Hi all,
I thought I would introduce myself!
I'm not a very technical person but I love the look of old radios and the general art deco aesthetic. The few radios I have are mostly for decoration but I do have a cool old Bakelite speaker that I'd love to repurpose as an external speaker for my computer. I thought that perhaps I could use a Lepai LP 2020 amplifier to run it but to be honest I don't really have any idea if that would work. I'm awed by the knowledge of the people on this forum -- if any of you had any tips, I'd be very grateful.
Best regards,
Jeff

One thing noted especially on the American forum; Is when adding various forms of modern audio, from devices: Many of which output stereo only and in most cases the older radios are Monaural. and so is a single speaker.

Naturally with the throw away devices, there is scant information on how they output the signal, be it into high impedance crystal earphones, or magnetic speakers & earphones? The problem being, that quite often a magnetic reproducer is part of the collector circuit of a transistor and not necessarily fed via a transformer like valves to the sound reproducer: In many cases you just don't know.

With devices such as this, with stereo only, feeding them into a mono only amp, requires that the stereo be recombined without damage to either apparatus; Often that is easier said than done. One method uses audio transformers, which provide some electrical isolation between the two devices. Seriously important where valves, mains, & some solid state regulators are involved.

This all requires research; Before acting.

Marc

Welcome Eekamouse.

Hi EM, is your 'speaker' just a coned driver unit by itself mounted in an enclosure or is there some electronics in it as well?
We need to define what your 'speaker' is.

A photo of the device would help.
You could send a jpg of the speaker to the email address to contact admin and pin it to this thread.

A completely safe method and isolated method is to use a microphone to monitor the existing PC speakers and drive the other sound system from that mike. That means no cables involved between the two devices.

If the inputs and outputs are known quantities and compatible, and this is what MarcC is saying, then you may be able to direct connect.

cheers, Fred.

There is already some discussion in Eekamouse's post in General Discussion,

https://vintage-radio.com.au/default.asp?f=1&th=2083

Harold