Sound volume from wired speakers too low

[Artisto]

Can I please get a fix here by maybe command line? My wired altec lansing speakers which work just fine with windows or mac are not getting the proper volume control under any linux distro here. It seems that only linux distros have this issue where wired speakers are showing at max volume but sound waaay too low. Also, the bluetooth speakers seem to be working just fine and then suddenly stopped working out of nowhere - and now will not connect. I'm not a pro here so if there is a fix please provide instructions in baby steps if I may ask. Thank You in advance
My System: Gigbyte Aero 690-G Ryzen 7 5800, 8 core Nvidia GE force 3080 32 GB ram.

[Jerry3904]

Please provide the output of Menu > Quick System Info (click "Save for Forum" and just paste back here) so can see the relevant data for your question. Thanks.

[Artisto]

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20250913_2012
System:
  Kernel: 6.1.0-33-amd64 [6.1.133-1] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1.0-33-amd64 root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm v: 4.20.0 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.6_x64 Libretto April 13  2025 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: HP product: OMEN 30L Desktop GT13-1xxx v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
    Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: HP model: 8876 v: 11 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: AMI v: F.12 date: 11/04/2021
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4 level: v3 note: check
    built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0
    microcode: 0xA201016
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache: L1: 512 KiB
    desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2199 high: 2200 min/max: 2200/3800 boost: enabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2200 2: 2200 3: 2200 4: 2200 5: 2200 6: 2200
    7: 2200 8: 2200 9: 2200 10: 2195 11: 2200 12: 2200 13: 2200 14: 2200 15: 2200 16: 2200
    bogomips: 121369
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: safe RET, no microcode
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; STIBP: always-on; RSB
    filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA102 [GeForce RTX 3080 Lite Hash Rate] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: nvidia
    v: 535.247.01 non-free: 530.xx+ status: current (as of 2023-03) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
    process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 link-max: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2216 class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: xfwm v: 4.20.0 driver: X: loaded: nvidia
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa alternate: nv gpu: nvidia display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 678x382mm (26.69x15.04") s-diag: 778mm (30.64")
  Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 109 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23")
    diag: 685mm (26.97") modes: N/A
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 535.247.01 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080/PCIe/SSE2
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA102 High Definition Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 07:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:1aef class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-33-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: rtw_8822ce v: N/A modules: rtw88_8822ce,wl pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: e000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:c822 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Hewlett-Packard
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Realtek Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-7:3 chip-ID: 0bda:b00c
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.1
    sub-v: abd3 hci-v: 5.1 rev: ffb8
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:6 sco-mtu: 255:12 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
    telephony
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.29 TiB used: 33.63 GiB (1.4%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital model: PC SN530 SDBPNPZ-1T00-1006
    size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD
    serial: <filter> rev: HPS2 temp: 40.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:2 vendor: Western Digital model: WD BLACK SN850X 1000GB
    size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD
    serial: <filter> rev: 620281WD temp: 35.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q
    scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Kingston model: SH103S3240G size: 223.57 GiB block-size:
    physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: BBF0 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 232.83 GiB size: 228.12 GiB (97.98%) used: 33.62 GiB (14.7%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme1n1p2 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 256 MiB size: 252 MiB (98.46%) used: 19.4 MiB (7.7%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1 maj-min: 259:3
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 6 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 40 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 0 fan-2: 0 gpu: nvidia fan: 30%
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2287 libs: 1170 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: pacman
    pkgs: 0 pm: rpm pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mirror.math.princeton.edu/pub/mxlinux/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 arm64] https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com stable main
Info:
  Processes: 333 Uptime: 9m wakeups: 1 Memory: 31.25 GiB used: 3.22 GiB (10.3%) Init: SysVinit
  v: 3.06 runlevel: 5 default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: UEFI

[j2mcgreg]

Try plugging the speakers into the headphone jack.

[Artisto]

The only difference is when I unplug the speakers, the sound through the monitor is a bit louder but sounds terrible because the sound is overmodulating. No change though changing where it plugs into.

[FullScale4Me]

Left-click on the speaker icon and then click on audio mixer... pop-up. Make adjustments on the Output and Playback tabs. On the configuration tab, the Profile selection may change how things behave on the other tabs.

If not in terminal, run alsamixer as it may show some hidden settings.

[Jerry3904]

That's what I have to do in some cases, setting output to about 150%

[CharlesV]

In a terminal run alsamixer
Press F6 and select your sound card
Press F5 and you should see a list of all 'devices'
For each device: press + to increase its volume
Use > to navigate to the next device.

Here is the trick... there are MORE devices than one screen! So once you have increased the volume on the last device, use > to go to the next screen and continue increasing the volumes. On my HP there are 19 devices. One Dell I was working with had 21.

I usually have a song or video playing when I start this process, so I can hear when the volume comes up.

[Jerry3904]

It's, there needs to be output on order to adjust it, otherwise it won't show

[CharlesV]

Hmm.. I read this as he was getting sound, but very quietly.

I think upgrading to a pipewire 1.4.x from the test repo would also be good.