I was experimenting with getting sound from my FPGA board or from a 555 Timer (so I create a digital circuit that can send out square wave at various frequencies).
The thing I don't understand is this:
My square waves are all zero to 3.3 volts (they are all positive). I run them through a simple NPN transistor to get some amplification (my 555 is 10mA source max) then to the speaker. So is it correct to say then that I am only using half the speaker's ability (so should a speaker be driven from -x to +x rather than 0 to x -- or does it not matter) -- and if it does go -x to +x then how do I go from a 555 that is 0-x to use the full range of the speaker.
Can I drive the speaker directly from the 555 or FPGA or do I need a capacitor in between.
As you can see I am just trying to learn about how to get digital sound to a simple speaker so any links that would help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
The thing I don't understand is this:
My square waves are all zero to 3.3 volts (they are all positive). I run them through a simple NPN transistor to get some amplification (my 555 is 10mA source max) then to the speaker. So is it correct to say then that I am only using half the speaker's ability (so should a speaker be driven from -x to +x rather than 0 to x -- or does it not matter) -- and if it does go -x to +x then how do I go from a 555 that is 0-x to use the full range of the speaker.
Can I drive the speaker directly from the 555 or FPGA or do I need a capacitor in between.
As you can see I am just trying to learn about how to get digital sound to a simple speaker so any links that would help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
Last edited: