Atari Lynx 2 speaker vs. Atari Lynx 1 speaker

[+Pac-Lander]

So, after owning an Atari Lynx I exclusively for over 30 years, I recently purchased an Atari Lynx II. 

 

It has the BennVenn screen mod, which blows my mind. But the speaker sounds noticeably worse compared to the Atari Lynx I. Is this normal, or do I have a defective unit? I've never played the Atari Lynx 2 so I wouldn't know!

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well, I've never had the lynx 1 in hand to compare, but I always thought my Lynx II units sounded okay for a handheld? How do you mean worse in this case? Staticy sound...distorted? What?

 

 

[+Pac-Lander]

3 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Well, I've never had the lynx 1 in hand to compare, but I always thought my Lynx II units sounded okay for a handheld? How do you mean worse in this case? Staticy sound...distorted? What?

 

 

Staticy and kind of muffled as compared to the Lynx 1. There is surprisingly not a lot of information online about this! BTW - thanks again for your help @-^CrossBow^-, the screen looks amaaaaazing!

Edited July 27, 2020 by aaron1677

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well, I have heard them sound staticy when the caps needed to be replaced. Or once when I replaced the caps in one of mine, I had two of them that were a little taller than originals, were actually pressing against the speaker from the backside. Just had to move them out of the way so they weren't touching and that took care of an issue with distortion I had on one.

 

There is also, a replacement speaker that Best sells for the Lynx II that is a drop in replacement. It is louder while still sounding very clear. I've got one installed in my BennVenn LCD modded Lynx II.

 

[joeatari1]

If it is the speaker itself, I recommend the Best replacement.  I had @-^CrossBow^- install one for me and I can second his assessment of it.  It does sound great and increases the volume quite a bit.  Good luck.

[+sramirez2008]

12 minutes ago, joeatari1 said:

I recommend the Best replacement.  I had @-^CrossBow^- install one for me and I can second his assessment of it.  

I third it! It’s a great sounding speaker and yes, @-^CrossBow^- installed mine too.

[gilsaluki]

2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

I third it! It’s a great sounding speaker and yes, @-^CrossBow^- installed mine too.

Yes, Best speaker is good.

[Slumpwuffle]

So, this is a longstanding complaint by folks, but from what I can tell there are two key things that make it sound worse:

1. The Lynx II has a stereo circuit (well, most do anyway), and the way they've done the (mono) speaker is by mixing left and right channels together electrically. For games using mono sound, this SHOULD be fine as both left and right channels will have identical content, but if the circuit's screwy it could potentially be out of phase causing all kinds of havoc. For games that use stereo sound, they should be naturally quieter if they've panned the audio more prominently into either left or right channels (if my understanding is correct). But more likely:

2. The speaker in the Lynx II is a paper cone that degrades over time naturally. I didn't think mine was too bad, but I can also endorse Best Electronics' speaker as it really helped crisp up the audio in a way I wasn't expecting. I will say, prying the original speaker out and popping the new one in is against some very stiff clips I was scared of breaking, but ultimately everything went in without much fuss.

[xrbrevin]

low cost replacement:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362278620745