Well, I purchased the Radioshack speaker/amplifier that I inquired. Only got it because it was on clearance at my local RS. So,.......

Pass.

It's horribly loud with distortion cranked up.

I'll keep it anyway, cause I'm a gadget nut. But, it appears that the built in speaker cannot handle what the internal amplifier can put out. So, I wonder if I gut the internal speaker and replace it with a slightly bigger one that is 4 to 8ohm rated rather than the 16ohm speaker in this device. Then use this device in conjunction to the HL board.

I'm not electronically inclined, so I'm not sure if it's worth the while or will work at all.

Here's the actual specs of this device.

Speaker is rated:
16ohm
0.5w

Amplifier:
Input sensitivity:1mV
Input impedance: 5k OHMS
Power output: (1khz): 200mW (16 0hm load) &lt;&lt;<not to="" speaker="" the="" of="" restriction="" limited="" is="" this="" if="" sure=""></not>Distortion: (1KHz): &lt;2% THD @ 200mW &lt;&lt;&lt;<frequency i="" it="" what="" for="" response="" frequency=""></frequency>9v battery

I also ordered this today, coming from HK..... http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Stereo-Port...item27af006f70
it's gonnna be atleast 2 weeks for it's arrival, but I think this has the best potential and will likely be able to fit both speakers in the tank due to it's size. It's a whole lot more powerful than this RS amplifier with a superb frequency rating and at 4 watts total, (2 watts per speaker).....with a signal rating of 90db! This sucker better be as louds as the specs claim!

If it does need help to add a little more umph in the bass, then I'll modify the housing to suit a better enclosure, but we'll see.

But, at less than10 bucks...can't really complain too much.