Help me raise amplify some speakers

[mechanicalbrain]

A while back I bought this toy from Discovery because it advertised that it could make your voice sound like a robot. Well I wasn't expecting a miracle and actually when I tested it it did kind of have a cylonish sound to it. The big problem is that it's very quite and I was hoping to mount it into our mascot's costume. I did what any FIRSTer would do, I dismantled it to see if I could get it to do what I wanted it to. I assume ill be using a amplifier to boost the signal from the speakers but I can't find any that are really appropriate for this task. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks all

[KenWittlief]

how much power do you want, and what power source do you want to use (what supply voltage?)

[mechanicalbrain]

Ah yes completely forgot. Well if I do use a amplifier it would be powered separately. I'm thinking 9-12 volt would be possible since this has to be wearable.

[KenWittlief]

check digikey.com - the universal supplier for all things electrical

you should be able to find a single chip, single supply power amp that will put out .5 to 1 W easily, that will run off a 9V battery

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Radio Shack has a prebuilt speaker amp that runs on a 9v battery. (At least they used to) Check www.mcminone.com for kit amps. The problem you will face with this device is feedback to the mic input. The speaker should have a decent output as it is but there are two problems you might be encountering. First, is there a headphone jack? If so, it may be intermittent and needs some contact cleaner and exercise. The second is the speaker, these do make a much higher output when they are in a box, or "infinite baffle". With nothing surrounding the driver, the out of phase back radiation is mixing with the front.

What did this come out of? It is possible that the signal routed out to another spot on the device and all you need to do is add a jumper to route to the speaker amp.