Game Boy Advance Speaker Mods

[@Blockyboxguy]

No need to apologize about not uploading so much. Totally understand that you do this for free, absolutely no pressure. We all WATCH for free, you’re in no way obligated to maintain any kind of consistent schedule. Either way, when you DO put out a video it’s always appreciated

[@arksin11]

this is a test of speaker volume, which wont differ one from another much given the power given to them is the same. quality of sound is something different, which is noticeable

[@AGhostOfSorts]

Hey no worries about videos being more sparse. Shit happens and that's how it goes with hobbies. Sometimes it's more and sometimes it's less. I'll be watching the videos regardless. So you do you man! Appreciate what you do.

[@kevinfung8028]

Take your time and dont stress. No need to apologize You did a great job. :)

[@AReallyBadSN]

Awesome video, dude. Recommend replacing the caps. It will give the sound a boost.

[@makho]

I know, I mentioned that in the video and the description

[@mario7832]

Really appreciate this video there’s not a lot of content out there that covers the funnyplayin speaker and install

[@berndog]

hey makho, thanks again for another video. i can relate on your point about finding the hobby stressful -- it's totally fine to take time to focus on other things! hobbies should be fulfilling and energizing if possible, we all have enough stressors in our lives. as for the helder power cleaner, i just did a video on my channel with some lineout comparisons with and without it on + auditions/shootout between the three AGB speakers (not AGS or DS lite tho) if you're curious to see someone else's findings

[@KananNallainathan]

sorry you arent feeling it these days but i honestly find so much value to your videos so thank you for everything you have uploaded to date... maybe if you are getting burnout try something else... a new hobby... something to allow you to step back a little then revisit the KZbin Channel when you are able... your videos have helped me alot and i am very grateful... they provided so many tips and your consistently good advice has assisted me in my Gameboy modding journey... i do hope you still post on Insta though... wish you the absolute BEST! takecare makho!

[@Ruslan.88266]

Awesome, I was just thinking about speaker mods! 👍👍👍👍👍

[@Rodville]

All the times I've had low volume on GBC and GBP it has always been the Caps. Swap them out and stock volume once more.

[@VanguardRaven]

Me watching another vid: I wonder if there's a video trying the FP speaker. Of course there is. Learning a lot just watching your vids.

[@SCorpG22]

Your videos are so useful. Definitely my favourite of the ones I am subscribed to.

[@ed3n4pf]

The sound on my gba sp is clearer with brand new speaker, im happy with it

[@theRealStillPad]

Hey makho, I came here for anti noise mods or something like that but I still stayed and watched. I noticed something than. I dont know if I'm the only one who noticed it but we will see. When you change the speaker you dont really give a damn if the + pin from the GBA is on the + pin of the speaker. I didn't mod many GBAs till now but I noticed that even Nintendo give a damn about it. I mean its making a differents in the sound if the positive amplitude is doing to make the speaker membran go out or go in. You phase switch the sound signal. And I think it makes a differents in the sound of those little speakers. All my investigation started with an unlabeled aftermarket speaker were I didn't knew where the + pin was. After a quick research you can simply test is with an 1,5v battery. When + of the battery leads to that the membran goes out than you got the right + pin of the speaker. I dont know why, but I also tested the original speakers and noticed that some of them were wrong from the factory and I switched the cables. I dont know if this an known bug, but I think its better when the speaker is soldered right :)

[@makho]

Phase only matters if you have two or more speakers. It makes no difference otherwise because the speaker is still making the exact same pulses. If you have two (or more) speakers on inverse phases, they will cancel each other out. You're stressing your speakers by hooking them up to power like that. Good way to kill the speaker.

[@N269]

@5:27 you say "Word of caution ... soldering does seem pretty easy"... it is if you use the correct tip and keep it clean and at the correct temp. Lower temp with lead and higher with unleaded. TS100 or TS101 were designed for us. Highly recommend.

[@josephlefebvre9213]

In my experience so far I’ve done a whole bunch of different audio mods from various vendors like retro six, Helder, etc etc and I honestly keep goin back to the stock audio setup. It just works for me and don’t find the “clean up” kits change much honestly. The stock speaker, if in good shape, sounds the most pleasant to my ear 🤷🏻‍♂️. If you have power issues for sure new caps will help.

[@makho]

Yep, fresh electrolytics seem to make the biggest difference

[@josephlefebvre9213]

Now I will say the flex amp mod for the macro from Helder is def worth it!

[@moogish]

When soldering the 2 wires, they don’t end up crisscrossing like the oem speaker? Top wire was soldered to the hole closest to label SP1 while bottom wire was soldered to the hole closest to label C49

[@makho]

It does not matter at all for mono speaker setups. Even with stereo speakers, polarity doesn't matter as long as both speakers are set to the same polarity. Stereo speakers in opposing polarities will be out of phase with each other and will cancel themselves out.

[@dapperbrick7516]

Much like with proper speakers, the tiny 23mm drivers here all change sound drastically when put into an enclosed space, such as the GBA housing. I'll admit that I haven't watched the video fully, just skipped about, but I didn't see any testing where you put the driver back into an assembled GBA - this can make some of the speakers sound more distinct than others, especially if you pack the surrounding area with different types of foam. There's more to tinker with here than maybe initially obvious :)

[@transtremm]

Excellent, this video has saved me a lot of aggravation. Well done, many thanks.

[@schloon]

My gameboy advance has a loud buzzing, I want to try and fix it myself but if much rather have someone who knows what they're doing fix it

[@thespianmask8451]

I've stuck with just stock GBA speakers, but with a simple PAM8302A chip modification to get it louder. Let me tell you, that shit does NOT play nice with the drop-in IPS kit if you increase the power of the amp on the chip itself. It gives me pink screens and artifacting lmao, so my drop-in IPS GBA is a tiny bit quieter than my other GBAs since I can't increase the amp's power as high as I'd like. By the way, what was the blue wire on the volume wheel for?

[@makho]

I explained it in the video. It's a bypass for the volume wheel to ensure that it was always set to the same level.

[@SianaGearz]

In free air, the back and front waves off the speaker cancel each others out; there's a potential that the difference is more pronounced in the shell. But probably really isn't.

[@Evan-ht4ih]

Have you done any testing for the larger DMG speakers?

[@FabioGnecco]

thanks for the videos and take care !

[@huangaga6923]

Hi Any one installed dual speakers for stereo sound on an gba?

[@murrij]

Thanks for what you do. I have one of those same speakers in a GBA I refurbished and the volume was intermittent. Was really weird. To the group, what could be wrong with high then low then high volume intermittent as it sits there just in advertisement mode with a cart?

[@mateo_r__]

Could the NS speaker be used? I saw some videos that used this in the gameboy macro and I don't know if it works in gba

[@makho]

Yeah, sure

[@makemedisappear8003]

I have the flex amp installed in my sp and it keeps blown the speakers. What do you recommend I use speaker wise?

[@makho]

you're going to need a speaker rated for the wattage your amp does (a stock speaker won't work)

[@jerryjb]

Helder sells a 2w speaker that claims to be better for using with an amp

[@station30122]

I prefer the audio mods with an amp which also makes the hum and hiss noticeable but makes the gameboy loud enough to hear from rooms away

[@Evan-ht4ih]

Love the videos

[@UltraSteelix]

Does anybody know if I can install the clear gba speaker to a gba sp? Do I have to solder to the contacts of the original sp or is it more complicated than that?

[@makho]

it won't fit without modification but otherwise yeah, they are the same and you can just solder it to the gold pads. Keep in mind that this is a permanent modification, however, since you can never remove solder from contaminated gold pads and the solder tends to form a non-conductive oxide on the surface layer (very thin). You can clean up the pads with an abrasive to restore conductivity but this will be hit and miss.

[@sIacker]

could I get the funnyplaying clear speaker to fit on an SP? thanks!

[@makho]

not without some cutting

[@sIacker]

@@makho thank you

[@lemaire0gontran]

Hello, I tried to use Helder mods and add a couple of capacitor as mentionned on retrosix to clean the sound (dehum dehiss) Do you try to clean the gba noise by yourself ? No really good result on my side

[@makho]

I still have to dive deeper into this subject but my preliminary tests were less than satisfactory.

[@tonymonteiro1081]

Sorry to hear the hobby has been stressful for you. Hope you find joy in either this hobby again or a new one.

[@robert_wolf6989]

What about the acoustics of the shell?? Because I've had this issue before a couple times and I thought it was the speaker!! But it wasn't turns out the Gameboy advance became louder when I put the shell on and all the buttons etc. it has something to do with the acoustics. Needs to be closed up all the way. But I'm just talking about using the original speaker or a similar one.

[@robert_wolf6989]

I could be wrong.

[@makho]

@@robert_wolf6989 shouldn't make any reasonable difference here. These aren't studio monitors we're talking about, it's a half watt Game Boy built down to a price.

[@robert_wolf6989]

I know they're not studio monitors. All I'm saying is that solid matter (talking about the cup and grill part of the shell that holds the speaker) does affect sound and can channel sound to make it appear louder when facing the user directly. I'm not as skilled as you with electronics but it's just what I have observed for myself.

[@RWL2012]

Game Boys *do* use any airspace in the case as the speaker enclosure. it's most effective with the DMG of course, but yeah.

[@robert_wolf6989]

@@RWL2012 yep! That's exactly right

[@depressed_steven_universe1954]

Can you use a ds lite speaker on a gameboy advance sp?

[@makho]

Sure. Original DS speaker is drop in though.

[@TheTuneAce]

I have 7 billion ds lite speakers because of how many macro mods I make LOL. They make great speakers for literally anything. And if you only use 1 speaker on a system with stereo output, just bridge the the L and R output pads and you're gucci

[@makho]

> just bridge the the L and R output pads and you're gucci that's not a good idea. Not all amps can just be bridged like that and it can cause damage.

[@matt123337]

cat

[@AndehX]

cat.