# Can I Increase The Audio Sensitivity On This Laser?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-increase-the-audio-sensitivity-on-this-laser/740389>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 14, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-increase-the-audio-sensitivity-on-this-laser/740389 "2015-12-14T02:40:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-increase-the-audio-sensitivity-on-this-laser/740389/1 "2015-12-14T02:40:35Z")

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I recently bought a Fireball Laser Light Show at a flea market. When I got it home, I found that it worked except that it only responded to extremely loud noises or taps on the housing. I was wondering if there was some way to fix this.

Here’s a video of a working unit in action [Check it out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaLMQU_pass)

Thanks for any help you can provide.

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-increase-the-audio-sensitivity-on-this-laser/740389/2 "2015-12-14T17:44:38Z")

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Sure, just build your own pre-amp and replace the internal one.

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**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-increase-the-audio-sensitivity-on-this-laser/740389/3 "2015-12-14T18:21:10Z")

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Reviews of this product suggest that the microphone isn’t very sensitive, so it looks like the mic pre-amp has been optimised for a loud club environment. So: what beowulff suggested. If you’re going to build your own pre-amp then you might as well put a little gain control pot in there too.

It might be possible to tweak the pre-amp that’s already in there, if you don’t mind reverse-engineering that bit of the circuit. It won’t be very complicated.

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-increase-the-audio-sensitivity-on-this-laser/740389/4 "2015-12-17T22:31:21Z")

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Thanks for your help. I realized that my brother in law (music teacher and professional saxophone player) may be able to help me with this. I’m not worried about breaking the Fireball Laser Light Show, as I picked it up at a flea market for a dollar.