A SOUND INVESTMENT

Franco Frey goes Bleeper Boosting

PIANO PIANISSIMO

If you think your ears need a washing, then it’s high time that you assist the internal bleeper of the Spectrum in penetrating the empty caverns of your ear. There are several sound amplifiers on the market for the Spectrum. Most of them include a loudspeaker and some feature special sound generator chips, which are only useful if you do your own programming.

Compusound on the other hand reduce the cost of the unit by utilising the existing hardware and by arranging the electronics within the Spectrum. This saves costly packaging and leaves the edge connector free for other uses. TELESOUND makes use of the amplifier and loudspeaker of the TV set, a special loudspeaker is therefore not required. The beep signal is modulated and brought via modulator onto the antenna input of the TV set. This may prove to be a handicap, if you have a mute monitor connected to your Spectrum, but most users operate with normal TV sets.

ANDANTE

The unit comes in a cassette box and consists of a miniature populated pcb with three flying leads terminated with crossleaf gold contacts. The instructions are very explicit and there should be no problem in following the connection procedure without committing silly errors.

The pcb is located beside the video modulator or underneath the voltage regulator heatsink depending on what type of Spectrum issue you have. The connections are made fairly easy by clipping the gold contacts onto the correct component terminals on the Spectrum board. The major problem however is that it is quite easy to create a short circuit with the bare contacts by touching neighbouring terminals or tracks. The same thing can be said about the mini printed circuit board. The only answer to this problem is that the pcb and the contacts should be carefully shrouded in insulating tape. A better solution for the contacts would be to solder the flying leads to the terminals, but this obviously cannot be expected to be done by the average Spectrum owner. This problem could lead to serious trouble if care is not taken during assembly.

FORTE FORTISSIMO

The installation should be double checked to make sure everything is at its right place and only then should the Spectrum be switched on. Only one adjustment is required for the proper functioning of TELESOUND. A trimmer capacitor provides an adjustment of the modulation frequency for the TV sound. Therefore the Spectrum is best left open and a beep loop program initiated. With the constant beep sound the trimmer can be adjusted for maximum sound output (It helps to recheck the TV tuning as some background hiss may be audible at a high volume level).

The TELESOUND can now be positioned in its final position and the Spectrum reassembled. The sound effects can now reverberate throughout the house and the fight for TV volume control between mum, dad and you...

FINALE LARGO

TELESOUND is an effective sound booster for the Spectrum. The small cost of £9.95 is achieved by making use of existing hardware and the quality of the sound will depend on the quality of your TV set.

The installation causes the loss of the Spectrum guarantee and serious thought will have to be given to this. The installation may prove to be a bit fiddly and may require some parental overlooking. TELESOUND will not cause any problems with other add-ons such as microdives and joysticks, etc., as it does not involve the use of the system bus.

TELESOUND definitely is a sound investment and converts your shy Spectrum into a public nuisance.