Make Sound Effects from a Trek toy better?

[DLMatthys]

I have a toy factory made sound circuit for the Enterprise "D toy made by Playmates. I ripped it from the toy and I want to put it into the base for a built AMT/ERTL model of the ST:TNG USS Enterprise.

It kinda sounds cheesy with the wire harness standing alone with the toy's speaker. Is there any good tips to enhance the sound chip set up with a better speaker or the acoustics inside a wood display base?

[robiwon]

Two words- resonance chamber. This is a trick used by lightsaber builders. It's basicly putting the speaker inside a tube the same diameter as the speaker. The material of the chamber and length can effect the sound. On my Graflex with UltraSound board I wound up using a cut down 35mm film cannister. The speaker alone was fairly quiet, but with the open ended tube on it made it much louder. Give it a try.

[Ziz]

Yeah. You need to design the base to also become a speaker cabinet - not just something to hold the electronics and speaker but carved out in such a way as to bounce the sound around a bit before coming out some kind of grille opening.

[Johnnycrash]

Maybe you are better off just standing beside it all the time making the sound effects yourself. I'm mean, it's an option, so...

[Mr. Engineer]

I agree with the resonance chamber idea. I did not know about this until I opened up a Playmates Star Trek Next Generation TR-580 Tricorder. That chamber made the sound from the speaker twice as loud.

Either that or hook it up to a 2000 watt amplifier..........

[DLMatthys]

I too am a believer of the sound resonance physics.

The base wood enclosure is hollow.
Like guitars ...acoustics can be enhanced.
I will also try the tube theory.