Magnavox Odyssey 2 Voice module is quiet

[Sam Bushman]

Hi guys,

I have recently gotten my hands on an Odyssey 2 and it's "The Voice" module. After hooking everything up, I tried my copy of Smithereens! and found that the sound comming from The Voice was rather quiet. I suspected that the capacitors needed replaced, so I ordered a kit and installed them. After the installation I noticed a little improvement (the sound was not audible with the volume at max), but the sound is still very quiet.

 

Has anyone here ever experienced something similar? Are there other possible common defects I can look into?

 

I have read around that The Voice originaly came with it's own power adapter. I only have the stock AC adapter that came with my Odyssey 2 unit (11.5V, 400ma). Could this be the culprit? If so, what are the power specs of the adapter that came with The Voice?

 

Thanks for any advice.

[Bodyshots]

Perhaps someone might comment on a solution other then this which really is quite simple, but possibly not the solution you seek. I've never seen the inside of one, I've been sitting on the fence, waiting for a good price. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/234346-odyssey-2-the-voice-modifications/ Give it a whirl and see if the problem persists?

[Rolo]

My "Voice" is not prepared for any additional external PSU. It is not needed. If your Odyssey-PSU-voltage would go down severely, you'd probably notice that right away on the tv-screen or the Odyssey would reset. I don't believe that. I guess its just some bad contact, maybe on of the two plugs (speaker, volume potentiometer) or a badly corroded potentiometer, a brocken cable or a bad solder joint. If you hear it speaking, then all the critical parts are working. There is only a very simple LM386-based amplifier, which usually is not easy to destroy (and which can be replaced easily).

Go and see somebody with some electronics skills in your neighborhood, may somebody who knows how to repair radios and tv-sets.

Or try yourself:

• check contact and resistance of speaker and potentiometer with a multimeter, if you have one.
• slide the potentiometer up and down 20 times to scratch off any corrosion
• carefully resolder all the joints at the lower left corner of the board around that little 8-pin IC.

If you do not succeed, come back

[Sam Bushman]

So after a few months, I figured this out. I tried replacing the capacitors on the module, but this didn't help. Turns out the volume potentiometer was the cause. I opened it up (screws mounting this are under the front decal) and bent the leads to the slider a bit to provide more pressure on the resistance material. Works great now! Thanks for all the advice

[Rob Mitchell]

I currently have my O2 Voice apart to recap soon. Were you able to peel back the decal without destroying it?

[Rob Mitchell]

I just bent back the tabs which hold the slider together, removed the board from the back, ran my finger over the board which removed some of the carbon, applied some dielectric grease to the board and reassembled. I hope that makes it work well. It is the cheapest slider they could have provided. If this doesn't work, may have it replace it with a good quality slider or a potentiometer on the side of the voice.

[Sam Bushman]

I was very careful with the decal. Most of the adhesive stuck to the plastic as opposed to the decal. It all went back together fine (although making sure the decal was lined up properly was a bit of a pain. My usual technique for stickers and the like is just to take it slow and to peel large edges at a time (letting the combined tension of the peeling edge's material keep it from tearing).

 

I am considering doing an RCA-out mod on my Voice for video capture (I already have composite out on my Odyssey 2). The Voice is just great.

[alortegac]

Hi, 
Requesting your assistance to troubleshoot a quiet Voice.

 

I can only hear cracking sounds instead of the “words”. Like distorted words. 
i have replaced the amplifier with no change. I tested the speaker, it is good. 
i cleaned the slider potentiometer, but not sure on what are the correct  ohms range. 
So I tried to go before the amplifier circuit to check if I was getting sound from the chip. I am not sure on how to test the main IC. I connected headphones right to the audio out pin 24 and ground,  I could only hear the same faint cracking distortion sound whenever the voice should be speaking.

is it possible the ic is bad? 

Somehow it appears to be working, but somewhere sound is being distorted or it is coming distorted from the ic. 
 

Thanks a lot in advance.