Acer Predator Helios 500 - Wave MaxxAudio installation after format and fresh windows re-install

LennartF

I must agree the laptop itself is good but the speakers is a joke. yeah I have tried different sound enhancers with mixed results. 
And I also wonder why it sounds so crappy when u turn waves off. unfortunately even with it on I don't think the sound is that good when thinking on how much this laptop cost. 

Razamax

I agree, the body of this 17 inch laptop is big enough that they could have easily put slightly more powerful speakers in it. The sound issue is due to the Realtek chip. Realtek just provides a cheap DAC and audio drivers, and then leaves it up to the OEMs to design their own audio software. The chip is good enough, but it has to be paired with good software and good speakers.

I noticed that the audio sounds bad when you have both Waves and True-harmony sound effects installed. True harmony gets installed with Predator sense software, and there is no way to disable it. You have to uninstall predator sense in order to get rid of it. I just have waves installed with the following settings.

Preset movies, customized to:

Internal speaker: Maxxbass 60, Detail 35, Width 25

Headphones: Maxxbass 24, Details 33, Width 0 (Waves NX disabled)

The above settings work for me. You may need to tweak them slightly for your taste.

Also, since the speakers are down firing, so the sound depends on what surface the laptop is on. Through experience I have noticed that it sounds best on a thick wooden table, with the laptop sitting directly on the table and nothing under it to raise it up. I typically raise my laptop up from the rear for better air circulation, but this effects the sound quality from both the speakers and the sub-woofer.