Speakers are the wrong way around.


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deathterrapin

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I think the speakers on GP32s are connected the wrong way around.
Go into the testing mode (LRRLRRLL on the main menu) and press start+select untill you get to sound test. When I press L it sounds on the right speaker, when I press R it comes out on the left speaker. (use your thumbs to cover each speaker in turn, 'cause its hard to actually tell which it comes from)
When I use headphones it comes out of the correct speaker.

I dont think this can be just on mine, 'cause I've seen pics of the circuit board and the speakers are connected with short leads onto opposite sides of the board, so they cant be mixed up during assembly, and a firmware bug would make it wrong on both speakers and headphones.

This isnt actually that important 'cause its quite hard to hear which side sounds are coming from with the built in speakers anyway, because they're so close together and the sound travels through the whole thing a bit. But if I'm right its still rather a stupid mistake gamepark have made in designing the PCB.

(BTW, the sound test mode seems to be rather dodgy so sometimes if you press the buttons too fast it will come out of the wrong speaker at random, wait for the sound to finish before pressing again to get a proper test.)
 
I just tested it...it's true. The L and R are swapped around but fine on headphones. This indicates that it wasn't a mistake in the program, but a circuit-board error! Oh well, as you said, it doesn't really matter.

Jle, I have no idea what you're talking about :D
 
Wow I didn't even know the GP32 had a test mode, a shame about the speaker thing though
 
Shouldn't be too risky to swap them 'round. The speakers are connected with little plugs, so you just need to unplug them and extend the leads to make them reach the opposite connectors, no soldering to the board is needed.
IMO, its not worth the bother though, I doubt I would have even noticed it if I hadnt been fiddling with test mode in my frustration while waiting for my SMC to arrive.
 
Unsolder and resolder from the speakers side tho, and not from the pcb end.
 
Shouldn't a bios (firmware) or the emulators themselves be able to solve this?
 
Software authors could add an option to swap it around i suppose, but theres no permanant fix in software/firmware 'cause the speakers are one way and the headphones are the other, which is just a matter of how they're wired and nothing in software can change that.
But its not really a problem IMO.
 
I REALLY can;t be arsed to go about dismantling my GP32 to get this corrected... what's the point? It's not like we're talking audiophile quality 5.1 sound here or something :)
 
jlebrech posted on May 7 2003 said:
If you're not happy about it get your soldering iron out.
Yes, that's clever.

"My screen is flipped horizontally!" -- "Oh well, don't complain, get your soldering iron out. Open the case and turn it round yourself, you lazy bum!"

Ease of fixing is not important - this shouldn't happen.

Axeman: test mode isn't particularly intereresting. Button test, colour test, sine wave test, SMC test, port test, BANG back to the Game/Mp3/Pclink menu.
 
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If the right and left speakers swapping matters or not is just a question of personal opinion. The stereo swapping can actually be noticed for example on Parasol Starts, with the GPEngine - if you play it with the speakers it sounds fine - if you play it with headphones it sounds reversed from what happens on the screen. And if stereo sound did not matter, why implementing stereo sound on GPEngine? Some people will get bothered by the swapping, some won't. That's it.
The fact is - the GP-32 has two speakers and a stereo headphone connector and they should have been wired correctly from start. If this did not matter the GP-32 would have mono sound from the start.
It's just sad that deathterrapin made a point that was very reasonable and was met with scorn. "And the screen is rotated 90 degrees" - by the way, it would be 180 degrees for the mockery to make sense.
 
I always use headphones, well usually, so I never even knew the speakers were wired wrong. There's no excuse for such manufacturing flaws.

They do an awful job installing FLU's too. Seems like almost all have dust under the screen. Mine sure does. At least everything else is great about it.
 
Someone should mail gamepark and tell them about it instead of whining here.
 
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