PDA

View Full Version : Can I replace an 8 ohm 0.25w speaker with an 8 ohm 5w speaker?



imagehunter
08-25-2015, 09:18 PM
I know I can, but I'm not sure it will work. Will I need a bigger battery? Right now it runs on 3 AAA (1.5 volts) each. The soundboard was gutted from a 2010 Hasbro Vader lightsaber. The plan is to upgrade the LED to a Rebel Star and add a recharge port with a 3.7v Li-Ion 2600mAh battery (18650). I was thinking that if I upgraded the speaker from a 0.25w to a 2w or 5w it would be louder. ( clearly my command of electronics is, impressive...least impressive. )

Miraluka
08-25-2015, 11:17 PM
I suppose you'd need to figure out the audio output of that board and the minimum power requirement of the speaker. The manuals for plecter boards list their audio power at 2W which is probably why TCSS doesn't sell speakers with higher wattage than that. I'd doubt the Hasbro boards run that or higher but I dunno where you'd find the specs for the board.

imagehunter
08-26-2015, 02:26 AM
I suppose you'd need to figure out the audio output of that board and the minimum power requirement of the speaker. The manuals for plecter boards list their audio power at 2W which is probably why TCSS doesn't sell speakers with higher wattage than that. I'd doubt the Hasbro boards run that or higher but I dunno where you'd find the specs for the board.

So it's a board thing not a battery thing?

Kouri
08-26-2015, 04:17 AM
Have one of the Premium 1.5W speakers (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Premium-28mm-Speaker-P77.aspx) running great off an older Vader board. Tried with both 3.7v li-ion and 4.5v alkalines.

Haven't compared volume differences technically, mainly because I only replaced the speaker after the Hasbro speaker broke on me, but sound quality is definitely improved over the stock speaker. Volume is currently a fair bit lower than my MR Anakin, but that may just be poor resonance on my part.

JakeSoft
08-26-2015, 07:53 AM
You should be able to use a 1.5W speaker from TCSS and it will work just fine. I used a Hasbro Ultimate FX sound board once this way. The stock speaker that came with the UFX saber was 0.25W. Remember, higher wattage rating on the speaker doesn't translate to louder perceived volume, it just means that if you supply more power then it can handle it without blowing anything up. Ignoring things like resonance, if you want it to be louder, you have to drive it with more power.

imagehunter
08-26-2015, 12:13 PM
You should be able to use a 1.5W speaker from TCSS and it will work just fine. I used a Hasbro Ultimate FX sound board once this way. The stock speaker that came with the UFX saber was 0.25W. Remember, higher wattage rating on the speaker doesn't translate to louder perceived volume, it just means that if you supply more power then it can handle it without blowing anything up. Ignoring things like resonance, if you want it to be louder, you have to drive it with more power.

I have a 2w speaker here do yo think I can push it to 2w, or is 1.5w the max? I just don't want to ruin my board.

JakeSoft
08-26-2015, 02:11 PM
I have a 2w speaker here do yo think I can push it to 2w, or is 1.5w the max? I just don't want to ruin my board.

If your board is expecting an 8 Ohm load and you give it an 8 Ohm load then everything will be fine. You just can't use a speaker with LESS than 0.25W power rating. Anything higher than that is OK.

imagehunter
08-26-2015, 08:46 PM
If your board is expecting an 8 Ohm load and you give it an 8 Ohm load then everything will be fine. You just can't use a speaker with LESS than 0.25W power rating. Anything higher than that is OK.

Thanks so much for the help.