Lower sound on a handheld speaker?

[icemanxp300]

I purchased these discovery kids laser tag things for my twin boys who are 2. They are quite loud and my one boy doesn't like it. Is there a way to make them less loud? Can I buy different speakers? They are 8ohm 25 watt. I am just going to disconnect for now but I am still curious.

[Osgeld]

Dirty way is to put a resistor inline with the + wire

[icemanxp300]

Dirty way is to put a resistor inline with the + wire

 

My buddy told me to do that "he didn't say which side". I used a resistor off a snes pcb and the sound was gone completely. Maybe I put it on the wrong side?

[BigO]

I doubt it will make any difference which side you put it in.

What was the value of the resistor you used? (What color are the bands around it?)

Try a lower value one if you have it. You can't hurt it by putting in too low of a value. Since you're effectively replacing a zero ohm resistor, anything would be higher than original.

 

You could just try muffling the speaker with some felt or similar material if you can put some between the speaker cone and where the sound comes out of the toy.

[+Stephen Moss]

8 Ohms in series will halve the current/voltage into the speaker however it may sound a lot quieter than that to the ear as power does not directly correlate to volume.

I would suggest buying three or four 8 ohm resistors and starting with that, that way if 8 ohms is still too loud or to quite you can...

Put another one in series with it to get 16 ohms which should be a lot quieter than 8 ohms.

Put one in parallel and one in series to get 12 Ohm, a little quieter than 8 Ohms.

Put one in parallel to get 4 Ohms, louder than 8 Ohms but not a loud as originally.

[icemanxp300]

I did muffle it but these speakers are really loud LOL. I'm about to see if they will fit into Gameboys haha. Either way I used one of these resistors. I don't know a whole lot about the colors and values of these. Can you install them backwards?

 

 

...

[7800fan]

I don't think that is a resistor, I think it's a capacitor. Color is odd.

 

Resistor do not have polarity and can be used either way.

[icemanxp300]

I don't think that is a resistor, I think it's a capacitor. Color is odd.

 

Resistor do not have polarity and can be used either way.

 

I guess that's possible. It does say "c" on board. I am new to components but dang I didn't realize they made capacitors like this. I was under the assumption the snes, nes boards used the vertical capacitors "black or blue usually with the silver line on the side and all these smaller ones were resistors.

 

If you look at this pcb on top the one says "r" next to it and it is slightly different than the rest on board I guess. The lower left is the capacitor I was referring to and just assumed the rest "pink" ones were all resistors.

 

 

..

[CPUWIZ]

All the ones near the chips are capacitors, most likely 104's.

[icemanxp300]

Well I guess I need to try again with an actual resistor this time

[+Stephen Moss]

Sorry, I should have though of this earlier but sometimes when I am not quite with it I get fixated on the better way doing the suggested modification than suggesting a better solution.

 

WARNING!

Depending on the circuit design the speakers may have a capacitor in series with them to block any DC from Audio output stage, NO NOT remove that and replace it with a resistor as allowing DC onto the speaker coil could do serious damage to the speaker.

 

While putting a resistor in line with the speaker or replacing the speakers with 16 or 32 Ohm speakers will help as it makes the speakers harder to drive than what the circuit was designed for, finding the correct value is a bit trial and error and could (depending on the circuit design) potentially cause damage to the device providing the audio output.

 

Generally the source of signal to the speakers will be an amplifier of some type. If that is the case, you can identify it and it uses a standard circuit (i.e. not software programmable gain) then the better solution would be to replace the fixed gain resistor with a variable one so that the volume level can be easily adjusted over a large range while maintaining the integrity and design of original circuit.

 

[BigO]

Sorry, I should have though of this earlier but sometimes when I am not quite with it I get fixated on the better way doing the suggested modification than suggesting a better solution.

 

WARNING!

Depending on the circuit design the speakers may have a capacitor in series with them to block any DC from Audio output stage, NO NOT remove that and replace it with a resistor as allowing DC onto the speaker coil could do serious damage to the speaker.

 

While putting a resistor in line with the speaker or replacing the speakers with 16 or 32 Ohm speakers will help as it makes the speakers harder to drive than what the circuit was designed for, finding the correct value is a bit trial and error and could (depending on the circuit design) potentially cause damage to the device providing the audio output.

 

Generally the source of signal to the speakers will be an amplifier of some type. If that is the case, you can identify it and it uses a standard circuit (i.e. not software programmable gain) then the better solution would be to replace the fixed gain resistor with a variable one so that the volume level can be easily adjusted over a large range while maintaining the integrity and design of original circuit.

 

Pretty sure he added the capacitor, thinking it was a resistor.

[icemanxp300]

Pretty sure he added the capacitor, thinking it was a resistor.

 

Yeah Dummy me. Still shows my lack of knowledge on the component level. I just assumed it was a resistor as it had leads coming out both ends and colored bands around it. I had briefly researched resistors and had read the colored bands was there for the value. I didn't realize a capacitor could be made to look 90% like a resistor in that regard. I assumed capacitors only had leads coming out the same end, I was unaware they could come out both ends as well.

 

There is nothing in between the speaker and the pcb. Once I get around to it again I will try an actual resistor and see what happens.

Edited January 22, 2016 by icemanxp300

[BigO]

 

Yeah Dummy me. Still shows my lack of knowledge on the component level. I just assumed it was a resistor as it had leads coming out both ends and colored bands around it. I had briefly researched resistors and had read the colored bands was there for the value. I didn't realize a capacitor could be made to look 90% like a resistor in that regard. I assumed capacitors only had leads coming out the same end, I was unaware they could come out both ends as well.

 

There is nothing in between the speaker and the pcb. Once I get around to it again I will try an actual resistor and see what happens.

My comment was only intended to point out that you didn't remove a part from your device that could result in damage to your device.

I wasn't trying to point out your mistake. I guess I was trying to point out that the mistake you made wasn't the mistake that Stephen Moss thought you made. We all make mistakes.