Speaker Mod

After taking apart my One to put in the ram i discovered that the speakers are plainly visible in the front and wire even has its own connector to the motherboard...Whos gonna be the first try try and mod theirs with better speakers...need some brainchild imput on this one :geek:

 

Wow, i would love to see the speakers modded.

 

I don't think there is much you can do with this. not sure what speakers you could even use. I think the best thing is to leave it lol.

 

get a usb external soundcard and hook up a decent set of speakers!!!!

people use ipods for listening to music on the go, not netbooks

 

I've been wondering about this too. Are we sure it's the speakers that are the problem? Can they be replaced with any laptop speakers that will fit? Is this something anyone an do?

UPDATE: The second message in the following thread seems to indicate that the OS has something to do with the speaker performance. Maybe the problem is Linux.
http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index.php? ... t_id=30747

 

to be fair, theres only so far you can go with speakers of this size.. if you want killer sound, pick up a decent usb or firewire audio interface tascam, edirol, etc

and get a set of wicked speakers.

w00t 2nd century post!

 

linux doesn't have an equalizer that's why the sound is a little sucky. I've managed to get decent output using amarok and vlc since they have eq's.

 

the sound is indeed very low, if the laptop is not placed on a solid surface (which reflects soundwaves good).

So, I dont think its a very bad idea to replace the OEM speakers with lets say that "sonyericsson" speakers you can buy for mobile phones.

If they will fit or damage HW with the magnets, I dont know

 

another idea for a speaker mod would be to remove the speakers from their current location and place them on either side of the touchpad on the palm rest....thinking about trying this to get better sound

 

if someone could pop a soundcard inside, then that would be impressive

 

Hi all,
I've been thinking about the same thing and came back with various questions, I would be glad if anyone a bit electronic/sound knowledgeable could help.

First I understand that the speakers might be ok, but it might be the soundcard itself which is not good. I have then been looking into what might fit inside to replace all of this and found the folllowing things:

Speakers:
this company should be able to source something decent, they do plenty, have distributors worldwaide and make some ultra tiny high quality (or sio they say at least) speakers: http://www.cliffuk.co.uk/products/speak ... ispeak.htm

Soundcard:
ow the soundcard problem, yes it would be great to have a good one inside the AA1. Well ths only thing I could see which would fit so far would be something like http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-Sound-Card-US ... 286.c0.m14

but then again, they might not like beinmg plugged to speakers and not headphones, and might overheat a tad. the last solution would be to use some mini amp card to get a good sound from the headphone output.

So those are my findings/ideas so far, please comment and contribute.

Also please not that I do dnot intend at the moment to start doing this to my AA1, I am not brave enough and cannot solder for crap . But I hope someone will have the guts to do it.

 

Well the problem in such a small machine is mainly the location of the speakers and the fact that low frequency sounds don't have enough room in there to give out much power.

I really don't think replacing the speakers would make a major difference. Even less so replacing the soundcard.

But hey, I'm no expert so don't take my word on this, and keep us posted if you find anything good

 

Possible MOD for semi-hardcore modder

You must have som experience in soldering.
You must be able to disassemble the Acer Aspire One laptop and reassemble it after.
You must have some organization skills.
You must have $20 USD equivelent.

Things you'll need:
1. Soldering kit
2. Screwdrivers to open Acer Aspire One laptop
3. Some non-conductive tape
4. Some insulated copper wires
5. A thin skype usb powered speakers

Rough Procedures:
1. Get a skype usb powered speaker such as these examples below:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2800 (2x1W speaker + MIC + integrated sound card)
It's Dimensions: 6.34 in x 3.03 in x 0.87 in. If you disassemble it and take out the PCB and 2 speakers inside, its height should be a little less than 0.3-0.4in. which should fit inside the acer aspire one.
2. Disassemble the laptop. There's an unused usb connection in the mini PCI express card slot. You must first take out the wifi card. Below is the spots where you need to solder the usb connection to the Acer Aspire One's PCB.

Red wire = Positive
Black wire = ground
Two Blue wires = Data+ and Data- (Pin 28 is Data+ and Pin 29 is the Data- on the MINI PCI express slot)
3. Properly secure the speakers and the speaker's PCB in the space beside the SSD/HDD. Make sure you insulate it proerply
4. Reassemble the laptop and enjoy the great sound.

 

Hi, first time poster here. I've had the 8Gb Linux AAO for about a 5 days now, All I can is she ain't perfect, but she is a real beauty.

I've tried using the stock speakers in an airport, watching a couple of divX movies. And they really suck. Grabbing a pair of good ear phones would help it out some, but the sound card is just not that good, I'd probably rate it a 2.5 out of 5. My friend let me try out his x-mini speakers on my AAO though. And all I can say is, the sound quality won't bowl any audiophile over, because the sound card is poor. But this speakers really boosts the sound, that makes the sounds the AAO produce, somewhat respectable. Plus, these speakers have batteries in them, so it won't be pulling any juice from the AAO, well after the AAO batterries have died. They do get their charge though from USB ports. Though I know how to solder and always buy PC components and put together the PC myself. I just can't afford to kill my AAO with modding. I would be cool though to see somebody hook up a couple of these mini speakers on an AAO. :lol:

http://www.gadgetspage.com/audio-video/ ... eaker.html

 

Really, there's nothing wrong with the built-in sound card! it gives great sound on my headphones, hihi set and pc speakers. I guess the linux drivers just aren't that good (My AA1 runs Vista ).
Replacing the speakers would improve the sound quality, the problem is you'd need a small amplifier because the line-out doesn't have enough power to drive better speakers.

 

Im thinking remove speakers, to improve battery time and lower weight

 

eh weight ? they about as heavy as some cheap headphone plugs. and i dont think they can draw that much power to see improvment in batt life.

 

I agree, removing the speakers won't make any noticable difference in weight and they shouldn't be drawing any power if the computer is not using them to produce sound. Even if it was playing music or movies, the power draw should be very minimal. Remember, this is a netbook, not a full-blown media player. If you still really want some good sound, perhaps using a nice set of earphones would make a world of difference. My Shure E2c's sound great with any device and they block out ambient noise too.

 

Okay guys, need some help here. I blew out one of the speakers on my aao. Listening to a video i recorded with my video camera, the bass was way too loud i guess and the speaker blew out completely, just one though. so i'm wondering where i can get a replacement speaker to either replace both or just the one. So this mod is a must for me. please look around if you can find something.

 

How do you know it is a speaker and not the amplifier? Does it work with ear phones?