Finer sound volume setting?

poenn · 10-11-2006, 06:01 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm finally annoyed to a level where I turn to you. For years I used my Harman/Kardon Sound Sticks (the older ones with USB) with several PPC-Macs and today with my MacBook Pro. Ever since switching to OS X my Sound Sticks were a lot louder than under OS 9 back in the days and I finally want to change that! In OS X the sound volume I get with just 1 bar equals several bars in OS 9...

Since these older USB-speakers do not have volume controls builtin I'm in need of a software solution: I need a finer control over their volume since even 1 bar of system sound volume (via keyboard) is too loud. I know that you can get lower volume by using the mouse and the volume fader in System Preferences, but even the lowest possible setting before absolute silence kicks in is too loud for me. :-(

Plist editing and other "experienced" user stuff is extremely welcome...

Thanks a lot!
Björn

chabig · 10-11-2006, 06:27 PM

Björn,

I used to have these same speakers. I think they have a volume control knob on the subwoofer. Set your Mac's volume to maximum, then adjust the speaker volume to a comfortable level. After that you can use the software volume control.

Chris

poenn · 10-11-2006, 06:34 PM

Hi Chris,

thanks but the knob is not for volume, it controls bass intensity. Any other suggestions? I believe I'll have to edit some pref file to tell OS X how much volume 1 bar should be or something similar...

chabig · 10-11-2006, 06:48 PM

OK. My son has those speakers at college. I couldn't remember the exact function of that knob.

Chris

poenn · 10-11-2006, 06:51 PM

No problem, I wished it had a volume knob... :-)

ThreeBKK · 10-11-2006, 07:00 PM

He may have been on to something there. Try to unplug your Sound Sticks, adjust your system volume to maximum and/or minimum and reconnect the Sound Sticks. Do those two adjustments give any difference in sound levels?

poenn · 10-13-2006, 06:26 AM

Hi ThreeBKK,

I tried your suggestions but unfortunately this does not work. When unplugged the audio output switches automatically to the internal speakers (MacBook Pro) so I can't change anything concerning the Sound Sticks.

Any other ideas? :-(

Thanks
Björn

EvanAgee · 10-13-2006, 09:20 AM

I have a feeling that we'll see a more sensitive volume control in the next version of OSX. The newest Apple Cinema displays have adopted a more sensitive brightness control which offers 2-3 button pushes to "fill in" one block where as the previous models where one button push = one block, like the current volume control.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

poenn · 11-04-2006, 05:16 AM

I'd be happy to see this in Leopard, but any ideas how I could achieve a finer volume control "now" with Tiger? :-(

chabig · 11-04-2006, 09:50 AM

Something must be wrong with your system if the slider in the Sound preference pane doesn't work. Mine allows a smooth continuous adjustment from dead silence to max volume.

If that's the case, I wouldn't expect Leopard to offer any hope of a solution.

trevor · 11-04-2006, 09:59 AM

poenn,

You already have a much finer control over the volume, and have had it in Tiger, Panther, and probably Jaguar as well. The finer control is in an application called Audio MIDI Setup, and it is in your /Applications/Utilities menu. Launch it, go to the Audio Devices tab, set the "Properties For" to the device that you want to control, such as your Soundsticks, then you can adjust the volume either with a slider, or by typing the value you want in the 'dB' or 'Value' columns. If you decide to type the value, you have minutely fine control over the volume.

Trevor

ThreeBKK · 11-04-2006, 01:46 PM

That's wonderful, I've only tried that utility once and I didn't realize you could specify to the hundredths of a decimal point how much volume you output. It works for the headphone audio out. I guess it also works with USB out.

One oddity is that I typed -8 into the output column and it automatically changed the value to -7.94. The next consecutive value is -8.44. So, actually you are still stuck with these autofill values, but it may be a finer control than the volume up and down buttons.

poenn · 11-15-2006, 12:30 PM

Thank you trevor,

this is indeed something I did not think of! But now another problem occurs:

If I set both sliders to something lower (default for 1 bar is 0,06 / -30,77) like i.e 0,02 / -35,57 the volume is lower and muting and unmuting with the keyboard works fine. BUT if I dare to change volume with the keyboard's volume keys it's back to where it was before (0,06) when "1 bar of volume" is selected.

Any idea how to change that permanently?

Thanks a lot!
Björn

trevor · 11-15-2006, 01:07 PM

No, sorry, not at the moment. If I do find something like that, I'll post back here, though.

Trevor

10-11-2006, 06:01 PM	#1
poenn Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 83	Finer sound volume setting? Hi everyone, I'm finally annoyed to a level where I turn to you. For years I used my Harman/Kardon Sound Sticks (the older ones with USB) with several PPC-Macs and today with my MacBook Pro. Ever since switching to OS X my Sound Sticks were a lot louder than under OS 9 back in the days and I finally want to change that! In OS X the sound volume I get with just 1 bar equals several bars in OS 9... Since these older USB-speakers do not have volume controls builtin I'm in need of a software solution: I need a finer control over their volume since even 1 bar of system sound volume (via keyboard) is too loud. I know that you can get lower volume by using the mouse and the volume fader in System Preferences, but even the lowest possible setting before absolute silence kicks in is too loud for me. :-( Plist editing and other "experienced" user stuff is extremely welcome... Thanks a lot! Björn

10-11-2006, 06:34 PM	#3
poenn Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 83	not quite :-( Hi Chris, thanks but the knob is not for volume, it controls bass intensity. Any other suggestions? I believe I'll have to edit some pref file to tell OS X how much volume 1 bar should be or something similar...

10-11-2006, 07:00 PM	#6
ThreeBKK MVP Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bangkok Posts: 1,626	He may have been on to something there. Try to unplug your Sound Sticks, adjust your system volume to maximum and/or minimum and reconnect the Sound Sticks. Do those two adjustments give any difference in sound levels? __________________ ➤ Think it's a good idea to put your most intimate data on someone else's server? Macmini5,2 ❖ 2.7 GHz Core i7 ❖ Snow Leopard ❖ Mtn Lion

10-13-2006, 09:20 AM	#8
EvanAgee Prospect Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Indiana Posts: 7	I have a feeling that we'll see a more sensitive volume control in the next version of OSX. The newest Apple Cinema displays have adopted a more sensitive brightness control which offers 2-3 button pushes to "fill in" one block where as the previous models where one button push = one block, like the current volume control. Guess we'll have to wait and see. __________________ Evan Agee \| evanagee.com 2.0 Ghz Dual Core Power Mac G5 6.5Gb Memory

11-04-2006, 09:59 AM	#11
trevor Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Boulder, CO USA Posts: 19,854	poenn, You already have a much finer control over the volume, and have had it in Tiger, Panther, and probably Jaguar as well. The finer control is in an application called Audio MIDI Setup, and it is in your /Applications/Utilities menu. Launch it, go to the Audio Devices tab, set the "Properties For" to the device that you want to control, such as your Soundsticks, then you can adjust the volume either with a slider, or by typing the value you want in the 'dB' or 'Value' columns. If you decide to type the value, you have minutely fine control over the volume. Trevor __________________ How to ask questions the smart way \| Pssst. Wanna play some FuMafia?

10-11-2006, 06:27 PM	#2
chabig Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 3,016	Björn, I used to have these same speakers. I think they have a volume control knob on the subwoofer. Set your Mac's volume to maximum, then adjust the speaker volume to a comfortable level. After that you can use the software volume control. Chris

10-11-2006, 06:48 PM	#4
chabig Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 3,016	OK. My son has those speakers at college. I couldn't remember the exact function of that knob. Chris

10-11-2006, 06:51 PM	#5
poenn Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 83	No problem, I wished it had a volume knob... :-)

10-13-2006, 06:26 AM	#7
poenn Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 83	Hi ThreeBKK, I tried your suggestions but unfortunately this does not work. When unplugged the audio output switches automatically to the internal speakers (MacBook Pro) so I can't change anything concerning the Sound Sticks. Any other ideas? :-( Thanks Björn

11-04-2006, 05:16 AM	#9
poenn Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 83	I'd be happy to see this in Leopard, but any ideas how I could achieve a finer volume control "now" with Tiger? :-(

11-04-2006, 09:50 AM	#10
chabig Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 3,016	Something must be wrong with your system if the slider in the Sound preference pane doesn't work. Mine allows a smooth continuous adjustment from dead silence to max volume. If that's the case, I wouldn't expect Leopard to offer any hope of a solution.

11-04-2006, 01:46 PM	#12
ThreeBKK MVP Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Bangkok Posts: 1,626	That's wonderful, I've only tried that utility once and I didn't realize you could specify to the hundredths of a decimal point how much volume you output. It works for the headphone audio out. I guess it also works with USB out. One oddity is that I typed -8 into the output column and it automatically changed the value to -7.94. The next consecutive value is -8.44. So, actually you are still stuck with these autofill values, but it may be a finer control than the volume up and down buttons. __________________ ➤ Think it's a good idea to put your most intimate data on someone else's server? Macmini5,2 ❖ 2.7 GHz Core i7 ❖ Snow Leopard ❖ Mtn Lion

11-15-2006, 12:30 PM	#13
poenn Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 83	weird... Thank you trevor, this is indeed something I did not think of! But now another problem occurs: If I set both sliders to something lower (default for 1 bar is 0,06 / -30,77) like i.e 0,02 / -35,57 the volume is lower and muting and unmuting with the keyboard works fine. BUT if I dare to change volume with the keyboard's volume keys it's back to where it was before (0,06) when "1 bar of volume" is selected. Any idea how to change that permanently? Thanks a lot! Björn

11-15-2006, 01:07 PM	#14
trevor Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Boulder, CO USA Posts: 19,854	No, sorry, not at the moment. If I do find something like that, I'll post back here, though. Trevor __________________ How to ask questions the smart way \| Pssst. Wanna play some FuMafia?