Fix My Speakers

How to Fix a Bluetooth Speaker With No Sound

Pairing, volume, range and battery checks for a wireless speaker that connects but stays silent or sounds wrong.

Device-specific Updated 3 min read

Key takeaways

  • Check volume on both the phone and the speaker. They are often separate.
  • Forgetting the speaker and pairing again fixes most connection faults.
  • Distortion on a low battery is normal. Charge it before judging the speaker.

Try the tool. More than one speaker? Play each channel in turn to check the wiring.

Open the surround sound test

Connected but silent

A speaker that shows as connected but plays nothing is nearly always a routing or volume problem, not a broken speaker.

  • Two volume controls. Many speakers keep their own volume, separate from the phone’s. Turn both up.
  • Wrong output. Open the media output picker on your phone and select the speaker. Phones sometimes connect for calls only.
  • Another device has it. If a laptop or tablet nearby paired with the speaker earlier, it may have connected first. Switch Bluetooth off on the other device.
  • Input mode. Speakers with an aux socket or a memory card slot may be set to the wrong input. Press the mode or Bluetooth button.

Forget and pair again

This clears most stubborn faults.

  1. In the phone’s Bluetooth settings, choose the speaker and select forget or unpair.
  2. Switch the speaker off and on again.
  3. Put the speaker into pairing mode. This is usually a long press on the Bluetooth button until a light flashes.
  4. Pair it from the phone as if it were new.

If that fails, reset the speaker. The method varies, so check the manual, but it is commonly a long press of two buttons together.

Sound that cuts out

Dropouts are a signal problem.

  • Keep the phone within a few metres and in line of sight. Bodies and walls block the signal.
  • Move away from Wi-Fi routers and microwave ovens, which share the same radio band.
  • Close apps that are downloading in the background.
  • Charge the speaker. Many reduce radio power when the battery is low.

Distorted or thin sound

  • Low battery. Many speakers limit bass and distort when nearly flat. Charge fully and test again.
  • Phone volume at maximum, speaker low. Set the phone to about three-quarters and use the speaker’s own control for loudness.
  • Equaliser settings. Switch off bass boost on the phone and in the speaker’s companion app.
  • A damaged driver. Play a slow sweep with the tone generator, starting quietly. A rattle or buzz at one pitch points to a loose or torn driver.

A stereo pair with one side silent

If two speakers are linked as a stereo pair and one is quiet, unlink them and test each alone. Then pair them again following the maker’s order, since one is usually the primary. Use the surround sound test in its 2.0 layout to confirm left and right are the right way round.

If the speaker got wet

Water-resistant speakers still sound muffled with water sitting on the driver or the passive radiators. Shake out what you can, stand the speaker grille-down on a towel and let it dry. You can play a low tone through it from the water eject tool at moderate volume to help move droplets. Do not charge it until the charging port is completely dry.

When it is the speaker

If the speaker is silent with two different phones and after a reset, or crackles at every volume on a full battery, it has a hardware fault. Check the warranty before opening it.

To rule out the phone itself, follow the checklist for fixing a phone speaker.