Hi
Just bought the Witcher today and enjoying it, it works like a charm (no crash or anything in 5 hours play..)... except an annoying issue : the dialogue voices are ultra low, not audible unless sound is maxed, and then everything else is much too loud !
What's really strange is that it doesn't happen with the "ambiance" voices of unimportant NPC, only in dialogues... Changing voice language doesn't help neither.
I never had that kind of issues with my comp, and upgraded my Realtek drivers to no avail..
Any idea ?

Increasing 'Voice Volume' in the sound options doesn't fix it ?

Not really : if I set the voices to 10 and the rest to 1.5 I can hear the low dialogues voices, but then the other voices (ppl chatting in the strrets, etc..) are just insanely loud !!

Have you tried disabling EAX in the sound options ?

EAX is deactivated - I can't even activate it, dunno why...

Have you tried changing your speakers setup or maybe plugging in some headphones to see if the problem persists ? You could always try to update your sound drivers too.

Post what sound card you're using, maybe someone wilth a similar card has a tip on how to fix the issue.

How could the speakers give low sound only on dialogues ? I have booming music and background sound and "other" voices (I have a 4-speakers set with a subwoofer..)
I did install latest drivers, card is an integrated Realtek (I have an AsusG73 "gamer" laptop).
Config detection gives:
Realtek High Definition Audio
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. | Classe: media | Version : 6.0.1.6299 | Date: 25/01/2011

And you were right ! I don't have the issue if I unplug my speakers and use either the integrated ones (that are ok), or a headphone !!! Ununderstandable, but that's it !
Thx !!

You're welcome ;)

Looks like there was an issue with the 5.1 surround sound in the game, so certain channels were far too quiet. I wonder if you could get your 4-speaker setup working with some audio setting tweaks. Is there an option in-game to pick stereo vs 5.1? How about in Windows / soundcard sound settings?

I have only played the Witcher with stereo sound.

Hmmm, in fact I plug my subwoofer on the headphone plug of the laptop... Usually I don't have issues like this, but indeed that's maybe not quite the same that if there was a real "audio out" socket... I can't configure my speakers, the Realteck settings only allows a standard stereo setup. Dunno if there's a way to tweak this.

Do the rest of your speakers plug into the subwoofer then? The headphone jack is sending out stereo signal usually, so your 5.1 speaker system would be getting a stereo signal rather than 5.1.

One possible solution to consider is getting a USB soundcard. These will plug into a USB plug on your laptop and then you plug your speakers into the soundcard itself. They usually have MUCH better sound than onboard sound and if you buy the right one, it will have a full set of 5.1 audio jacks so you can hook up your 5.1 system.

They're often reasonably cheap... looks like you can get one that supports 5.1 speakers (i.e. a 6-channel sound card) for $30 - $60. Of course, check reviews first and make sure it's a good card.

Here's some examples on Amazon... the Creative ones are probably a good bet for games:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=5.1+usb+sound+card&x=0&y=0

Thanks Waltorious
In fact my onboard card is pretty nice, it features EAX and even has a subwoofer. But I think the issue is indeed that the headphone plug is stereo only, so I can't have the same sound fetures if I plus my "external" subwoofer (and yes the speakers are plugged into the subwoofer).
No real deal anyway, I can avoid the "low voices" issue by using the onboard card or an headphone, and the sound is great anyway.
Thx for the tip about USB soundcards, I didn't even know that existed !

Yeah they're pretty cool... I actually found out about them when the headphone jack on my laptop stopped working. Turned out fixing it would be much more of a hassle than simply buying a simple, small USB soundcard that's about the size of a memory stick. Plug my headphones into that, and suddenly it sounds even better than it did before with the crappy onboard sound I had.

Anyway, I'm glad you found an audio solution that works for you. Enjoy the game!