Small speaker not loud enough

[Ethan T]

Hey there,

I'm attempting to wire up a small speaker on my little breadboard project, but when I give it an AC input (6 kHz) it sounds very soft, in fact it is barely audible. I can't get it any louder despite increasing the voltage to nearly 20V. I suspect it isn't getting enough amps so I bought a TIP120 NPN-D transistor from radio shack. My circuit is a simple RC lowpass filter (1000 Ohm and 1nF)

Specs are below. Is current in fact the problem, so I should add the NPN-D transistor somewhere (out of fear of damaging the speaker I haven't added the transistor yet). Or am I missing something else? I'm afraid I don't know anything about speakers.

The speaker is an 8 Ohm, 0.5 W speaker.
RC filter is 1000 Ohm and 10nF.

Thanks!

 

[charlie b]

I am closing this thread in accordance with forum rules. This forum is intended to assist electricians, electrical contractors, inspectors, engineers, and other members of the electrical profession with their job related duties. If you are not an electrician, we are not permitted to help you perform your own electrical design, installation, or maintenance work.

If this had been related to a school assignment, we might have been able to help. But if the question has to do with performing electrical work for your own use, as it appears to be, then forum rules do not allow an engineer (PE or not), to post the question. Actually, it is not very often that we get engineers asking DIY questions. Most of the DIY questions I have seen come from people who have no connection at all with the electrical industry. We tell them the same thing I will now tell you: If installing stuff is not your occupation, then we can?t help you install stuff. You would have had to agree with that rule during the process of registering on the forum.

The reason is that the forum?s owner does not want a person to get an answer to the question they asked, but not get answers to the dozens of other questions they should have asked and were unaware they needed to ask. You need to understand that we learn in college has very little to do with what electricians learn during their apprenticeship. Examples include wiring methods, wire sizes, load limits, conduit types, wire types, supporting of conduit, conduit bend limits, extending existing circuits, GFCI requirements, AFCI requirements, derating requirements, lock-out-tag-out requirements, and post-installation testing methods. We don?t know, and can?t know, how much of this you already understand. Mike doesn?t want anyone to get injured by any incidents related to electrical installations. But he also doesn?t want to be sued by the injured party?s relatives on the basis of him not telling you enough to keep you safe.

I have been involved in the Mike Holt Code Forum for over a dozen years. It has taught me more than I can begin to describe. It is a great resource, and EEs have been a great source of information for the other forum members. So I encourage you to stick around.