Check every speaker in a stereo, 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1 system: is it playing, and is it in the right place?
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Checking your audio output…
Sound is made in your browser. Nothing is recorded or uploaded. Testing headphones or earbuds? Use the headphone test.
Choose your layout, then tap a speaker in the room: a short burst of noise plays from that speaker only, like a receiver's test tone. Play all goes clockwise from front left. The Path tab shows which output each channel goes to, and the Bass tab checks the subwoofer and how low your system goes.
Before any sound plays, the page asks your browser how many channels the output accepts. Your operating system sets that number, not the speakers: a 5.1 system on a computer set to stereo gets 2 channels, and every sound plays from the front pair. This setting causes most surround problems, so check the count first.
On the 2.0 layout, Left and Right each play from one speaker. If Left plays from the right, the cables or plugs are swapped. L+R plays from both speakers at once and should sound centered. If it leans to one side, one speaker is louder, the balance is off, or you aren't sitting in the middle. Place desk speakers as far apart as they are from your head.
The ".1" is the subwoofer. It plays only low notes, below about 80 to 120 Hz, so on its own it sounds like a hum: you can't tell where bass comes from. Most 2.1 computer speakers take a stereo signal and split off the bass inside the sub, with no separate subwoofer channel. For those, the test plays low notes on left and right, and the sub should pick them up. A 2.1 system on an AV receiver has its own sub channel, and the test uses it when your computer is set to 5.1 or 7.1.
5.1 is six channels: front left, center, front right, surround left, surround right and the subwoofer. The center carries most film dialogue. The surrounds sit to the sides, slightly behind you, and carry ambience and effects. With 6 channels, the test drives each speaker on its own, so a dead or swapped speaker is easy to hear.
The standard layout (ITU-R BS.775) puts the center straight ahead, the front pair 30° to each side and the surrounds about 110° to each side, all at the same distance from your seat. The room in the test uses these angles. The sub can go almost anywhere at the front: you can't tell where low bass comes from.
7.1 splits the 5.1 surrounds into two pairs: side speakers level with you, at 90 to 110°, and rear speakers behind you, at 135 to 150°. The most common 7.1 fault is sides and rears swapped. On a computer the cause is often the channel order: Windows numbers 7.1 channels differently from films, macOS and most players, and a browser can't tell which order your output uses. Play a side speaker: if it comes from behind you, turn on the switch on the Path tab to fix it for this device.
LFE is the subwoofer's own channel in 5.1 and 7.1. The sub check plays low noise on it. The bass sweep rises from 20 to 120 Hz, so you hear where your system starts and whether anything rattles. Small desktop speakers can't play 40 Hz, and that's normal. On a receiver, the Main speakers route sends bass to the front speakers; if the sub plays it, bass management works. Keep the volume moderate: a sub at full level can bottom out.
Each speaker has a + and a − terminal. If one speaker of a pair is wired the other way round, bass cancels and voices don't stay in the middle. Play L+R on the stereo layout: in phase, the sound is centered between the speakers. Out of phase, it sounds wide, hollow and thin. Then check that red goes to red and black to black at both ends of each cable.
If the page says 2 channels and you have a surround system, your computer is sending stereo. Change the speaker setup of the output your speakers use, then press Check again. The page also checks again when you return to the tab.
If Configure is greyed out or lists only Stereo, the device doesn't offer more channels. Over HDMI, a TV or adapter between the computer and receiver usually reports stereo: connect the computer to the receiver directly. For analog speakers, install the motherboard maker's audio driver in place of the generic one.
Realtek audio console: set the speaker configuration to match, and turn off Speaker Fill. It copies stereo to the rear speakers, so every test sound plays everywhere.
Safari may still report only stereo. If it does, use Chrome for the test.
With PipeWire or PulseAudio, the browser only needs a surround profile. If none is listed, the card or HDMI sink doesn't offer one.
Some connections carry only two channels, whatever you set on the computer.
| Connection | Channels |
|---|---|
HDMI, computer straight to receiver The best option: up to 8 channels of uncompressed sound. Set the HDMI output to 5.1 or 7.1. | 5.1 and 7.1 |
HDMI through the TV, ARC ARC can't carry multichannel sound from a browser. It carries stereo, or compressed Dolby Digital, which web pages don't send. | Stereo only |
HDMI through the TV, eARC eARC carries uncompressed multichannel sound, as long as the TV passes it on. Check the TV's audio output setting (Passthrough or Auto). | Usually 5.1 and 7.1 |
Optical or coaxial (S/PDIF) S/PDIF carries two channels of uncompressed sound. For 5.1, the sound card must encode on the fly (Dolby Digital Live or DTS Interactive). Then the computer shows a 5.1 output and the test works. | Stereo only |
Analog jacks on a PC Green is front, black is rear, orange is center and subwoofer, grey is side (7.1 only). Set the speaker configuration to match in your sound settings or the audio console.
| 5.1 and 7.1 |
USB sound card or gaming headset A 5.1 or 7.1 USB card drives real speakers. A 7.1 headset shows up as 8 channels and its software turns them into virtual surround on two earcups. | Depends on the device |
Bluetooth Bluetooth audio is two channels. A surround soundbar connected over Bluetooth spreads that stereo over its speakers, so the test can't address them one by one. | Stereo only |
A soundbar with rear speakers and a sub can be tested channel by channel only if the computer sees 6 or 8 channels: HDMI straight into the bar, or eARC through the TV. Over ARC, optical or Bluetooth the bar gets stereo and decides itself what each speaker plays. A bar without rear speakers simulates surround, so a sound can seem to come from a direction with no speaker there.
Windows has its own per-speaker test: in mmsys.cpl › Configure, click a speaker in the diagram. If it plays there but not here, tell us with the feedback button.
Check that each speaker cable is on the right terminal, and test the computer → HDMI → receiver chain, which the receiver's own test tone doesn't cover.
Find out whether Windows is sending surround at all, which plug is in which jack, and why the rears are silent.
Check that the driver exposes 8 channels and that each one lands where the virtual surround says it should.
See whether your connection carries separate channels or stereo that the bar spreads out.
Make sure left is left, the sub plays, and nothing on the desk buzzes at a particular bass note.
Walk every speaker, check the routing on the Path tab, run the bass sweep, and paste the result into a ticket or forum post.
The page will say 2 channels. Your computer is set to stereo, or the connection carries only stereo. Follow the setup steps above.
Something is spreading stereo to all the speakers: Realtek Speaker Fill, or a receiver mode such as All Channel Stereo, Multi-Channel Stereo, Dolby Surround or DTS Neural:X. Switch the receiver to Direct, Pure Direct or Straight while you test.
A common home theater wiring mistake: swap the two cables at the receiver. In 7.1, if sides and rears are swapped, first try the Swap sides and rears switch on the Path tab; the cause is usually the channel order.
Set the computer to 5.1 or 7.1; quad has no center. On a receiver, set the center to Small or Large, not None. On PC jacks, the center and sub share the orange jack and a split cable; if the center plays bass and the sub plays 'Center', the split is reversed.
Swap it with a working speaker of the same kind. If the silence moves with the speaker, the speaker or its cable is faulty. If it stays in the same position, check the receiver's output and speaker setup.
One speaker of a pair is probably wired + to −. Play L+R: if it sounds wide and hollow, check the red and black wires at both ends of that speaker’s cable.
Check the system volume and mute, and that the output named under the channel count is the one your speakers use. On an iPhone, turn off the silent switch: it mutes web audio. On a receiver, select the input the computer is connected to.
Turn the test level and system volume down. If one speaker still crackles at low volume, check its cable for loose strands, then swap it with another speaker to see if the fault moves.
The content is stereo. YouTube in a browser plays stereo, and many games output stereo unless you choose 5.1 or 7.1 in their audio settings. To spread stereo to all speakers, use your receiver's Dolby Surround or DTS Neural:X mode.