Speaker Test — Check Left, Right and Full-Range Sound

This speaker test generates audio in your browser with the Web Audio API: channel tests to confirm left and right are the right way round, fixed tones to check which frequencies your speakers reproduce, and a sweep that walks the whole range in one pass.

Quick answer: Start with the left and right buttons: sound should come from the matching side only. Then run the swing test — the tone should move smoothly from left to right. Use the tone buttons above to find where your speakers stop producing sound; small laptop speakers usually roll off below about 150 Hz.

Start at low volume. Sustained tones at high volume are hard on small speakers — raise it gradually.

Volume30%

Frequency sweep20 Hz → 20 kHz in 12 seconds

Small laptop speakers roll off below roughly 150 Hz and above 15 kHz — hearing nothing at 40 Hz is normal for a laptop and does not indicate a fault. Use the 1 kHz tone as your reference for a working speaker.

Core facts

Channel tests	Left only, right only, both, and a stereo sweep to catch swapped speakers
Tone range	40 Hz to 15 kHz in useful steps; a sweep covers the range continuously
How it works	Tones are generated in the browser with the Web Audio API — no audio files are downloaded
Volume warning	Start with your system volume low: sustained tones at full volume can damage speakers and hearing

Reading a speaker test properly

Start quiet and raise the volume gradually — a speaker that rattles at high volume is telling you about mechanical damage, not about the test. When checking a channel, the sound must be clearly from one side only; a faint signal in the other speaker usually means a wiring or jack problem, or, on a laptop, that both speakers are so close together that you cannot separate them by ear. Use the frequency buttons to find the point where output falls away: know that a 13-inch laptop physically cannot reproduce 40 Hz at any meaningful level.

Distortion, crackle and what it means

Crackle at all volumes points to a failing driver or a dirty connection; crackle only at high volume is usually the amplifier clipping or the cone exceeding its travel. A buzz that appears at specific frequencies can be a loose panel resonating — test by pressing gently on the case. Ruling these out with a controlled tone is much easier than judging by ear with music.

When to use this test

You rewired your desk and want to confirm left is left and right is right
One speaker is silent or crackles and you want to isolate the channel
You are checking how low a laptop or Bluetooth speaker can go before it rolls off
You repaired a headphone cable or a jack and want to check both channels and the ground

Frequently asked questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it normal that I cannot hear the lowest tones?

Yes. Small speakers and laptops typically reproduce almost nothing below about 150 Hz. Headphones usually manage lower. If a large speaker that used to produce bass now does not, that is worth investigating.

I hear nothing at all. What should I check?

Check that the output device selected in your operating system is the one you expect, that the volume is up and not muted, and that the browser tab is not muted. Bluetooth speakers also need to be connected, not merely paired.

Why does the tone sound like it is pulsing or beating?

That is usually two sources playing the same tone with a slight delay — for example a laptop speaker and a Bluetooth speaker both active — which creates a beat. Mute one output in the system settings.

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