Buying a set of stylish bookshelf speakers is a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and remains legal in most free countries around the world. However, if you really want to impress with a pretty pair to crank out your tunes, you might consider designing and printing your own. [EH_Design] did just that with a stylish 2.1 Bluetooth audio system.
The 2.1 designation refers to the use of two stereo channels plus a subwoofer. It’s a popular setup as human perception means it’s not as necessary to have stereo imaging for low frequency content. The build uses a Texas Instruments TPA3116D2 Class D amplifier with a Bluetooth input, with the efficient design allowing the build to be more compact without the need for as much heat sinking. A 24 V supply delivering up to 3 A is specified, providing plenty of volume when needed. The speakers themselves consist of 3″ drivers mounted in attractive 3D-printed shells, with the “subwoofer” consisting of a pair of 5″ woofers paired up in a special isobaric enclosure that enables a smaller volume to acoustically act like one double the size.
The result is a futuristic-looking set of bookshelf speakers that remind us of some of the fancier high-end sets often seen in hi-fi magazines. Of course, if 3D printing enclosures isn’t enough for you, you could always consider 3D printing the actual speaker driver itself. When you do, let us know how it goes!
cool build
humans can discern stereo cues at low frequency
it’s subtle
easier if you can relax and listen
people are different
have nice day
Especially so if the audio is set up correctly, instead of cranking the subwoofer to 11.
I too enjoy sharp, jagged spikes sticking out of my wall of sound.
What it comes down to mono lower end of range, only stereo mid range on up. The most overused and meaningless word not just here is “subwoofer”, it’s just a single woofer.
A sphere is the worst shape for an enclosure a cube next and on till you end up with that golden ratio set of dimensions for straight sided boxes. Given the freedom of 3D printing curved shapes and freedom from many of the design compromises set by old methods it’s ripe for progress.
Now that I come to think of it, HexiBase
https://youtube.com/c/HexiBase
hasn’t been featured here so far.
He has been featured https://hackaday.com/2020/06/21/3d-printing-transmission-line-speakers/ , but it’s still good to rewatch his channel when starting to play with custom speakers.
I’m always looking back at this instructable and have finally aquired all the tools I need to make some decent units of my own for my home cinema system.
However, as a first project I was thinking of doing something a little different. I have an abundance of scrap Fire extinguishers due to my work, and was thinking that these might make interesting speaker cabinets for my office to use during presentations.
Perhaps a woofer in the bottom of a 9 litre Water extinguisher would work well as a floor facing unit. They’re desinged to hang on walls, so brackets and stands are easy to make/re-purpose.
Would the cylindrical nature of the extinguishers make them sound rubbish though? or indeed the materials they’re constructed from, either thin stainless steel or reasonably thick aluminium?
I might have to try it with some cheap old computer speakers I’ve got kicking about and see what happens.
I see robot eyes that are missing a face.
2 Cyclops robots?
Man, HaD comments sometimes hit the dirt but goddamn this is bad.
100% of what you need is in the article if you wanted to just duplicate their work. The real interesting part here is “Hey 3d printed speakers can work pretty well!”, not the raw step-by-step.
Imagine being this entitled.
“I haven’t had any lessons in 3D printing.”. Then take some.
I followed the link and it explains how to do it.
Well this is hackaday and hackers are not really well know for the patience of waiting around for someone else’s solution to a problem.
There was never a moment in time where you had the same amount of information and tools available to be able to learn and make anything, so really not sure what are you complaining for this content you paid so much for /s
nice project thanks for the link and anyone who needs more hand holding to do this project really should not be touching tools.
However I do have one question about this project and it goes much beyond just this project but any that deal with PLA in a project. Lately I have been noticing PLA prints of any kind that have any age on them at all (1 year plus) are getting extremely brittle. I’ve been using the sunlu with and without carbon fibre and my main go to is the hatchbox. It is really strange and I am curious with the vibrations of this how well they might actually hold up over time.
2.1 implies the source audio has a separate subwoofer channel I read the write up and it seems like he is muxing the left and right channel and filtering out the highs. Like every 2 channel stereo since the invention of the sub woofer. That would be 2.0 am I missing something. I like the build killer looks, nothing wrong with being 2.0 most audio techs just mux the channels and filter out the highs anyway. So 2.1 and 2.0 are almost the same practically
More than a metre or so away, you probably won’t appreciate the stereo effect, so why not make it even simpler and go mono? Convert 2-channel amp to woofer+mid/top like I did. That way you can use nearly all the available space for the woofer enclosure, since there’s only one other speaker to fit in, and it won’t need much space behind it. See https://hackaday.io/project/165968-bluetooth-boombox-mkii
Some speaker projects can be complete in a weekend, while others can go on for years. Budget speaker kits start around $100, while top-of-the-line kits and components can add up to several thousands of dollars. Regardless of how much you choose to spend on your speakers, you’ll likely be building something that will sound as good as commercial product that off the shelf would cost as much as 10 times more.
Hello, in fact, this is one of the easiest ways to turn your speakers wireless. You need to make sure you get the right Bluetooth adapter to help your speakers and mobile connect in the easiest way possible, and that’s the biggest task. thank you