-my-experience-speakers-screen-tint-new-aw14-2.html#post9306164. I'd contact Alienware support immediately.

 

Alright thanks, I shall call them tomorrow

 

let me know what alienware support tells you about that issue. I am having the same problem....

 

Has anyone confirmed that their subwoofer actually works?

 

When I press me ear up against it I hear a little bit of audio from it so it does indeed work. It's just not a "sub woofer". More like a mid range. Still sounds better than any laptop I've ever heard at Best Buy.

 

Yes so I called and he updated my bios and re-installed my drivers but nothing fixed it. He asked engineering and they asked me to replace my entire machine or replace the speakers. Their recommendation was to replace the entire machine. It will take a 2- 3 weeks time.

Considering what I've read on the forums this is normal for the speakers (downgrade from the m14x?).

The guy offered me a backpack or a gaming mouse when I asked for a compensation. I got the 750m GPU so i might push for that upgrade. What do you guys think? The only problem for me is I may not be in the country when this thing returns so I don't know what I might do.

 

That's a tough call. When I exchanged my unit out it took quite a while at the warehouse but they next-day shipped my replacement and I got compensated very fairly. I love my R2 now.

 

that's strange and it appears like a pretty widespread issue. Hopefully a bios update will rectify whatever the problem is.

 

Yeah on mine the sub-woofer is terrible, when I use 3.5mm there's literally no bass. I get better sound from my phone

 

Theres no way I can get the machine replaced, I just don't have time. I might get the speakers replaced. I will ask for some kind of compensation though, this shouldn't be happening on an alienware.

 

I have the M14x r1, and I can confirm the bass out of it is brilliant! seems they have taken a half approach to sound this time round.

 

A company representative said this on another thread. Hoping to get some answers soon enough...

 

and another user with a subwoofer issue

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...e-14-owners-lounge-thread-53.html#post9312312

 

A second thing I've noticed with the machine. I've only owned for about 3 or so weeks and this should not be happening.

The headphone jack in the middle has gotten loose in the sense that when I plug my headphone in its a lot easier to take it out and it even falls out sometimes.. What do I do here?

 

has your 14 been delivered now? and does yours work ok?

 

I received my 14 today and my sub is definately working. Played part of a blu ray and some music and I can strongly feel the vibrations under the palmrest and sound coming from the front. Went to respawn and it said updates were available so I hit update. When I went to dells download site it said a new nvidia driver was available 7-31 update 3.11. Mine was shipped on the 29th. When I went to nividia it said 3.11 was installed on 8-2. How did it update without me knowing it and when. I think I clicked on let alienware search for updates and install so I guess it did. It also updated the USB update and mine works. I've read where some were having problems with USB. So far so good, my Merlin blu ray looks ans sounds fantastic. I'm loving this rig so far. I've been lucky I guess. I had the m14x r1 for almost 2 years and never had a single problem with it. I hope you guys get your sub problems fixed. Bill

 

perhaps those that think they have not got a working sub are simply expecting too much and for it to be a 'big and bassy' sound when in actual fact it is working but just giving off subtle vibrations as above. afterall, as others have said this is not a full blown subwoofing home cinema system

 

Turns out this was the case for me. The subwoofer is simply weaksauce, but I suppose that's to be expected in a laptop.

The Dolby Home Theater sound processing does help the speakers out a bit. Turn it off and you're back to tinny, flat sounding audio. With it engaged and using one of the three pre-baked profiles it's almost, but not quite adequate. Serious audio is for headphones or external speakers. It think the review at notebookcheck.net nailed it.

 

That's too bad, the old m14x's subwoofer makes the sound acceptable but not great. It's sad to see them moving backwards.

 

That is such a shame...

 

EDIT: I'm increasingly concerned that this is possible.

 

But the sound isn't very good on this machine, its just fairly loud... Hope it isnt the case..

 

i have an m14x r2 and the new alienware 14 side by side.... So I assure you the difference in sound is night and day. The sub IS underperforming on the new alienware 14. nuff said

 

That's great news. I've done a few hours of tweaking with the Dolby equalizer, and I can confirm that my "sub" is operating to some capacity, but the only thing that I can get out of it is light vibrations - no audible difference. And that's with the 32-350Hz sliders all the way to the top(!).

I sincerely hope that something is wrong here, because, if this is working as intended, these are some of the worst laptop speakers I've ever heard. Very disappointing, and it would have affected my purchase going in had I known. One of the reasons for my choosing this laptop was the promise of its high-quality speakers. Now I'm not sure what to think.

Hoping for a rep response soon.

 

"The subwoofer on the 14 was designed to provide a balanced tone to the other speakers. The wattage on the subwoofer will not provide the deep lows you will get on higher watt external speakers"

This is what alienware said. One of the reps here asked them.

 

Probably some way to get a little more "boom", but it will take time. I do think people expect a bit to much out of such a compact system, but that's just with my subwooferless M17x to compare to.

 

Ok so a person came from Alienware to replace my motherboard cause the headphone jack was having problems. It seems to have helped the bass; this may be just be my paranoia but Ill do some further tests and tell you guys..

 

Count me in! I got mine last week and I just haven't been able to accept the fact that the audio quality on this one is actually "LOWER" than the M14x!!! I happen to have my old M14x R1 with me still so I compared the two side by side. The M14x definitely has more punch and I prefer it over this one!

It's pretty sad, what they've done! I never expected it to be better than its predecessor but, at par. Nevertheless, the new 14 is definitely a great machine overall. But why did Alienware spoil us in the first place with the M14x?!

 

OK so I noticed my alienware 14 sub was not working

turns out the audio software was not working properly. it was installed, looked operational, but it had ZERO EFFECT to adjust the EQ etc. Nothing worked in the sound control application. I installed new bios, (and possibly re-installed the audio driver I can not remember now) and it fixed the issue.

However, the sub still was CRAP. I assumed that on top of their distributed build having a non working audio software component, that the subwoofer was still failed as well. I was wrong, The subwoofer was replaced. It still sounds like CRAP, but at least I was able to get it to work by updating the bios (and the software for sound I think).

For the record, after having my sub replaced, my keyboard has been failing ever since, it has been replaced once now, and it is failing again, and now I have a complete mech replacement on its way.

I am not impressed, do not get your sub replaced, as its so cramped inside the new form factor that techs may cause more issues with your laptop than it has already. Once you get the sound control application working you should notice that it does have bass in the sub, however it is not much, and it is hardly audible unless you turn the sound app off, as the default audio settings in the audio control panel as distributed (once you get IT WORKING) make the bass almost impossible to hear anyway.

TL;DR version:

update your bios, test your sound control panel dolby app to see if it works at all, if it doesnt work at all then reinstall that piece as well. turn off the dolby app after you confirm it is working, and see if your subwoofer works now. dont expect a lot of bass regardless, but expect to hear SOMETHING after you do this.


pretty sad.

 

Not to down play peoples issues, but expecting a tiny sound system to sound like an audiophiles dream is lunacy. My 14 sounds great, but then again if I want really good sound Ill use something better. Expecting a tiny sound system to project tons of bass AND clear mids and highs is crazy! Drivers this big are usually reserved for ear phones that dont project sound much past an inch or 2. Im sorry I just never understood how people get hung up on laptop speakers....want to talk about sad sounding speakers? Listen to my $2000+ dell precision speakers... not terrible but ZERO bass, mostly highs and sound projection is TERRIBLE.

Now if somethings not working I understand and dell needs to replace warrantied items. Sorry for my apathy but its just one of those situations I have heard so many times it wears on me.

 

I don't think anyone is expecting an audiophiles dream, but as many of us know, the audio software is severely bugged, and couple that with the fact that the speakers are WAY below the standard of their previous hardware releases such as the M14XR2 I purchased just last year from Alienware, which sounds MILES better than my new Alienware 14, and yet they still advertise as if they have a super high quality Klipsch system, its even still on the power up splash screen.

Thanks for letting us know that we didn't purchase a home stereo, and also informing us that dell's warranty should in fact be used for warranty service, that was truly helpful.

 

I have also heard some say the new AW 14 is better then the 14x. My speakers sound amazing, but nothing to brag about but no laptop speakers are.

 

yeah the new alienware is better, but the speakers are not.

If you think the 14 sounds amazing you should check out a M14XR2. It sounds hell and gone better. That is why this thread exists, and there are so many posts about it all over. Many return customers are not satisfied with the quality of the sound as expectations are higher based on previous experience with the product line. Do you have any?

Coupling that with the problems from the audio software may lead some return customers to believe there is a hardware issue at fault or some software issue that can resolve the fact that the speakers are so sub-parsince the dolby software is buggy, and because we were all told in the sales documentation that they are still great, and are still klipsch, but the klipsch units in the M14XR2 are in fact way better, so people can stop beating their heads against the wall trying to fix something that is not broken.

Happy new year.

 

and yet very few of the 178 reviews here Alienware 14 Laptop Details | Dell UK mention any problems or returned units due to sound issues

 

This is my 3rd alienware... So yeah I have some brand experience between my m17x r2 to my m11x r1 and now my aw 14. Even owned an XPS which other then small part of the outsied was built almost as well as alienware.

Im just saying Im seeing some people complaining and Im also seeing praises. Personally my alienware sounds great for laptop speakers, but expecting any sort of vibration out of a laptop subwoofer is crazy.

 

Can someone point me in the direction of the Dolby app? I replaced the HDD with a SSD and I didn't do a backup before writing over the HDD.

Dell doesn't have this app under AW14 drivers or apps...