How to Test Your Speakers
- Turn your device's volume down, then raise it slowly once a sound is playing. The Volume slider starts at 25%.
- Left/Right: play each side. You should hear "Left" from the left speaker only, "Right" from the right only, and Play Both from the middle.
- Sweep: a tone rises from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Listen for buzzing, rattles, or places where it drops out, and tap I Can't Hear It when it fades away.
- Bass: play the tones from 120 Hz down to find where your speakers or subwoofer stop, and walk around the room to find rattles.
- Phase: switch between In Phase and Out of Phase to check the wiring.
Headphones and Car Audio
Headphones and earbuds: use Left/Right to check that L is in your left ear. In the Phase tab, Out of Phase sounds diffuse or inside your head. That's normal with headphones and doesn't mean anything is wrong.
Car audio: connect your phone by Bluetooth or cable and use Left/Right to check each side. Move the car's balance control while one side plays to find a dead door speaker. Use the Bass tab to check a subwoofer and find panel rattles.
What the Results Mean
| Test | Normal | If Not |
|---|---|---|
| Left/Right | Each side plays alone; both sounds centered | See the fixes below |
| Sweep | Smooth, fading out at the top | Buzzing or a dropout means a fault or a rattle at that frequency |
| Bass | Clean tones down to your speaker's limit | Rattles at one tone are usually something loose |
| Phase | In Phase sounds fuller | One speaker's wires are reversed |
Troubleshooting
One Side Is Silent
Check the balance first. On Windows, open Sound settings, then your output device's properties. On Mac, open System Settings, then Sound, and center the balance slider. Then check the cable and swap the speakers' cables over. If the silence moves with the cable, the cable or the output is at fault. If it stays with the speaker, the speaker is.
Left and Right Are Swapped
Swap the two speakers' cables at the amplifier or the computer, or move the speakers. For headphones, check you're wearing them the right way round.
No Bass
Small speakers can't play deep bass, so a phone or laptop is normally silent below 100–200 Hz. With a subwoofer, check its power, volume, and crossover, and that the receiver has it turned on. Try the phase test too: reversed wiring cancels bass.
Crackling or Rattling
Find the tone where it happens in the Bass tab or the sweep. If it stops when you hold a grille, a panel, or something nearby, that part is loose. If it crackles at every tone, even quietly, check the cables, then the speaker itself.
Water in a Phone Speaker
If your phone got wet and sounds muffled, try the speaker cleaner, a 165 Hz tone that can help push water out of the grille.