How does dell get (real) sound out of a PC speaker?

[So]

I know of some dells that actually put out soundcard audio though their crappy PC speaker. I'm stuck w/o speakers for the next week and I'd like to know how they do it. I'm an EE so rigging up some sort of small amp and a passthrough cable is not beyond me, but I'd like to see if it can be done in such a way as to not lose PC speaker functionality at the same time, and I don't have a mixer or the like...

thoughts?

 

[MrDudeMan]

i dont actually know the answer to your question, but i would imagine they wrote a driver to control the PWM of the driving amp. ive often wondered how they did such a good job with this, but i havent researched it at all. if i get a chance tomorrow, i will open up one of the dells that ive heard real, good sound coming out of and see what is going on with the hardware.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
i dont actually know the answer to your question, but i would imagine they wrote a driver to control the PWM of the driving amp. ive often wondered how they did such a good job with this, but i havent researched it at all. if i get a chance tomorrow, i will open up one of the dells that ive heard real, good sound coming out of and see what is going on with the hardware.

:beer:, thanks. I'd love to know, for curiosity's sake at this point, and I don't have a dell to butcher. If there is an amp in there, mixing the soundcard out w/ the PC speaker out, I might try to build one of my own...

 

[jamesbond007]

In my 486 that I had about 11 years ago now, the PC speaker hooked up to a 4-pin connector on the soundcard. I remember playing Days of Thunder (car racing) in DOS and I didn't have speakers back then. Is the PC speaker in your Dell integrated into the motherboard or is a physical speaker like there was in my 486? Do you have integrated audio or a soundcard?

 

[So]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
In my 486 that I had about 11 years ago now, the PC speaker hooked up to a 4-pin connector on the soundcard. I remember playing Days of Thunder (car racing) in DOS and I didn't have speakers back then. Is the PC speaker in your Dell integrated into the motherboard or is a physical speaker like there was in my 486? Do you have integrated audio or a soundcard?

The computer I'm currently on isn't a dell, it's a 900Mhz T-Bird I built around 2000 with a sound plaster live value, but I have no speakers...

 

[d33pt]

just use headphones

 

[So]

Originally posted by: d33pt
just use headphones

I need an extension cable to do that, the PC is stuffed in the closet making the port inaccessible. Besides, this is a challenge now.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: d33pt
just use headphones

I need an extension cable to do that, the PC is stuffed in the closet making the port inaccessible. Besides, this is a challenge now.

this is the problem with being an engineer. i was sitting here content with what i was doing and now i am completely fixated on building an amp to drive my PC speaker. the challenge is all-consuming.

 

[slackerinabox]

Black magick.. That's right, with a K...

 

[nonameo]

Long, long ago, when I was playing with a 386-SX with win 3.1, there was a driver that allowed you to use the PC speaker like any other sound device.

I'm sure there's a driver for it for XP.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: nonameo
Long, long ago, when I was playing with a 386-SX with win 3.1, there was a driver that allowed you to use the PC speaker like any other sound device.

I'm sure there's a driver for it for XP.

I actually found that driver for 3.1/9x but AFAICT it's no good for XP and nobody has released one that works...

 

[compuwiz1]

PC speaker can have inherent sound, without a sound card. It comes from whatever rudamentary circuitry the motherboard posesses. It's not a new phenomenon.

 

[xcript]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: nonameo
Long, long ago, when I was playing with a 386-SX with win 3.1, there was a driver that allowed you to use the PC speaker like any other sound device.

I'm sure there's a driver for it for XP.

I actually found that driver for 3.1/9x but AFAICT it's no good for XP and nobody has released one that works...

Plus it sounded like complete sh!t.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC speaker can have inherent sound, without a sound card. It comes from whatever rudamentary circuitry the motherboard posesses. It's not a new phenomenon.

I'm well aware of PC speaker beeps...there was a time when I didn't yet have the luxury of a sound card...

I just want to see if I can find a way (probably hardware) of pumping real audio out that tinny mono speaker...

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: So
I actually found that driver for 3.1/9x but AFAICT it's no good for XP and nobody has released one that works...

In case anyone needs it: Microsoft Windows PC Speaker driver for 95/98/ME

I think these days Dell just wires up the PC speaker to the onboard sound, with perhaps a passthrough (using an aux input?) for the actual PC speaker. It's probably possible to do that by using the headers on the motherboard for the front audio ports.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: So
I actually found that driver for 3.1/9x but AFAICT it's no good for XP and nobody has released one that works...

In case anyone needs it: Microsoft Windows PC Speaker driver for 95/98/ME

I think these days Dell just wires up the PC speaker to the onboard sound, with perhaps a passthrough (using an aux input?) for the actual PC speaker. It's probably possible to do that by using the headers on the motherboard for the front audio ports.

Ah! I bet that is it. Oh well, I'm gonna work out a passthrough circuit...

 

[compuwiz1]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: So
I actually found that driver for 3.1/9x but AFAICT it's no good for XP and nobody has released one that works...

In case anyone needs it: Microsoft Windows PC Speaker driver for 95/98/ME

I think these days Dell just wires up the PC speaker to the onboard sound, with perhaps a passthrough (using an aux input?) for the actual PC speaker. It's probably possible to do that by using the headers on the motherboard for the front audio ports.

Ah! I bet that is it. Oh well, I'm gonna work out a passthrough circuit...

Why so much bother? Why not just go buy a couple cheap speakers?

 

[mobobuff]

You'd need a small amp, then plug a spliced mono audio cable into the sound out port, run it through the amp, and connect the speaker to the amp. Done!

 

[So]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: So
I actually found that driver for 3.1/9x but AFAICT it's no good for XP and nobody has released one that works...

In case anyone needs it: Microsoft Windows PC Speaker driver for 95/98/ME

I think these days Dell just wires up the PC speaker to the onboard sound, with perhaps a passthrough (using an aux input?) for the actual PC speaker. It's probably possible to do that by using the headers on the motherboard for the front audio ports.

Ah! I bet that is it. Oh well, I'm gonna work out a passthrough circuit...

Why so much bother? Why not just go buy a couple cheap speakers?

Because I can



I decided to try the simple route: give up PC speaker beeps (for now) and wire a headphone jack that I had around to two solid wires (Ground and one channel). It works, albeit quite muffled. Oh well, I'm happy.

I may try this later: http://www.deinmeister.de/e_sbpcqlnk.htm

 

[So]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
You'd need a small amp, then plug a spliced mono audio cable into the sound out port, run it through the amp, and connect the speaker to the amp. Done!

Hmm...I actually have a small headphone amp on hand. But I need to grab +9 off the PSU to make it worth using.

A project for tomorrow, methinks.

Also, for the cable, can I just short L + R together to make mono? I was afraid of shorting it so I left it just the right channel for the moment.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: d33pt
just use headphones

I need an extension cable to do that, the PC is stuffed in the closet making the port inaccessible. Besides, this is a challenge now.

this is the problem with being an engineer. i was sitting here content with what i was doing and now i am completely fixated on building an amp to drive my PC speaker. the challenge is all-consuming.

Guess I should have gone engineering... a little late for that now

Tinkering is my hobby, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it as a job.