Volume

[Guest]

Hi . Why is the sound so low when I listen to Radio 3 on my laptop. ? I am in Spain yet every other UK radio station is normal . Would appreciate any suggestion as to what I could try to resolve the problem. Regards John.

[Dave2002]

Not sure, but have you got a software volume control on the screen as well as the laptop's own volume control? It's possible that one of these is set really low. There might also be a mute icon - though normally this would kill all the sound. Make sure you've not put the mute on. Are you on a Windows machine?

[Thropplenoggin]

Hi . Why is the sound so low when I listen to Radio 3 on my laptop. ? I am in Spain yet every other UK radio station is normal . Would appreciate any suggestion as to what I could try to resolve the problem. Regards John.

Welcome to the forum, Brown Boots. In the spirit of helpfulness that this forum is renowned for, and doing my best IT Help Desk impression, can I ask: have you tried turning it on and off again?

Seriously, I live in France and have no problems listening via my Samsung Windows laptop. I can only think it must be a hardware problem. Have you tried listening with headphones?

[Gordon]

.... yet every other UK radio station is normal . Would appreciate any suggestion as to what I could try to resolve the problem. Regards John.

As in other replies, check your hardware and software settings. Although there should be no differnce between stations who knows when software is around. What "other UK stations" are these? R3 levels are naturally lower than most others anyway to support a more natural dynamic range eg R1 which is heavily compressed to give max "volume".

[Dave2002]

John

Are you listening under exactly the same conditions to all the stations? I'm sure I've had sound out of the microphone socket when listening on headphones sometimes - due to crosstalk, and then it is very quiet.
Obviously this wouldn't apply if all your listening has been done in the same way. As Gordon says, the output of R3 is slightly lower - and you'd perhaps better wait until it's not the start of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe or something with a quiet intro. Generally wait until the announcer comes in - announcers are usually relatively audible. http://open.spotify.com/track/4G5KcHVWxyfa9d86z35rtD

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Could it just be that R3 has real dynamics and other stations just play everything as loudly as possible?

[johnb]

I usually use a restaurant as an analogy (yes, I know it sounds bizarre but bear with me).

Imagine you are in a restaurant and there are two tables nearby. On one there are people all talking at the top of their voices (we've all been there). On the other table there is a group where they talk normally - sometimes very quietly, occasionally rising to the level of the other table. This group will sound much quieter though at the peaks they are as loud as the other group. This is similar to Radio 3 whereas the group on the first table is analogous to Radio 1/2 and, to a slightly lesser extent, Radio 4.

[Flosshilde]

Hi Brownboots - I don't really have much to add to what's been written here, except to echo the comment about announcers - if they sound loud enough then the volume is OK.

I wonder if the 'volume' of your post was intentional, given its topic? Large typeface in bold comes across as rather 'shouty', & is usually only used if one is getting a bit frustrated in a discussion (& even then isn't really 'the done thing'). I hope you won't take this comment amiss - it's intended as just a friendly hint

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Unless .....

[Flosshilde]

Unless .....

What?

[brownboots]

Thanks for all the comments. I normaly listen to Radio Lancashire weekdays between 7 and 9 mornings then sound is normal. Radio Classica the Spanish equivalent to Radio 3 is also good volume. My "Whiz Kid" son in law is arriving next week so will have him sorting out the software. Windows 7 Vaio is the system.