speakers

64 Articles

A Feature-Rich Amplifier Module For 3-Way Speaker Builds

March 20, 2023 by 18 Comments

There’s something rewarding about building your own DIY audio hardware. Knowing you put it together yourself gives you faith in the construction, and psychosomatically makes the music sound all that much sweeter. If you’re into that kind of thing, you might like to give [Eric Sorensen’s] Denmark amplifier module a look.

The amplifier is intended to be used in a 3-way system, running a subwoofer, woofer, and tweeter. It uses a 1000 W ICEpower module to run the subwoofer, with a pair of 500W ICEpower modules to run the woofer and tweeter respectively. Meanwhile, a MiniDSP 2x4HD is used to accept optical audio input. It also offers digital signal processing and serves as a crossover to split the signal across the three speakers. An STM32F401 is used to run the show, controlling all the various modules and the necessary status LEDs. It’s a feature-rich build, too, with overtemperature monitoring, fan control, and clipping warnings built in.

The whole setup is built on to a sturdy aluminium backplate. The CNC-machined panel has simple tactile buttons for control. There’s also a nifty use of clear PETG 3D printer filament as a light pipe for LEDs. It’s effective, and it looks great. The whole module is designed to slide into the bottom of a 3-way speaker housing like a drawer.

Overall, if you’re building a big set of 3-way speakers, you might find the Denmark amplifier module is perfect for your needs. Alternatively, you could experiment with a different kind of speaker entirely. Video after the break.

Continue reading “A Feature-Rich Amplifier Module For 3-Way Speaker Builds” →

2022 Hackaday Supercon: Final Talks Announced

October 20, 2022 by 2 Comments

The third and final round of the 2022 Supercon talks announcements brings us closer to a complete picture of the full spectrum of hacking awesomeness taking the stage in just a few weeks. (And we haven’t even announced the keynote yet!)

Supercon is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops over the next couple weeks. Supercon will sell out so get your tickets now before it’s too late. And stay tuned for the next round of talk reveals next week! Continue reading “2022 Hackaday Supercon: Final Talks Announced” →

2022 Supercon: More Talks, More Speakers!

October 11, 2022 by 3 Comments

Round two of the 2022 Supercon talks is out, and it’s another superb lineup. This round is full of high voltage, art, and science. If you’ve ever dreamed of starting up your own hacker company, making your own refrigerator, teaching your toaster to think, or just making your breath glow, then Supercon is where you want to be Nov. 4-6!

Supercon will sell out, so get your tickets now before it’s too late. And stay tuned for the next and final round of talk reveals next week! Plus the keynote speaker reveal. Plus workshops. Oh my. Continue reading “2022 Supercon: More Talks, More Speakers!” →

2022 Hackaday Supercon Speakers Will Inspire You

October 4, 2022 by 10 Comments

The return of Supercon is taking place in just a month. We’ve got 45 fantastic talks and workshops planned for the three-day weekend, and they are as varied and inspiring as the Hackaday community itself. From molecules to military connectors, here’s an even dozen talks to whet your appetite.

Supercon is the Ultimate Hardware Conference and you need to be there! We’ll continue to announce speakers and workshops over the next couple weeks. Supercon will sell out so get your tickets now before it’s too late. And stay tuned for the next round of talk reveals next week! Continue reading “2022 Hackaday Supercon Speakers Will Inspire You” →

Paper Plate Surround Sound System

December 3, 2021 by 13 Comments

With the holiday season, you might turn to paper plates to cut down on dishwashing after having family or friends over. But what do you do with the extras? If you are [TKOR] you make some speakers. The process is fairly simple and if you know how a speaker works, you won’t find any surprises, but there are some neat techniques you might pick up. You can see the video below.

A drill and a steel rod help with the coil winding duty. You can probably adapt the technique to make other kinds of coils and we’d rig up an encoder to count revolutions, too.

Continue reading “Paper Plate Surround Sound System” →

A Wireless Speaker Pair From Dead Earbuds

May 5, 2021 by 23 Comments

Building a Bluetooth speaker is easy with the availability of cheap Bluetooth receivers, but surprisingly there isn’t a simple way to build a pair of truly wireless stereo speakers. [Matt] from DIY Perks realized that modern Bluetooth earbuds contain all the electronics to do just that.

Due to the popularity of these earbuds, a broken pair can be picked up very cheaply on eBay. Usually, it’s only the battery or speaker unit that give out, neither of which are required for this build. [Matt] goes through the process of taking a pair of earbuds apart, and then soldering on battery and speaker wires. The speaker wires are connected to an audio amp, which drives a mid-range and treble speaker driver, and a subwoofer. The outputs to the amp are also filtered to match the speakers. Power is provided by a set of four 18650 cells.

[Matt] housed the driver and electronics in some attractive CNC machined wood enclosures. In the video, he places a lot of emphasis on properly sealing all the gaps to get the best possible audio quality. As with all of his projects, the end result looks and performs like a high-end commercial product. We’re almost surprised that he didn’t add any brass to the speakers, as he did on his USB-C monitor or PS5 enclosure build. Continue reading “A Wireless Speaker Pair From Dead Earbuds” →

Building Distributed Mode Loudspeakers With Plywood

December 16, 2020 by 18 Comments

Distributed-mode loudspeakers work rather differently from the typical drivers used in 99% of applications. Instead of using piston-like motion to create sound waves, they instead rely on exciting an entire panel to vibrate and thus produce sound. [JGJMatt] decided to build a pair of bookshelf-sized units, with great results.

The build begins with a pair of 44mm DML exciters, readily available online. These had to be modified to remove their stock metal mounting plates that degraded the sound output in early tests. Instead, 3D printed pieces were used to mount the exciters to the 3mm plywood boards, which were lasercut to act as the main DML panels. Additionally, whizzer cones were fitted to the panels in an effort to further boost the high frequency response of the speakers. The speaker stands are assembled out of more 3D printed pieces and aluminium rods, giving a clean, modern look to the final product.

The performance of the speakers is admirable based on the test video, though [JGJMatt] notes that they should be paired with a subwoofer in use as the DML units do not readily produce frequencies below 100Hz. We’ve seen similar builds before on a larger scale, too. Video after the break.

Continue reading “Building Distributed Mode Loudspeakers With Plywood” →