Might be that your speaker header output on the mobo likes 32 ohm or larger speaker impedences rather than 8 ohms.

Does your sound card have a PC speaker header on it? I've noticed a few of mine do, though I've never tried them. May be worth trying if you aren't getting the output you want from the board. Only option I can think of outside of making an amplifier.

TOBOR wrote:

Might be that your speaker header output on the mobo likes 32 ohm or larger speaker impedences rather than 8 ohms.

That seems unusual, no?

BeginnerGuy wrote:

Does your sound card have a PC speaker header on it? I've noticed a few of mine do, though I've never tried them. May be worth trying if you aren't getting the output you want from the board. Only option I can think of outside of making an amplifier.

I know one of them does -- I have an AWE64 and SB Pro 2.0 in there.

How and where are you mounting the speaker on the case? A bare speaker sounds very quiet without some sort of box to create resonance and amplify the sound. Usually the PC case itself does the job quite nicely but the speaker cone should be facing the outside instead of just hanging around inside like any other component.

I suggest putting together a small cardboard box for the speaker to go into and boost the sound a bit.

infiniteclouds wrote:

That seems unusual, no? […]
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TOBOR wrote:

Might be that your speaker header output on the mobo likes 32 ohm or larger speaker impedences rather than 8 ohms.

That seems unusual, no?

BeginnerGuy wrote:

Does your sound card have a PC speaker header on it? I've noticed a few of mine do, though I've never tried them. May be worth trying if you aren't getting the output you want from the board. Only option I can think of outside of making an amplifier.

I know one of them does -- I have an AWE64 and SB Pro 2.0 in there.

Not unusual at all really. Most mobos including OEMs are designed to feed a 16 to 32 ohms speaker or squeaker (tiny buzzer) from the headers because that means less current pull witch can mean smaller size transistors being used.

I was able to route the PC Speaker to the AWE64 and have it come through my studio monitors. It's just not as good though 🙁

I guess I shouldn't be surprised a Slot 1 era motherboard doesn't properly support one of these classic IBM speaker cones.

You could use a small $10 amplifier card (more Watts), or get a more efficient speaker (which means more SPL for the same power delivered by the motehrboard)

okenido wrote:

You could use a small $10 amplifier card (more Watts), or get a more efficient speaker (which means more SPL for the same power delivered by the motehrboard)

Haven't found either of these -- then again I may not know what I am looking for. All of the speaker cones wired for motherboard input that I found were like the ones in my original post.

Yes there are only uber cheap speakers like those found on toys. You'll need more hifi small (3 inch) full range drivers for efficiency, but It's not retro and maybe not as worth as simply getting one of those small amplifier boards ( http://www.dx.com/p/gf-007-mini-digital-audio … rd-green-218365 ). check the motherboard output level so you decide if a resistor is needed before feeding the signal into the amp

Piezo speakers are of high impedance (~ 1K ohms ?).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectric_speaker

If the source wasn't TTL, I would try to put something like a
little audio (AF) transformer (1:10 or 10:1 ratio ?) inbetween.

Alternatively, I would use a photocoupler and a little one-transistor amp.
This would require an additional power source, though.

Hmm.. Tricky. Wasn't the PC-Speaker directly connected to the system timer ?

Or what about using another high-impedance speaker ? My old AKG Monitor (head phones) had 600 Ohms.
Maybe there are other dynamic speakers with a similar impedance ?

Well it isnt hard create a class ab amp for this purpose, but personally i dont like pc speaker sound, and i wouldnt go for the trouble.

.legaCy wrote:

Well it isnt hard create a class ab amp for this purpose.

This, I made a few amps myself. its not that hard if you know what your doing or have a kit/plans.

Jade Falcon wrote:

This, I made a few amps myself. its not that hard if you know what your doing or have a kit/plans.

okenido wrote:

check the motherboard output level

I don't know what sort of tool(s) I'd need to to even start by checking that. I'm not even sure what to google for the amp route!

Jo22 wrote:

Piezo speakers are of high impedance (~ 1K ohms ?).

My guess is that this is what the motherboard is expecting -- a piezo speaker. I stand to be corrected, but I think it is really only older (<=386) boards that would expect/accept an 8-ohm speaker?