Amplifier?

[hellothere]

I have a Wang 724/725 that's using a Soarer's or equivalent. This model has a speaker that makes a pleasing "beep" when you hit a key. However, it's pretty quiet. Anyone know of an amp/preamp/better speaker I can throw in the case to make it louder? I'd assume it's powered by USB, so I'd also assume it isn't getting more than 5 volts (1.21 gigawatts, metric) and 1 amp (15.2 mylar balloons, metric), although I haven't hooked a multimeter to it.

Thanks for reading!

[kelvinhall05]

Stupid question but you've turned up the volume, right? There should be a potentiometer somewhere on the back, I forget exactly where cause I sold my Wang some time ago.

[Muirium]

The beeper on Kishsavers dial all the way down to zero on the back, too.

Also: volts and amps are metric. Americans are the ones who use freedom fries and British thermal units.

[Tahoma]

Ah, luckily the 'freedom fries' era has ended, and it was thankfully short. BTUs however are used a lot.

Hopefully a potential potentiometer fixes the problem. If not, consider taking a peek at the speaker cone to see if it is intact.

[hellothere]

It's not a stupid question, KH. That's probably the #3 question after, "Is it plugged into the computer and can you type stuff?" Yup, volume is all the way up and the volume goes from low to high as you turn it.

I'm doing the metric thing primarily because Chyros does the opposite in his vids and I'm in the US and I appreciate the creativeness of the measurements he comes up with, particularly if they're real measurements. I shall now discontinue that. Unless I can think of something funnier. I have been told that I'm creative.

I haven't done much more than open the case to check that everything is intact, but I can take a closer look at the speaker to make sure there aren't any rips.

[kelvinhall05]

It's not a stupid question, KH. That's probably the #3 question after, "Is it plugged into the computer and can you type stuff?" Yup, volume is all the way up and the volume goes from low to high as you turn it.

I'm doing the metric thing primarily because Chyros does the opposite in his vids and I'm in the US and I appreciate the creativeness of the measurements he comes up with, particularly if they're real measurements. I shall now discontinue that. Unless I can think of something funnier. I have been told that I'm creative.

I haven't done much more than open the case to check that everything is intact, but I can take a closer look at the speaker to make sure there aren't any rips.

Well because it's just a potentiometer that adjusts volume and at max volume it has virtually no resistance, the only way to make it louder would be to find a new driver and likely new speaker. I personally think it's too much work and not worth it but can research some parts tomorrow if you think it's worth it.

[Muirium]

I'm doing the metric thing primarily because Chyros does the opposite in his vids and I'm in the US and I appreciate the creativeness of the measurements he comes up with, particularly if they're real measurements.

We mock "US customary units" (formerly known as (British) Imperial) because, unlike ruthlessly bland metric, they truly are quite silly. A dozen of this, 16 of that, 3 of the other one just because; it's all quite loony when you already know your way around SI. And that's just the regular stuff, before you start playing switcheroo with the ounce.

Anyway, definitely eyeball that speaker cone. If you want a louder replacement—possibly unwise advice incoming—you could try a lower impedance speaker. That ought to be louder, right? (I am not an accoustician.)

[Tahoma]

Hey, I totally agree with US customary units being silly! I really wish my 3rd grade teacher was right, that the US was going to convert to the metric system (when Jimmy Carter was President).

I do however have a certain fondness for an MIT-based non-standard distance measurement, the Smoot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

The really ironic bit is that Oliver Smoot went on to become chairman of ANSI and then president of ISO.

[vvp]

Well because it's just a potentiometer that adjusts volume and at max volume it has virtually no resistance, the only way to make it louder would be to find a new driver and likely new speaker. I personally think it's too much work and not worth it but can research some parts tomorrow if you think it's worth it.

If you are afraid of crossing 0.5 A USB limit then try to add a capacitor in series with the speaker (I assume from the previous discussion that you have a low impedance dynamic speaker). Play with the capacitance to get some reasonable compromise between volume consumption and distortion. Going for a piezoelectric or electrostatic speaker with a bigger diaphragm will work too.

[Polecat]

Anyway, definitely eyeball that speaker cone. If you want a louder replacement—possibly unwise advice incoming—you could try a lower impedance speaker. That ought to be louder, right? (I am not an accoustician.)

Maximum power transfer occurs when the load impedance equals the source impedance, so there's a "sweet spot" when choosing the speaker. You can find that with an AC voltmeter and a potentiometer instead of buying a (metric) slew of speakers for trial and error tests.