Chosen Solution
I don’t know if anyone else is the same like me or not who are using Touchbar version of 15" 2017, My left speaker sound output is not the same as the right speaker. I tried Preferences Pane/Sound and trick the Balance of Left and right while playing the music. But, the output is not normal at Left Speaker. The right speaker can bring full of bass like surround sound. But, the left speaker can bring only treble sound. Neither the bass or the surround like the right one. Am I only one who experiencing like that? Or was is because of the new MacBook Pro speaker system?
I had the same issue. I backed up my Mac, reset it completely, reloaded software and went into System Preferences > Sound > Output > and then I moved the balance to the middle because it was automatically on left for some reason. Resetting may be more of a last resort-type thing but it worked for me!
I got my MacBook 2016 15” repaired TWICE. First time the battery needed replacing, the second time I took it out for being serviced I was experiencing the good old butterfly-keyboard issue. So the repair was free even if out of warranty. My whole topcase got replaced. So I also got new speakers. And now I’m experiencing the same issues as mentioned above. I have experienced a loud pop on the right speaker that only does low frequency sounds. And my left speaker only does high frequency sounds. Balance is correct. This started after macOS Catalina update. Really sad that I have so much trouble with a 3200 euro costing machine. The Apple experience is ruined for me. These lineups are real garbage.
Brought my laptop to the service to get replacement. Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s an OS bug that leads to speaker getting torn apart (but I didn’t open my laptop, it’s just a guess of what happened after laptop woke up and left speaker popped loudly about 7 times) https://discussions.apple.com/thread/796…
I have the same problem on a 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 15” under Mojave : the right speaker is very low compared to the left, with only the low frequencies. I just replaced both but got no difference
I have found that it is possible to fix an imbalance between speakers by loosening the screws at the back of the computer under the offending speaker. Play something, lay the laptop on its keyboard with the screen hanging over the table so that the back of the computer and the screws can be seen. loosen a screw at a time while listening to the sound. You may find quite a remarkable improvement ! Tighten them all up one at a time until the sound worsens again, then, loosen once more - or remove that screw totally. You could stick the screw in place - but loosened - with a drop of nail varnish. This a a temporary fix - but, it works for me until I can get a new machine. Replacing the speakers did not help by the way, but my screw trick - found while I did the replacement - did.
I’m having this problem as well except my situation is reversed — my right speaker’s volume is very low compared to the left’s. Tried resetting SMC and PRAM with no luck. Verified audio balance is in the middle. Replaced my right speaker with a “new” one to confirm it’s not a problem with the speaker itself. Moving my audio output balance over to the right is a hack that lets me enjoy me speakers at approximately the same volume again but this is obviously broken so I’m taking it to the Apple store tomorrow to see if they can diagnose the issue.
I have a MacBook Pro 13” with Touch Bar from 2017 with the same problem. The only difference is that it happened after they changed the top case because of a problem with the keypad… I understand they changed speakers as well so it might be a problem with the new speakers. I have also updated the Mac to Catalina. I’m going to take it to the store again. Did you find a way to fix your Mac?
Same as mine.. The left speaker was louder than the right speaker. I thought the speaker was fault by just change the new speaker still the same..
Hi! I have the same issue on my Macbook Pro 2017, 15 inches, it passed seven months after Apple had changed my keyboard, that is, tope case due to the well-known issue. So there was no warranty, I took it to the service to let them see what happened they just said - something is wrong, we can fix it by changing the whole top case again but I need to pay this time, so I refused. Another man said just wait till the issue with the keyboard would appear in 3-4 years again and thus it will be changed for free :D So, just tolerating it to the moment. So it is a hardware issue, as many others lately with the last generation’s macbooks. We need just to accept they are not perfect, man.
Not completely idea, but if you go to system preference / sound you can just balance the left/right speakers while listening to a song such that the audio is centered in your listening space. Then everything you play will be balanced.
Does anyone have a solution? It seems that everybody stay with the issue. :(
