Nook Color Volume

[hawaiisurf]

I have my Nook Color in full blast and the sound is so soft I have to turn the unit and put the speaker next to my ear to hear the sound. Is the unit defective? Do I need to exchange?

I bought the 2 years protection.

[withfeeling]

There have been some complaints about the sound volume. Yes, it is quite low on mine too. The speaker placement on the back is against their being much volume, especially if the NC is in a case, and, of course, the speaker is way tiny to begin with.

I don't know how much they vary unit to unit since I have never seen an NC except mine, and I never returned or exchanged it. Headphones help, and I once suggested battery powered external speakers, like for an iPod, to someone who wanted to use the talking kids books feature.

You might want to compare yours to another at a B&N or Best Buy to see for yourself.

[Doreenpv]

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hawaiisurf wrote:

I have my Nook Color in full blast and the sound is so soft I have to turn the unit and put the speaker next to my ear to hear the sound. Is the unit defective? Do I need to exchange?

I bought the 2 years protection.

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I think this is my #1 complaint. It is really bad when listening to Read To Me books.

[seescribe]

It's hard to say without having some comparison.  On mine I have music that I listen to with the speaker facing down on a soft surface like my bed and it is loud enough for me to hear with the volume setting at 11 out of 15 clicks and then there is music that is hard to hear and if I'm just listening to music, not reading, I amplify it by sitting it angled against a book (if you're reading with it, that's not going to happen).  I think the volume has to do with the file itself, what volume level it was saved at.  Some songs are louder than others.  But when I listen on Pandora, I can also tell some songs are louder than others.  So not sure if it is the files you are playing, or if it is your nook.  In general my nook speaker are loud for the size, I rarely ever listen at 100% volume level (I do usually if I take it into the bathroom with me and sit it on the counter), and if I use ear plugs I have to turn it down to 2 out of 15 clicks but I do have to say I also am not listening with your ears so my experience is individual and I know I have good hearing, my hearing doctor marvels at what I can hear.  By the way, I counted, it is 15 clicks for me to go from mute to full volume.  I received my nookcolor on 12/25/10 for christmas.

[mbratch]

I wouldn't expect much out of the itty bitty speaker in the NC. It really wasn't designed to be a great speaker. It's there mostly for "convenience". If you want a better listening experience, headphones work really well.

[cindylee60]

As with all the cell phones I've had, and my laptop, (and my desktop, for that matter) the stock speaker on the NC is pretty crappy. Personally, I wouldn't expect anything else on a small device. Headphones or earbuds sound great. I actually can't think of any device I've had that didn't require some additional hardware to enhance the audio *shrug*

[riffrafff]

Most mp3 players don't even have an internal speaker, so, yeah, I look at it as a basic annunciator. 

That being said, surely B&N doesn't expect us to use a Y-adapter and two sets of earbuds when using the "read-to-me" with a small child?

[Atomant]

I have the same problem with poor sound volume with it set to Max.

Tried both earbuds and headphones. I still rate it poor compared to my cell phones, mp3 players, PDA, portable CD player and my cat.

[cindylee60]

oh yeah...my cat's speaker is *definitely* louder then my NC's!

[mbratch]

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riffrafff wrote:

Most mp3 players don't even have an internal speaker, so, yeah, I look at it as a basic annunciator. 

That being said, surely B&N doesn't expect us to use a Y-adapter and two sets of earbuds when using the "read-to-me" with a small child?

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LOL yeah, good point.

I reckon you could hook up some cheap compute speakers, but not very convenient.

[Guyon]

I can hear the next door neighbors cell phone ringtone louder than the my NC in my hand. LOL

But great point about the Read to Me.  B&N missed the mark with the speaker.

[petesnook]

Several weeks ago I posted that my top disappointment with the NC was that the speaker was not loud enough for the Read to Me Books.  withfeeling suggested trying external speakers.  I don't have any powered external speakers handy, but I tried unpowered ones.  The sound was no louder, but I was able to position the speakers to where the sound was adequate.  Thanks for the suggestion, withfeeling.

Further testing revealed what seescribe has suggested: different sources produce different levels of sound.  I had originally tested with the two sample videos on the B&N website -  Jamberry and Go Dog Go.  Those produced low sounds.  But two other Read to Me books - The Elephant's Child and Richard Scarry's Colors - are a lot louder and satisfactory.

Interesting, though, that some have reported that covers lower the sound.  I've found my cover heightens it.  I have a tri-fold cover with three clip-points that hold the NC in place.  The speaker sound seems to bounce off the cover toward me and is louder than without the cover.

[mbratch]

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petesnook wrote:

Interesting, though, that some have reported that covers lower the sound.  I've found my cover heightens it.  I have a tri-fold cover with three clip-points that hold the NC in place.  The speaker sound seems to bounce off the cover toward me and is louder than without the cover.

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I suppose it might depend upon where the speaker is relative to the cover. If the cover is cushy against the speaker, it will block. If there is an air gap, it might reflect sound a bit and make it sound a little louder. And it might depend upon how you're holding it.

[EDIT] I just noticed that the B&N NookColor covers have a divot where the speaker is located to keep from blocking. But it doesn't really have "passage" around the speaker. It's just under the speaker. Funny that.

[sk8bikerun]

I view the low-power, rear-firing speaker as a pragmatic concession to the laws of physics.  For the next generation nookcolor, I think I'd vote to simply leave it off.

My current solution to the problem is this little gadget  (Philips SBA1700/37):

http://www.staples.com/Philips-Universal-MP3-Portable-Speaker/product_864597

I've also found that, like other newish toys, the power output from the NC headphone jack is pretty anemic.  It works fine with ear-buds, etc., but not my beloved Sennheiser headsets.

My current cheap-but-decent solution to that problem is here (Philips SHS5200):

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Neckband-Headphones-SHS5200-28/dp/B003CJTR8M

[wtherrell]

I cannot even hear the B&N get acquainted audio. Tried several of them.  No better. All settings have been tweaked.  My cell phone media and navigation, speakerphone--all quite loud. This thing is going back tomorrow.  Can't believe I paid $249 for something as lame as this.

[BeachCatFan]

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wtherrell wrote:

I cannot even hear the B&N get acquainted audio. Tried several of them.  No better. All settings have been tweaked.  My cell phone media and navigation, speakerphone--all quite loud. This thing is going back tomorrow.  Can't believe I paid $249 for something as lame as this.

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I found that by having a cover on my NC, the volume was greatly increased.............I can actually hear it now and sometimes I need to lower the volume for games.

[JimTN]

If you root your NC, and install the cyuanogen kernel, Nook Color Tweaks will up your volume. I highly recommend doing this since it will give you a true tablet. You can also then up the clock speed to 1.0 or 1.0 GHz, so things like Netflix will work.

It is easy, but follow the directions carefully.

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/install-cyanogenmod-7-android-2-3-gingerbread-rom-on-nook-color/

Alas, Nook Color Tweaks does not work on the Nook Tablet.

[doncr]

@JimTN

This tells me that BN could jack the volume up with a simple software change.  They must not realize that this is a problem for a number of users.

I don't understand BN somtimes.  Jacking the max volume up will still allow people to turn it down, but we can't turn it up beyond the current max setting.  Why not do it, BN?

[petesnook]

Perhaps 1.4 will rectify this problem.  The Tablet is noticeably louder.  I tested the NT in a store and, even with the background noise, the NT sound was loud enough I didn't need it at full volume to hear it, unlike the NC.