DIY Gas Can Speakers Blast Your Tunes

April 18, 2014 by Nick Conn 24 Comments

Gas Can Speaker

Have you ever wanted to build your own speakers, but were a bit overwhelmed with all the information out there on cases and packaging? A recent Instructable by [Txje] goes over how to build a set of simple gas can speakers.

While using gas cans as speaker housings will not result in the best audiophile quality sound or be the cheapest option out there, it sure looks awesome, and is a great way to get started with building your own speakers. After testing out the speakers and electronics, holes in the gas cans are cut and the terminals and speakers are installed. “As an added bonus, the pour spout serves to release pressure in the speaker can. You can get everything you need for ~$69 from Amazon and/or Home Depot.” Not a bad price point for two very cool looking speakers. Once you have built the speakers, now you can experiment with different fill material to see what results in better sound quality.

This is a simple, yet fun looking build. Something like this can make a nice gift for someone who spends a lot of time in their garage. What other crazy objects have you used for speaker enclosures?

Raspberry Pi Remote Audio Link

April 17, 2014 by Eric Evenchick 7 Comments

In broadcast, lots of people are still using dedicated analog lines to connect remote sites. These operate like old telephone systems: you call up the operator and request to be patched through to a specific site. They’re also rather expensive.

For a hospital radio station, [Marc] wanted to replace the old system with something less costly. The result is his Raspberry Pi STL in a Box. Inside the box is a Raspberry Pi, PiFace display, a pair of meters, and some analog hardware for the audio.

On the software side, the system uses LiquidSoap to manage the stream. LiquidSoap uses a language to configure streams, and [Marc] has a write-up on how to configure LiquidSoap for this application. On the hardware side, SSM2142 ICs convert the signal from single-ended to balanced. The meters use the LM3915 bar drivers to control the meters.

The Python script that controls the box is provided, and could be helpful for anyone needing to build their own low-cost audio link.

DIY Bluetooth Boombox Can Take A Beating!

March 30, 2014 by James Hobson 18 Comments

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Looking for a nice portable audio solution that can take a beating outdoors? This RaveBOX (v1.0) might be what you’re looking for!

[Angelo] is a 15 year old high school student from the Philippines who loves making things — in fact, he has a collection over 40 Instructables that he’s written himself to share with the world. He wrote his first when he was only 10 years old.

He was inspired to build this boombox when he stumbled upon a Pelican-like rugged case at the mall, so he bought it and started planning the build around it. He’s using a pair of 2-channel audio amplifiers hooked up to a Bluetooth/FM/USB/SD card player module which has a nice face-plate for external mounting. It drives a 4″ woofer, and 4 full range speakers. To modify the case, he used a Dremel and pocket knife, and we must say, he did a great job! The 12V 2.2aH lithium polymer battery provides a surprising 18 hours of playback. Continue reading “DIY Bluetooth Boombox Can Take A Beating!” →

From Wireless Soundbar To Portable Boombox

March 5, 2014 by James Hobson 5 Comments

toshiba-mini-soundbar-online

[Frank] had wanted a portable Bluetooth boombox for a while, but when he did some price comparisons he found that they are pretty expensive. He decided to take matters into his own hands and modify two products he already had — into what he wanted.

The guts of his Frankenstein-boombox come from a Toshiba 3D Soundbar — a great product, but not as durable or portable as he needed. He then took an old mini guitar amp and started hacking the two together.

The soundbar features 4 speakers and a sub woofer — plus the amp and wireless capabilities of course — so [Frank] opted to just use the case of the guitar amp with the soundbar’s innards. He took some measurements and then built up a wooden support for the speakers inside the amp. He’s also sealed off the tweeters sound cavity from the main SUB to keep the sound nice and clear. Continue reading “From Wireless Soundbar To Portable Boombox” →

SoundCube: A Companion Cube That Can Talk

February 23, 2014 by Marsh 2 Comments

sound_companionCube

The Enrichment Center likely disapproves of the SoundCube: a portal music box in the form of a Portal Companion Cube. [Andreas] finished this project a couple of years ago, but we’re glad he’s finally had time to give a rundown on the details at his blog.

The build is primarily a modified speaker box cube—constructed out of what appears to be MDF—with four Alpine SXE-1725S speakers placed at the center of the middle faces. The faces were routed out to resembled the Companion Cube, while the electronics mount and the speaker grills were 3d printed. Inside is a homemade amplifier built around an Arduino Mega, with a TDA7560 quad bridge amplifier, a TDA7318 audio processor, a Belkin bluetooth receiver, and a 3.5″ touchscreen for volume control and for input selections.

Two 12v 7.2Ah lead-acid batteries keep the cube functional for an entire weekend of partying, but probably add a few pounds to the already hefty MDF construction. Check out [Andreas’s] blog for more pictures and his GitHub for all the necessary code.

Vintage DACs And A Raspberry Pi

February 23, 2014 by Brian Benchoff 25 Comments

DAC

Before the days of iPod docks in every conceivable piece of audio equipment, most devices were actually built very well. Most shelf top equipment usually came with well designed circuits using quality components, and late 90s CD players were no exception. [Mariosis] heard of some very nice DACs found in some of these units and decided to take one out for a spin. He’s using a Raspberry Pi to play audio with the DAC found in a late 90s Kenwood CD player.

After fortune favored a CD player with a dead drive on [Mariosis]’ workbench, he dug up the service manual and found some interesting chips – a PCM56 DAC, a little bit of logic, and an SM5807 oversampling chip that does all the conversion for the DAC.

This oversampling chip uses an I2S – not I2C – bus to carry the data from the CD to the DAC. There is, of course, an I2S driver for the Raspi, but the first attempts at playing audio didn’t result in anything. It turned out there was a problem with what the oversampler expected – the ‘standard’ I2S signal delays the data one tick behind the LRCLK signal.

There are two ways to fix this problem: programming a kernel driver, or building some custom logic to fix the problem. Obviously breaking out some flip-flops and NOR gates was the cooler option, giving [Mariosis] a great sounding stereo with a vintage DAC.

Under Water Record Player Is Very Mesmerizing

February 16, 2014 by James Hobson 36 Comments

Once in a while we get a really awesome tip about a technical art installation — there sometimes isn’t much info behind it, but the idea and concept behind it alone sparks our curiosity. That is most definitely the case for this submerged record player.

Artist [Evan Holm] has created this awesome installation which features a black pool of water — with a built-in record player. He’s somehow waterproofed the player itself, and integrated the controls and needle into a tree, which is part of the installation.

He has a very long and artsy description about the meaning of it, how it represents loss and mystery, and the collective subconscious of the human race… We just see it as a really cool hack. There’s also a full documentary about how he sets up the installation at various shows.

We’ve included both videos following the break — it is very tempting to try recreating something similar!

Continue reading “Under Water Record Player Is Very Mesmerizing” →