Bluetooth Boombox

[Nathan] took this boombox and outfitted it for Bluetooth streaming. He took a Motorola DC800, which is meant to make headphones wireless, and connected it to the stereo inputs. The controls for the Bluetooth module were routed to the stock tape deck controls and a little bit of frosted spray paint adds a blue glow to the cassette window. Now he can stream music from his phone, including internet radio, which he’s done in the video after the break.

Did he find the most annoying demo video music ever? You be the judge.[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/12116024]

23 thoughts on “Bluetooth Boombox

  1. What would have been snazzy would be if the whole Bluetooth® module been fitted to one of those cassettes used to give you an input. Then you have a Bluetooth® cassette tape adapter and preserve the look and sound of the stereo.

  2. Hmmm… How about integrating a micro rechargable Bluetooth headset into a cassette case with a magnetic head so it would be removable and could be used in other devices, like older car stereos…

  3. “and is he dancing to it towards the end? almost as strange as the music”

    I read this before the video got to the ‘dancing’. Needless to say I was laughing the whole time, hahahaha

  4. “there was no stock audio input on the boombox, the bluetooth receiver’s output was wired into the inputs for the tape deck’s magnetic (play) head”

    There must be a better place to hook into the amplifier input. Even the cheaper tape players have features that will interfere with the signal, like automatic gain control, dolby deemphasis, and the like.

  5. Bluetooth, of course!

    Maybe I’ll have to post my recent “universal boombox” project that will mount up nearly any handheld device and charge it via USB to boot!

    Stuff like this is really cool, especially when you end up with a really useful item.

    Kudos!

  6. Isn’t there an impedance difference between, headphone out and tape head pickup? Not to mention tape head pickup is per-amplified which is not necessary. I cannot imagine this sounding any good.

  7. @concino

    Yeah, durr, forgot the resistors. I had it on a low volume to test it out and it was ok but a little distorted at higher volumes. I’ll throw some in there and see how it goes

Leave a Reply to anonCancel reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.