dasatcopthorne Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Hi Guys. I was just musing that my new Samsung mobile had really quite good sound. Has any research been done on these? Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_Ava_Hay Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Hi Guys. I was just musing that my new Samsung mobile had really quite good sound. Has any research been done on these? Dave Only really in that the sugar cube speaker is reputed to have come to us from mobile phone technology. The sound recordings on most sound chips are the biggest that will go in the flash memory that is available on the chip itself. Obviously a mobile phone board is quite a bit bigger than a sound chip except maybe in G gauge and even then I am not sure that the hardware or software is available for using or combining motor drive and sounds. At this current state of technology development I personally cannot see any further integration of mobile phone use with sound chips per se. There has been a lot of mileage spent on here about Bluetooth and various other uses of digital technology to improve sound quality but none of them have addressed that vital link between throttle movement and sounds played which we currently have. We have seen a growth in both the quality of the sounds stored and the efficacy of the speaker playing them without any sacrifices in size but even that can be negated by a poor install. Remember also that British OO is the most cramped and a smaller niche market compared with the global model train market. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasatcopthorne Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Only really in that the sugar cube speaker is reputed to have come to us from mobile phone technology. The sound recordings on most sound chips are the biggest that will go in the flash memory that is available on the chip itself. Obviously a mobile phone board is quite a bit bigger than a sound chip except maybe in G gauge and even then I am not sure that the hardware or software is available for using or combining motor drive and sounds. At this current state of technology development I personally cannot see any further integration of mobile phone use with sound chips per se. There has been a lot of mileage spent on here about Bluetooth and various other uses of digital technology to improve sound quality but none of them have addressed that vital link between throttle movement and sounds played which we currently have. We have seen a growth in both the quality of the sounds stored and the efficacy of the speaker playing them without any sacrifices in size but even that can be negated by a poor install. Remember also that British OO is the most cramped and a smaller niche market compared with the global model train market. I was thinking of just the speaker from a mobile driven by the DCC chip. Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trade Member legomanbiffo Posted August 24, 2015 Trade Member Share Posted August 24, 2015 I bought and tried an 'iphone speaker' off eBay and for its size it was quite good. From memory it was about 10 x 3 x 4mm. Ok if you had very limited space. Hooked it straight up to a v4 without any problems. Bif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliebanger Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Dave, The quality of the sound produced by such speakers is derived from the fact that the 'phone manufacturer has total control of the case (enclosure) design and the way that that the hard and software on board maniulate the output to match the speaker and its environment. Very sophisticated DSP effects are developed and deployed, as the cost of R and D is amortised over millions of units sold world wide. This allows them to tune every part of the pathway for maximum effect. This is a far cry from current reality in the model railway business. I once asked someone at an MR show representing a Danish manufacturer, who I will not name, what provision for a speaker was being made in a (then) upcoming model. He said ''stick it to the chassis with Blu Tack as usual, no one will know''. Priceless piece of arrogance. Until manufacturers provide for such integrated sound at the design stage we are unfortunately left trying to do the best we can with some standard hardware originally designed with another purpose in mind. In too many instances, sound-fitting is an afterthought, in some cases no thought at all. Charlie and Bif have made some very useful products to improve speaker enclosures for some specific models where the manufacturers' own efforts have fallen short. The best time to design an effective speaker/enclosure combo is on the drawing board, and only the model manufacturers are in that position. Kind regards, Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trade Member legomanbiffo Posted August 26, 2015 Trade Member Share Posted August 26, 2015 I'm completely with Paul on this subject. I had a similar off-hand experience with a representative of another big player. I suggested, in a genuinely constructive manner, that their sound locos could be greatly improved at low cost by paying proper attention to the sound fit and using sound recordists and programmers that are familiar with the locos concerned. His attitude was; they sell, what's the problem? The problem for them is this; customers are fed up of paying over the odds for poor sound and now buy non-sound locos and get their chips, speakers and advice from people like myself and Charlie, Paul and Digitrains and so on, and that chunk of the market is now lost to them. The fact that they come to us for these things demonstrates that price is not the issue, it's poor quality (and an indifferent attitude). Sadly even where there's a will to design in good sound from the beginning, commercial pressures and / or the vagiaries of Chinese production systems can still defeat things, but at least it's going in the right direction with some manufacturers. It's an uphill battle though. Bif Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted October 17, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 17, 2015 I have bought many different laptop speakers from the dreaded eBay, they are very cheap to buy and most are designed as a complete enclosure, some are better than others but as stated they are cheap enough to buy several for one single project and experiment with fitment and position, I have had excellent results using this method along with chips and projects by our good friends above. It is well worth a try, cheap experimental fun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.