speaker

[raven]

have found a speaker 8ohm 0.2W is this ok to use in my tiger will it give a good sound


chris

[BigPanzer]

Hi Chris,

The speaker you have will work up to a point, but it is not ideal. It is rated at 0.2w (200mW or 1/5 of a watt) and the amplifier will give out more than that. You are likely to get distortion, poor gunfire sound and eventually a silent tank as the speaker gives up the struggle.

It depends what electronics you have in your tank, but I would look for one rated at around 5w or higher. I've never used an El-Mod setup but I seem to remember that their audio level can be quite high - up to 10w. (Please could somebody correct this figure if I have mis-remembered it.)

There is quite a lot to be considered when trying to get the best possible audio in a tank and it is always a bit of a compromise because space can be an issue. How the speaker is mounted can also make a world of difference to the quality and level of sound - you want the speaker cone to move, not its frame or mounting so make the mount rigid and don't just cram the speaker into any old vacant corner.

The stock Tamiya sounds are pretty good and give you a standard to aim for, but even these can be improved on by "knowledgeable interference" with the speaker system.

It might be worth having a look at RS. They do quite a range of small speakers and even if you do not buy from them it will give you some idea of what is available.

Peter

[raven]

hi peter thanks for the info i havent bought the speaker yet just want to see if i can improve the sound, i just have rx-18 board so i will look around for a 5w

chris

[wibblywobbly]

You can 'clean up' th sound from an RX18 by getting a 22kb potentiometer from Maplins, and using that instead of the HL volume control. They are about a £1. The HL control is about as cheap as it gets, and that messes up the sound quality.

[MarkofZollo]

wibblywobbly, after reading this I bought a potentiometer and wired it in but found it was very quiet. It only seems to go to about a third of the volume of the standard HL control. What one did you get? I got the mini one so perhaps that was wrong one?
Cheers for the info
Dave

[wibblywobbly]

Mine was quite a hefty solid metal one, with a long control knob, also in metal. You could try swapping the connections around, I seem to recall that this made a difference on mine as the gnd, +, and - are in a different order to the HL ones.

[Semmy]

Can confirm that replacing the speaker has an effect on sound quality but replacing the pot had a massive impact!

These are the components I used from maplins ( http://www.maplin.co.uk ) :-

Speaker VC89W £3.79
Power (max.): 10W
Power (nominal): 8W
Power output: 97dB
Freq. range: 150Hz -20kHz
Resonance frequency: 550Hz ±110Hz
Impedance: 8?

Potentiometer JM72P £0.93
22K ohm minature linear pot
(on this wiring is as follows, black wire (ground) to center terminal, others left and right (not that important)).

Total mod time.... minutes! Costs less than a fiver!

[wibblywobbly]

I have been banging this drum for a few years, thats the same pot I use, and I am glad you took the plunge and tried it. It has to be the cheapest way to improve sound by a country mile.

[MarkofZollo]

I still have the pot, had replaced it with a 47k one cos the 22k was very quiet and Maplins said a 47 would work, still was too quiet but Il give Semmy's wiring a go and see if it works.
Dave

[Johnf]

I got a couple of visaton 8 ohm speakers and made my own box. Connected it to elmod and get complaints from the neighbours,(well not really that bad) certainly loud. a bit heavy on bass. I have a spare speaker. as the visaton 8 I think will be too big for my Panzer 111.