What Voice Amp/speaker setup do you use?

[Trooper TK409]

I've got the big black Radio Shack voice amp from my Trooper outfit, but I can't see a very good place to put it on Boba Fett. What about those small, quarter-sized speakers? Anyone use those? Do they require an amp? Anyone have a tutorial for making these or sell a complete setup? No sound boards, just the speakers please.
Thanks!
- Chris

 

[secol FETT]

i have the same, but im planin to change the speaker for other more big but flat, if i not wrong, i remember a reference pic, Boba have the speaker on his stomach plate

<img src=http://200.72.163.179/cdref/0001_0100/Boba_Fett_027.jpg>
for me that cable, its the speaker cable, what do you think


ok ifound the pics they are here http://tdh.prop-planet.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1875&forum=3
posted by Tylerdurden

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hmm i go to search the image, but if any alredy have or know the url well ...

 

[sithlord23]

I use the radio shack one as well. I was wondering if its possible to just take that speaker from the big black casing, and maybe make a smaller case for it, but I haven't tried yet. I got the last one at my radio shack. Has anyone done this to theirs? I think its probably possible.

 

[Bobo]

Hey guys, I just came back from radio shack and I bought myself a neat little amp:

It's discontinued, so it only cost me $10CDN ($7US) so you might have trouble finding it...but I called my local ones and I noticed MANY still have a few in stock!!!

All you need is pull it out of the casing and pop it into your helmet somewhere, it's very compact. And it can take a 9V battery and it's got a microphone jack, so you can use anything you want!

Here's a tutorial of someone who put it in their scout helmet:
http://www.tk604.com/modifications/bikerhelmetwiring.htm

Hope that helps

Bobo

 

[Omega Man]

Hey Sergio,

The speaker there makes sense, thats why there is 3 round holes in a triangular formation on the stomach armor. Those 3 little holes are the speaker grill

 

[secol FETT]

sithlord23 wrote:
I use the radio shack one as well. I was wondering if its possible to just take that speaker from the big black casing, and maybe make a smaller case for it, but I haven't tried yet. I got the last one at my radio shack. Has anyone done this to theirs? I think its probably possible.

hmmm
check my site http://www.geocities.com/s_collao/
<img src=http://200.72.163.179/cdref/tdh/img/voiceamp02.jpg>

 

[DarthVader1]

I've heard about someone in my garrison that was selling his voice amp from RS, which did the same...taking the speaker out, but did something to it to use a 9V battery instead of the six AA-sized cells. Don't know how, and if someone knows if it's compatible with it or if that can be done, let me know.

I have two amps, the one from RS (which I like it because of the cool mic), and the one I bought on Ebay, which someone sells as Stormtrooper voice Burst-Amp., which has three different settings of voice, one grave as Vader, one like an alien or Jawa, and a normal mode, which sounds really good as ST or even Boba, unless you have a funny small voice and probably want to choose the "Vader" voice.

Robert

 

[Omega Man]

I have the same one Bobo purchased...Thanks Bobo

Here is the link


http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&category_name=CTLG_008_006_000_000&product_id=277-1008

 

[exoray]

What about those small, quarter-sized speakers? Anyone use those? Do they require an amp?

Yes, any speaker is going to require an amp. You will probably not be real happy with the sound from most "small" speakers as they really are limited in frequency response and volume. They work OK with troopers when you mount them in the aerator as the aerator acts like a speaker cabinet and drastically helps the little speaker along. In "free air" use the sound of most micro speakers is for lack of a better word sucks.

Anyone have a tutorial for making these or sell a complete setup? No sound boards, just the speakers please.

If you can wait a little while, I am placing an order for more parts for the trooper static box tonight and was planning on ordering several different types and sizes of speakers for testing as well as several different types of microphones. As my preliminary testing with the static box shows day and night differences from microphone to microphone. The speakers are part of the prototyping of the fett voice box, I had tried some small flat speakers that could have been dropped in a pocket or even pinned up to the the suit behind something they were only an 1.5" square and less the a quarter inch thick in a nice plastic frame with mounting holes, but the sound sucks so I need to continue to experiment. So if you want to wait and let me do all the trial and error I will offer the ones that work best up for sale soon. When I say "works best" it will be tested with that little white Rat Shack amp, as that is a very basic LM386 based amp circuit simular to the one I will use in my designs.

Flynn

 

[DarthVader1]

That sounds cool. Can't wait to see a final result. I suggest to do something that we could adapt a Radio Shack-type of mic that we could plug to the unit. Besides, of compact and that we could run from a 9V battery.

Robert

 

[exoray]

It will be 9v and small, and as for the mic I will probably offer it in the package along with the speaker(s) as a turn-key solution. Both the mic and speaker(s) will be jacked so you could also use your own or another setup.

Flynn

 

[Omega Man]

I used a tiny walkman earphone for a microphone...its the size of a dime and i have it mounted with velcro...works great with my Radio Shack mini amp.

 

[Fetthunter]

I took the black Radio Shack voice amp, gutted it, and wired it to run on a 9V instead of the 6 AA batteries. 6 AA batteries at 1.5V each = 9 volts, so a 9 volt works perfectly. I mounted the ciruit board, speaker, and battery in an extra pouch that I wear on my utility belt. I also keep my cell phone and ID cards and money in it. I weathered it, so no one knows it's NOT part of my outfit.

 

[Bobo]

fpotato: you actually get a decent sound from an earphone??

Bobo

 

[bh7603]

watchit with that 9v...you wont get enough power to run it at the proper output. The speaker/amp are rated to handle the output either ohms or soemhting from 6 AA's not 1 9v. It will work but it wont be at all loud enough to be heard in a crowded room.

 

[Bobo]

The speaker/amp from radio shack is *designed* to use a 9V battery, it's even got a connector inside! So you can either use an adapter or the 9V battery...it'll work, and it's very loud...trust me

Bobo

 

[exoray]

watchit with that 9v...you wont get enough power to run it at the proper output. The speaker/ amp are rated to handle the output either ohms or soemhting from 6 AA's not 1 9v. It will work but it wont be at all loud enough to be heard in a crowded room.

The ohms of that the speaker is rated at is produced from the lm386 amp IC on the board, as long as that IC has sufficient power (4v -12v) from the circuit it will output correctly. The main issue is missed here, what you really need to know is how many amps/hour (or milliamps/hour 'mAH' 1/1000 of an amp/hour) the device in question uses or draws.

An AA battery is 1.5 volts DC and can push about <font color="red">1120 mAH
A 9V battery is 9 volts DC and can push about <font color="red">565 mAH

Now link 6 AA batteries + to - (in series) and you get 9 volts with 1120 mAH of push.

That would be like this <font color="red">+[ ]-~+[ ]-~+[ ]-~+[ ]-~+[ ]-~+[ ]<font color="red">- you connect the device at the red ends.

The black Rat Shack amp uses the AA batteries in the 9v/1120 mah (in series) configuration, so you could sub in a 9v battery but expect it to burn out in about half the time or less depending on the pull of the device. Although they both output 9v the 9v battery has about half the push/hour (565 mAH) behind it compared to the series of AA batteries (1120 mAH)

Confused yet

Also remember Rat Shack had two amps a white one and a black one. White uses 9v by default and the black used 6 AA by default, the circuit in both is VERY simular.