Sound too soft even on max volume.

[strycat]

I hope this is the right place to post (I'm not sure if this is a hardware or software issue).

I just installed Kubuntu 12.04 and after struggling to get the nic and monitor working, I've got a new problem. The sound "works" but is way too low. With the speaker's volume knob turned all the way up, and kmix set to max, you can barely hear anything.

Searching for this problem turned up some advice to verify the speakers are plugged in, the volume is turn up (both physically and on kmix), and then run alsamixer and turn all those up to 100%. I did all of that and everything was already turned up as loud as it will go. Yet you have to be almost next to the speakers to hear anything.

The speakers were working fine with Kubuntu 11 and I've plugged them into my Windows laptop and they worked fine there too.

Can anyone help me get the sound working correctly? What should I do now?

[Thiudans]

strycat,

If you have more than one audio device, you may have two different volume settings.

So, try the following

1) Left Click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner
2) Click on the "mixer" button

If you have teo columns, the lower one is probably the one for your speakers. Make it maximum and you should be good to go.

[SteveRiley]

Another option would be to replace the default KMix with Veromix.

First, install the control:

sudo apt-get install plasma-widget-veromix

Next, disable KMix:

sed -i -e '/^\[Global\]$/a AutoStart=false' ~/.kde/share/config/kmixrc

Next, add Veromix to your System Tray:

1. Right-click the triangle next to the clock
2. Choose System Tray Settings
3. Place a check next to Veromix

Finally, log out and log back in.

Now, you can configure Veromix to drive your volume past 100%:

1. Right-click the Veromix speaker icon
2. Choose Veromix Settings
3. Select the Pulseaudio page
4. Increase Max volume value to whatever you'd like; typically I set 200%.