Hardware GBA Speaker dimensions

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I want to buy a new speaker for my GBA, but I do not know the specifications of the old one. Could you specificate a diameter of the speaker for me, please? And what is the difference between 0.25W / 0.5W / 1W speakers? Which one of them should I buy? I think there is a 0.25W original in it, but it is just my guess. I found some of them on ebay, but before I buy it I want to ask first. I could meassure it on my own, but I do not have tri-wing screwdriver at the moment. It is still in transit
Thank you in (GB) advance.

Daragon13

 

[FAST6191]

First do you mean original style GBA or GBA SP?

If you are asking these sorts of questions you would be better off finding an exact replacement, or buying an otherwise broken GBA to cannibalise for parts. I don't normally see the speakers break either -- liquid and someone sticking a screwdriver through it being the main two scenarios for that, that or someone failed to put it back together properly when taken apart.
I should also note many speakers come in rather custom dimensions to allow them to fit into certain slots -- in this case there is a nice alignment tag to prevent it from rotating but you can do without it here.

The W stands for Watts which is a measure of power. The bigger the number the more power they are rated for (and will possibly try to draw). This would mean louder but it also means the circuit inside the GBA will have to work harder, and may even pop, or on the flip side if the circuit is limited then it might sound worse as higher wattage speakers typically don't do as well at lower driven power. There are those mods which do increase power output but people that do them know what they are doing, or take power from somewhere else and just use the basic thing as a signal for another amplifier circuit.

As you asked nicely though.

My vernier callipers measure just under 23mm diameter for the speaker, just over for the slot it goes in. With standoffs a little under 13mm (12.82mm if you care) for the depth.
Sadly nothing printed on the speaker to determine power and someone ran off with my multimeters the other day and have not given them back so can't reasonably measure that right now either, though I will note there is no connector and it is soldered on so you at least have that going for you.

 

[Deleted User]

Thank you for your reply.
I bought an old GBA via ebay auction, but there is a faulty speaker. In that case I was wondering which one should I buy and I found some cheap speakers on ebay, but the diameter was the key dimension. I was searching and found out that original Nintendo GBA speaker is 8Ω, 0.25W. Speakers I would like to buy are 8Ω and 0.5W or 1W. 2W speaker requires GBAmp. I think that those 0.5W would not make a big difference (potentional PCB damage and also loudness, I guess), so that is what I will buy I think.

Thank you, those photos was enough for me, really appreciate that.

 

[FAST6191]

That could get confusing -- there is an old flash cart called the gba movie player, commonly shortened to GBAMP.

Anyway if people into modding the audio on these ran the relevant tests and reckon the GBA can usually sustain such a speaker then I am not going to argue otherwise.

 

[Deleted User]

Oh sorry, I was talking about GBA Amplifier Audio modification - perhaps GBAAmp should be correct abbreviation . 2W is too much for GBA, that's why it requires amplifier.

Anyway, back to the topic, I think from 0.25W to 0.5W is not as much, am I wrong? I have not see any of 0.25W speakers and feedbacks are positive.