DOS Games Discussion

I have some issues with too low PC speaker sound in some games that only support the PC speaker; due to this I've decided to modify the PC-speaker in my dedicated P1 DOS/Win3.11 machine.

I have bought a small 7 watt amplifier kit from Apogee kits that I will build and solder a potmeter on and glue to the backside of a 5.25" bay and run the output of the amp. to a somewhat larger-than-normal PC-speaker that I will replace the standard PC-speaker with.

This way I will have a volume knob for the PC-speaker separate from the sound card -- sometimes I want the PC speaker to be quiet, sometimes I want to hear music and other stuff.

Anyway, I have a question too. After watching some of phreakindee's videos on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/phreakindee) I've become aware of the fact that the Tandy computer has a better PC-speaker (additional tones, not a physically laarger speaker) than the IBM compatible PC-speaker -- and that some games actually take advantage of this feature, games such as Larry 1, Monkey Island and others provide better sound on the Tandy than the IBM.
My question is obviously: How can I get that kind of quality on my IBM machine? Surely it is possible and I don't mind if it is difficult, it would be a fun project -- although if it is trivial then fine, just tell me how. :-)

I'm not sure it's possible ... from what I recall, the Tandy line of computers was not directly compatible with IBM-PCs. If their sound system allows additional tones that are not possible with a PC speaker, the software would need to be programmed specifically to make use of those tones. So, I don't think there is a way to make a game programmed for DOS sound like a Tandy-specific game?

The above is all conjecture, having never actually used a Tandy 1000 or whatever, someone else (dosraider...) is free to correct me

emmzee is right, you can't get Tandy sound sound from a PC system

However, you can indeed plug the speaker out on an amp and gain some decibels that way, and with a good amp/speaker combination the sound quality would improve(?) a lot.
But don't expect too much from it, a PC speaker out isn't a soundcard out.

Posix_memalign wrote:I have bought a small 7 watt amplifier kit from Apogee kits that I will build and solder a potmeter on and glue to the backside of a 5.25" bay and run the output of the amp. to a somewhat larger-than-normal PC-speaker that I will replace the standard PC-speaker with.

This way I will have a volume knob for the PC-speaker separate from the sound card -- sometimes I want the PC speaker to be quiet, sometimes I want to hear music and other stuff.

You do know that your soundcard has a line in.....?
BTW, mind the voltage/impedance range, don't fry your stuffs.