Topic: Speaker replacement

Hi all. Recently got my Infocast and after playing with it in a while I've got a question.

Can we improve sound quality by replacing stock speakers with laptop ones?
If somebody done this before what speakers you used?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Speaker replacement

I don't know about the sound on an Infocast, but I've fooled around a lot with both my C1 and C8. The C1 built-in speaker actually sounds pretty good on itself. I think the casing was made to improve the sound output. Of course, adding any speakers to the C1 gives you stereo rather than mono output. The C8 speakers sound really tinny to me, like a cheap radio, but good stereo.

First of all, you can't use laptop speakers that carry both sound and power via the 1 USB plug. You get no sound at all. My little (cheap) notebook speakers with USB power but regular stereo plug worked fine. But those speakers are so small, there wasn't much improvement in the bass, just a little better treble and volume. I tried hooking up the C1 to a decent bookshelf stereo, and it was a little disappointing. I got good radio quality sound, not CD/digital quality sound. I think I was expecting too much. The nice thing is you can leave the Cumby plugged in to an extra "aux" plug and just switch to it when you want.

The best compromise I've found is with an old set of AC-powered Desktop speakers. The ones I've used showed that the Chumbies really do have an impressive amount of bass when amplified. So overall I'd say yes, external speakers will improve your sound quality. Just listen to your Infocast with a good set of headphones first, to see what's the best sound you can hope for.