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This is stupid. They are making speakers that can't withstand some cases of within-the-bounds PCM signal. If we had a normal society anywhere on earth they wou

This is stupid. They are making speakers that can't withstand some cases of within-the-bounds PCM signal. If we had a normal society anywhere on earth they would be sued to the ground there.

Ma8ee 13y ago
Speakers are built to be able to withstand short peaks with high power to reflect the dynamic in the music or your movie. This is what is abused to be able to play loud sounds continuously. You could take the possibility to do that away, but then you would of course also remove some of the dynamics out of the music. But of course, the people that burn their speakers this way don't care about dynamics or evidently about sound quality if they press their computer speakers like this. Can't sound not even a little good.
- philliphaydon 13y ago
  Not sure if you've ever owned a Dell laptop, but I'll never buy one again. On a couple of occasions I have tried to play DVD's on them and cannot hear people talking with the volume up. Put headphones on and its too loud. Dell speakers are junk.
  - aestra 13y ago
    Um in my experience all laptop speakers of all brands are like that.
    - TillE 13y ago
      I've watched a number of films on a Macbook Air without that particular problem. They are still terrible speakers, though. I almost laughed when showing a friend Star Wars for the first time; it doesn't even come close to doing the soundtrack justice.
    - skriticos2 13y ago
      No. I have a System76 Ubuntu laptop and the speaker quality is excellent. Plays music nicely and sound is clear and crisp. How many quality laptops do you have experience with?
      - aestra 13y ago
        Never had a System76, but I've owned a few Asus and a Toshiba and when I lived with 5 other people in college, the topic came up and we all agreed on the quality of our respective laptop speakers. Of course I was in college quite a while ago.
    - philliphaydon 13y ago
      I run Windows 8.1 on my MBP/r and don't have that issue at all. External DVD Drive, play one of my DVDs on the Mac, audio is perfectly fine. Play the same DVD on my Asus UX31, cannot hear the people talking, use VLC player to up the audio to 125% and its fine.
  - EpicEng 13y ago
    I've owned two. Both "died" shortly (very shortly) after the warranty expired. On both, the connector from the mobo to the power input cracked right off (I never yanked, dropped, or otherwise abused them. Just normal use.) I could fix it, but it was a pain, and the stress points didn't change, so it just happened again. On the second, the screen began to go at 14 months. I would never by consumer electronics from Dell again.
- iSnow 13y ago
  If it was a fundamental problem like you indicate, then every manufacturer would be hit by it, from Apple to Lenovo. It rather seems a problem of Dell using shoddy components and/or not issuing a driver that protects the speaker from the amp.
- guard-of-terra 13y ago
  "Speakers are built to be able to withstand short peaks with high power" And they should be built to be able to withstand any valid signal.
- KaiserPro 13y ago
  Thats what limiters are for. The whole point of hard clipping is that +256 or -256 (or the 16bit equivalent) is below the point at which your speakers, amps, cabling or anything else starts to melt. Speakers/amps should have DC protection builtin.
  - lutusp 13y ago
    > Thats what limiters are for. Limiters cannot either distinguish or protect against the technical difference between a sine wave and a square wave: http://i.imgur.com/oE5NFZ9.png http://i.imgur.com/oE5NFZ9.png The red trace is a normal audio signal that doesn't exceed the dynamic range of the amplifier. The green trace is an example of the kind of signal one gets by turning the volume up way above normal. In a hypothetical speaker of one ohm and a peak voltage of one volt, the red trace has a time-averaged power level of 1/2 watt. The green trace has a power level of one watt -- twice as high, and possibly too high for the speakers to tolerate. > Speakers/amps should have DC protection builtin. This example should show that this isn't possible without taking the temperature of the speaker's activation coil -- and even that might not work.
    - tmzt 13y ago
      Couldn't he codec chip do it by averaging the amplitude? I'm not sure if they are more than a DAY though or whether they have a microcontroller and firmware.
      - lutusp 13y ago
        > Couldn't he codec chip do it by averaging the amplitude? Yes in principle, but it would be rather complicated -- it would need to have its own microprocessor just to save the speaker. D/A ICs with included amplifiers are already pretty complex. Also, if a user was listening to music that had an occasional high level, the special limiter might kick in and spoil the sound of the audio for a transient that wouldn't actually jeopardize the speakers.
    - caf 13y ago
      An analogue bandpass filter could be used. Passing a square wave through such a filter will remove much of the power present at inaudible frequencies. Unfortunately, they also require bulky inductors/capacitors.

This is stupid. They are making speakers that can't withstand some cases of within-the-bounds PCM signal. If we had a normal society anywhere on earth they would be sued to the ground there.

Ma8ee 13y ago

Speakers are built to be able to withstand short peaks with high power to reflect the dynamic in the music or your movie. This is what is abused to be able to play loud sounds continuously. You could take the possibility to do that away, but then you would of course also remove some of the dynamics out of the music. But of course, the people that burn their speakers this way don't care about dynamics or evidently about sound quality if they press their computer speakers like this. Can't sound not even a little good.

philliphaydon 13y ago
Not sure if you've ever owned a Dell laptop, but I'll never buy one again. On a couple of occasions I have tried to play DVD's on them and cannot hear people talking with the volume up. Put headphones on and its too loud. Dell speakers are junk.
- aestra 13y ago
  Um in my experience all laptop speakers of all brands are like that.
  - TillE 13y ago
    I've watched a number of films on a Macbook Air without that particular problem. They are still terrible speakers, though. I almost laughed when showing a friend Star Wars for the first time; it doesn't even come close to doing the soundtrack justice.
  - skriticos2 13y ago
    No. I have a System76 Ubuntu laptop and the speaker quality is excellent. Plays music nicely and sound is clear and crisp. How many quality laptops do you have experience with?
    - aestra 13y ago
      Never had a System76, but I've owned a few Asus and a Toshiba and when I lived with 5 other people in college, the topic came up and we all agreed on the quality of our respective laptop speakers. Of course I was in college quite a while ago.
  - philliphaydon 13y ago
    I run Windows 8.1 on my MBP/r and don't have that issue at all. External DVD Drive, play one of my DVDs on the Mac, audio is perfectly fine. Play the same DVD on my Asus UX31, cannot hear the people talking, use VLC player to up the audio to 125% and its fine.
- EpicEng 13y ago
  I've owned two. Both "died" shortly (very shortly) after the warranty expired. On both, the connector from the mobo to the power input cracked right off (I never yanked, dropped, or otherwise abused them. Just normal use.) I could fix it, but it was a pain, and the stress points didn't change, so it just happened again. On the second, the screen began to go at 14 months. I would never by consumer electronics from Dell again.
iSnow 13y ago
If it was a fundamental problem like you indicate, then every manufacturer would be hit by it, from Apple to Lenovo. It rather seems a problem of Dell using shoddy components and/or not issuing a driver that protects the speaker from the amp.
guard-of-terra 13y ago
"Speakers are built to be able to withstand short peaks with high power" And they should be built to be able to withstand any valid signal.
KaiserPro 13y ago
Thats what limiters are for. The whole point of hard clipping is that +256 or -256 (or the 16bit equivalent) is below the point at which your speakers, amps, cabling or anything else starts to melt. Speakers/amps should have DC protection builtin.
- lutusp 13y ago
  > Thats what limiters are for. Limiters cannot either distinguish or protect against the technical difference between a sine wave and a square wave: http://i.imgur.com/oE5NFZ9.png http://i.imgur.com/oE5NFZ9.png The red trace is a normal audio signal that doesn't exceed the dynamic range of the amplifier. The green trace is an example of the kind of signal one gets by turning the volume up way above normal. In a hypothetical speaker of one ohm and a peak voltage of one volt, the red trace has a time-averaged power level of 1/2 watt. The green trace has a power level of one watt -- twice as high, and possibly too high for the speakers to tolerate. > Speakers/amps should have DC protection builtin. This example should show that this isn't possible without taking the temperature of the speaker's activation coil -- and even that might not work.
  - tmzt 13y ago
    Couldn't he codec chip do it by averaging the amplitude? I'm not sure if they are more than a DAY though or whether they have a microcontroller and firmware.
    - lutusp 13y ago
      > Couldn't he codec chip do it by averaging the amplitude? Yes in principle, but it would be rather complicated -- it would need to have its own microprocessor just to save the speaker. D/A ICs with included amplifiers are already pretty complex. Also, if a user was listening to music that had an occasional high level, the special limiter might kick in and spoil the sound of the audio for a transient that wouldn't actually jeopardize the speakers.
  - caf 13y ago
    An analogue bandpass filter could be used. Passing a square wave through such a filter will remove much of the power present at inaudible frequencies. Unfortunately, they also require bulky inductors/capacitors.