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Technochicken
12-13-2009, 10:26 PM
I built these a while ago out of some laptop speakers, but today I gave them a new and improved look. There is no amplifier; they are only powered by the headphone jack. I have tested them against the ipod touch 2g's built in speaker, and they are a good bit louder, not to mention they sound better.

They are made out of aluminum flashing, the end of an 1/8" stereo cable, hot glue, wire screen, JB weld, and lots of hard labor :rolleyes:

Here's a picture of them originally:
http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FQK/JY7V/FS6PNWFB/FQKJY7VFS6PNWFB.MEDIUM.jpg

Now:
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3995/pc130055.jpg
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4859/pc130056.jpg
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/4723/pc130058.jpg
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2156/pc130059.jpg

for an idea of thickness:
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4830/pc130068.jpg
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3260/pc130053.jpg
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5568/pc130070.jpg

I made a video of them playing to give some idea of volume and quality. They sound pretty terrible in the video, because my camera is a piece of crap, but in real life they are a little better. I think it is pretty obvious from their size that they are a bit lacking when it comes to bass though.:D

video:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ve8P4s7u82E&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ve8P4s7u82E&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I can post instructions if anyone wants to build their own, not that they are very difficult to make.

Locum51
12-13-2009, 11:04 PM
Yes! Tutorial please! I have some hp speakers laying around that i want to use! :D

Technochicken
12-13-2009, 11:53 PM
The first thing to do is to wire the speakers to the 1/8" audio cable. Strip the cable. There should be 1 or 2 black wires (ground), and 2 colored wires, usually red, which are the positive connection. Connect the red wire on one of the speakers to a red wire on the cable, and the other speaker's wire to the other on the cable. Then connect the two grounds to the ground on the cable. It should look something like this:
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6956/fkfjtwgfs6pq0dlmedium.jpg

Then glue the three pieces together in the position you want them to be in before you add the metal.


For the metal:
Cut it with scissor to the appropriate shape. You can just cut a strip the same width as your speakers, and then just wrap the metal around. That is what I did the first go around. If you want the speakers to be enclosed on all sides, you have to leave a tab of metal on the top and bottom, long enough to be folded over the back of the speakers.
Once you have the metal to the shape you want, cut out a square in the center, where the front of the speakers will be. Make sure to cut it smaller than the size of the speaker. I folded each edge on the inside of the hole down, so the edges are not sharp. To attach the mesh, put a circle of epoxy, or something similar, around the edge of the hole, and clamp the mesh in place with a board. Before starting the next step, it would be a good idea to make creases in the metal where it will be folded.

To assemble everything, first place the speaker assembly in the center of the metal. Put some hot glue around the edge of the speakers, and fold the metal around them so they are completely covered. to get rid of sharp edges, I used some aluminum tape, which blends right into the flashing.

Sorry if this was hard to understand, because I did not take pictures while I was building it. I did make a guide for the original build HERE (http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultra_Portable_Ipod_Speakers/) if it is helpful.


Here's a diagram of how the whole thing is laid out:
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8589/layoutru.jpg

Here are the two pieces together, minus the wiring:
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/4369/ipod.jpg

The grey is the shape of the aluminum flashing. The red lines in it are the places you fold it in. Basically all you are doing is wrapping the speakers in the sheet of metal.

Locum51
12-14-2009, 12:41 AM
Thank You!!!! +rep for tutorial!