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I recently installed Ubuntu 14.04 on my Dell XPS 15 (L502X). Previously I had Ubuntu 12.04 installed on the laptop along with Windows 8.1 dual boot. The sound worked perfectly fine in Ubuntu 12.04 and is working fine in Windows 8.1. Of late, I have been experiencing sound distortion coming from the subwoofer at moderately high volume levels. At the same level I am unable to reproduce the same effect in Windows 8.1. Also, I did a clean install of Ubuntu 14.04 over 12.04. Can anyone please confirm this and help me with this? Thanks

Aditya Shah
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  • is this happening when you're using `base` setting in Pulseaudio Volume Control? Because if to set to 100%(0 db) amplifier, and play mp3 file it may produce distorted sound as it's amplified and not base/normal – JoKeR Jun 03 '14 at 03:29
  • I am using the default setting. Can you please elaborate on your answer? – Aditya Shah Jun 03 '14 at 04:01
  • do you have pulseaudio volume control app installed? It can be installed from Ubuntu Software Center. I meant when volume is 100%(0 db) it will produce a little bit of noise kind of distorted hiss but when set to `base` it should maintain normal. – JoKeR Jun 03 '14 at 04:42
  • I installed and checked. On setting the volume level at about 80% for rhythmbox I was able to solve the distortion problem but that is not a solution as the overall volume also reduces. I couldn't find any base setting in the panel – Aditya Shah Jun 03 '14 at 05:03
  • `base` is 63% (-12.00db) it's good for mp3 reproduction – JoKeR Jun 03 '14 at 05:18
  • I checked and the sound distorts even at `base` a little. The problem with `base` is that the sound output reduces greatly. Is there a way to dial down the bass(if it helps)? – Aditya Shah Jun 03 '14 at 05:26
  • You can use `alsamixer` in terminal yet, that basically all what I can offer you. – JoKeR Jun 03 '14 at 05:33
  • Sorry to reactivate this old thread, but I still haven't found any solution to the problem mentioned above. Can anyone please help me? Thanks – Aditya Shah Jun 30 '14 at 15:23

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I had the same problem, I found the solution in the below post.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2004747

Basically we need to install an equalizer to control the amplitude at the lower range of the sound spectrum.

So follow the steps in the below link to install pulseaudio :-

http://www.webupd8.org/2010/02/pulseaudio-system-wide-equalizer-now.html

You can then search for "PulseAudio equilizer" in unity and then reduce the lower range values.

The setting I used was: 50hz : -25.4dB 100hz : -19.1dB 156hz : -8.9dB

220hz and above : 0db.

Hope this helps.

Verghese Koshy
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