Macbook pro left speaker .

I have a 9 year old mac book pro , last week the left speaker become very distorted , it sounded like it was blown , so I got the speakers replaced with speakers that weren't Apple ( Mac too old ) they have worked fine for a week and now the left side speaker again is sounding bad its very quiet as if I can only hear the high frequency and not the bass frequency or again it might sound blown , its difficult to tell with me not be used to their sound . Is it possibly not a speaker problem ? but another problem that I have missed in the first place . thanks Francis .

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.7

Posted on Jun 27, 2023 10:35 PM

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5 replies

Jun 28, 2023 01:52 PM in response to backpac

It really helps to know the exact model of the laptop which you can get by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac".


In my experience the 2013-2015 Retina MBPros seem to be prone to the speaker cones degrading over time. I've never seen any other laptop speaker do this like the speakers in these particular models. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone who actually sells new speakers for these laptops, so you are just purchasing another set of very old speakers. If you have a 2015 model, then you may be able to still have Apple replace the speakers for you if the part is still available since the 2015 model is now considered "Vintage".



Jun 30, 2023 07:53 AM in response to backpac

From my own personal experience supporting thousands of our organization's Macs, the speaker is the weakest link here. I've never seen any other speaker from any other model laptop fail at nearly the same time or as often as the speakers in the MacBook Pro 2013-2015 Retina models (both 13" & 15"). The only conclusion I can come up with is that these speakers are just deteriorating due to old age since they all began to fail at nearly the same time for each model year group. The thin material used in the speaker which produces the actual vibrations which you can hear can degrade over time....it seems the material Apple used in these particular models is degrading at a much faster rate than other models (or maybe there was a defect in manufacturing that is only now showing up as the material degrades).


I have not been able to locate any brand new speakers outside of Apple for these models (all of the 13" 2013-2015 MBPro use the exact same speaker, and the 15" models 2013-2015 all use the same larger version of the speaker). If I'm correct, then you would want new speakers manufactured more recently since even a brand new unused speaker made in 2015 may still have the same issue since it would be 8 years old now.


You can try another used speaker, but I wouldn't expect it to hold up for long either (you never know though). If you have the 2015 model, then see if Apple can replace the speakers for you assuming the speaker is still available since the 2015 model is now "Vintage". Just how much money are you willing to risk for such an old laptop? Probably time to use headphones or external speakers.


Sorry I don't have better news for you.


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Macbook pro left speaker .

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