In the streaming era, few of us think about MP3s on a day to day basis anymore. Our music collection is managed by warring executives in streaming companies from far-off lands. However, for [vinod], they’re still useful — seeing as he just built himself an MP3 player that fits in a clay pot.
The build is based on the FRDMK64F development board, packing a powerful 120 MHz ARM chip. This has enough grunt to decode MP3s on the fly, using the Helix MP3 decoder library. The MP3s themselves are streamed off an SD card, using the faster SDIO access method rather than relying on slower SPI. Once decoded, the resulting PCM audio data is shifted out via a DAC using the chip’s DMA hardware, allowing for smooth, glitch-free playback. Output to a big woofer is via a 15 W class D amplifier, with the whole rig powered from a USB powerbank.
With all the electronics piled on the back of a big woofer speaker with lashings of hot glue, the final result is quite imposing; all the more so when installed neatly inside a clay pot acting as a bass reflex enclosure. We’ve seen some concrete cast speakers before, but not nearly enough hacker projects in clay. Please rectify this, and inform us once you’ve done so. Thanks in advance — video after the break!
My yard is largely clay, so as terraforming progresses, I’ve been doing experiments with using the dirt from the yard to make clay stepping stones. I guess I could do a writeup or something. 🤷♂️
Doesn’t look like a reflex enclosure to me unless it was a really shitty pot with a hole in it
There’s a hole. He even shows it in the video.
There are usually two holes on any given pot. One big one on top where the plant pokes out, and a small one on bottom where the extra water drains out to prevent root damage. It’s the shitty pots that don’t have holes on the bottom.
Four thoughts:
I’ve never seen a tweeter like that. I guess it’s a tweeter, anyhow. The round thing on the side.
I thought “hey, you don’t know the volume of a clay pot.” Two seconds later, I figured that you could use dihydrogen monoxide to measure it.
He sure has a lot of dust on everything.
Good job on the build!
The volume of the clay pot is up to 11…..
Thank you for this lol
I am one of the few that did not sold my soul to the convenience promissed by cloud services. I do pay happily the (ever falling) storage media prices in order to keep my favorite albuns and songs in my possession, lirerally. No need to depend upon other service than electricity, no worries about my privacy. Same for photos and videos.
If I wish to share something I will do it willingly on github, on hackaday.io, on a blog. etc.
That’s awesome well done!
This not bass reflex but sealed acoustic suspension. Yes there is bass more than otherwise but I hear it sounding like like a bayan (large tabla) resonating even from the bansuri flute. You might stuff a small pillow in there to dampen that resonance.
There is a hole in middle of pot, have you noticed it ?
Now weve done clay pots how about a fridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-8HyZUyBAE
I really like the title of his website. Electronics truly are the king of hobbies. :)