Speech comes out far too low and slow and sometimes garbles or cuts out, while the other game sounds are normal. Swapping the speech chip, the PIA and the Say It Again board made no difference.

Speech too deep, slow and garbled: drifted R9 by the speech chip on Squawk & Talk

Cause: Resistor R9, just ahead of the TMS5200 speech chip (it sets the chip's speech rate), had drifted to about 210K instead of its marked 130K.

Checks

• Isolate the Say It Again board with the jumper on the Squawk & Talk board to confirm the fault is on the main sound board.
• Listen at the speech chip's output, then measure R9 (out of circuit for an accurate reading); the ROMs are unlikely if the words themselves are right.

Fix

• Replace R9 with the correct value.

Systems

• Bally MPU AS-2518-35

Games

• Centaur

Related tips

• Squawk & Talk -61 and Say It Again -81 test points
• Squawk and Talk: distorted sound or hum
• Squawk and Talk stops at four flashes
• Squawk and Talk test points
• Bench-test a Squawk and Talk board
• Say It Again -81 reverb board test points
• Early sound boards carry 43 V too
• The Squawk and Talk test button can lock the board up

Source: Pinball Repair help group!! (Facebook group)