Does anybody know a way to stop OS X from artificially limiting the volume on MBP speakers? It's annoying if I try to listen to a podcast or whatnot and can't h

Does anybody know a way to stop OS X from artificially limiting the volume on MBP speakers? It's annoying if I try to listen to a podcast or whatnot and can't hear it from the other side of the room. The last time I searched, all I could find was some proprietary sound-management apps that seemed like overkill for this purpose.