Ghetto DIY Pillow Speaker

A $2 DIY replacement of an $8 radio shack toy. Listen to music in bed without uncomfortable headphones! Free mints too!

Needed parts:
Sour Altoid can
Crap headphones
Chunk of soft foam
Old internal computer speaker

Step 1 Ready the cheesy earbuds

1. Grab a pair of cheap 97 cent walmart earbuds (or dollar store ones with free scan radio!)
2. Snip the actual speakers off from the cable. Save them for later use as ninja throwing weapons.
3. Poke a small hole through the side of the altoids tin.
4. Stick the wire in through the hole and tie a knot in it 2 inches from the cut end so it doesnt come out.
UPDATE: 5.Put some duct-tape or electrical tape around the wire that will be going through the hole and around some of the knot so the tin won't cut into it.

Comments

[JetJaguar]

I did it! First time I've soldered, but I had a gun in a computer tool kit I've had since 1997. I used a large Tiger Balm can, and went ahead and drilled holes in the top.

[JetJaguar]

Here's the picture

[bob_0987]

do you have to use an altoids tin

[andrew101]

no

[Derek Vigil]

I can see probably using a tic-tac box

[Power-Inside]

How loud would this be if I connected it directly to ipod directly (without amp)..

[lu8-dc]

i need to use a Old internal computer speaker or i con use something else

[j03tv]

Another idea would be to use one of those U-shaped theraputic or whatever pillows and put in 4 speakers for surround sound and maybe put a sub under the matress?
Actually, just put all the speakers at the top part of the matress so you can get surround sound in bed while watching latenight movies. Crank it up and you can feel the vibrations :D

[j03tv]

LOL what if the person sleeping drools a lot? Automatic Shock Alarm? lmao

[kike13]

hey you know you can stack 2 altoids tin to fit a biger speaker

[diy master]

this is so cool i made it but my head phone wires had a protective coating to stop me from doing it but in the end i burned it off with a lighter lol thanks for the instrutions.

[leenmean]

I made one of these and it is perfect for putting in my jacket pocket and listening to music without wearing annoying headphones or earbuds. Thanks for the top notch Instructable.

[spn_phoenix_92]

Awesome I'll have to try this sometime

[teh_noob]

lol nice idea

[kdude369]

very good work everyone seems to be making stuff out of altoids packs at the moment lol :)

[mitchellcope]

Good work budy. Might try build one my self.

[justinpow]

i've hooked mine up but i get a really hollow sound and some of the sounds cant be heard. eg i can hear the music but no singing.

[masterchrisx3]

because its a single speaker you need 2 spekers on most new cds

[frotastic]

Drilling small holes works just as well.... thats what i did with a normal altoids tin and it worked out very well

[hackman1234]

I am w/atomicrabbit(a bit of a noob). I tried to test my speaker(since it was a fair bit larger than yours)by touching the wires to the sides and blugging it in but nothing happened. Do you have to solder them for the input to properly work?

[TheInventor]

It depends. A lot of wires for stuff like that actually have a type of filament that stops it from working unless it is soldered. Try soldering it together man! It only takes 2 seconds!

[hackman1234]

also, it's a 4-ohm, 5-watt speaker.

[cdubnbird]

i can't get my speakers to hook up to my headphones. i've tried with three different headphones and two different speakers. 1. i-pod headphones with one green wire and i red wire both in the same strand. 2. cheap headphones with one blue wire and one copper wire, and on the other strand one red wire and one copper wire. 3. cheap headphones #2 with one red wire on each strand and 6 smaller grayish shiny (steel?) wires on each strand as well. I have tried every configuration of wires on both portable 2" radio speakers and 1 3/4" singing card speakers. Each time I give it input coming from my i-pod mini. Each speaker plays fine when tested against a battery. And each headphone set plays fine when reconnected with the headphones. I'm frustrated as to why it won't work. Help?

[killerassassin]

ok, so the head phones i used had one blue wire and one red wire going to each earbud which ones do i connect to which port?

[cornflaker]

Either should be fine, all speakers (well all to my knowledge) are not polarised (Meaning you can put the wires either way)

[Derin]

they are not,yes but you need to connect + to + and - to - to get better sound so it will pump water ,OUT

[sehrgut]

Nope. As he said, speakers are non-polarized. The only time polarity matters is when you have a polarized _setup_ (such as "poor man's surround sound" -- Google it) which can arise in certain stereo hacks -- since you can end up with sound waves canceling each other out, or if you're using a piezo device rather than a speaker (though creating a piezo driver isn't for the non-electronic hoi polloi). Not a problem with a single speaker, though.

[Derin]

Then why does the speaker have + and - written?

[sehrgut]

For stereo use. You don't want to have one channel producing a wave 180° phase-shifted from the other channel, as that would result in destructive interference.

[Derin]

oh ok

[sehrgut]

You do want to make sure you're connecting the proper wires from the cable, though. You ought to connect both the tip and the ring (L and R) to the same side of the speaker, and the sleeve (G) to the opposite side. This will give you the volume of both channels (and is the same thing that happens when you plug a mono plug into a stereo jack anyway).

See Phone Plug Pinout

[Derin]

thanks

[Derin]

oops,sound not water

[cornflaker]

Lmao

[Derin]

what does lmao mean

[NatureBoom21]

laughing my a** off

[killerassassin]

ya, i managed to get it to work. i'm still working on an amplifier chip for it though

[Charles IV]

OMG YOU HAVE THE GIANT FISH PILLOW!! My dad bought me that exact same fish pillow from wal-mart!

[SnuffyDaPenguin]

This is good. I've been looking for how to do this kind of thing for a long time, but I don't have an old speaker from anything, although I have about a billion pairs of those 97 cent earphones from wal-mart. Could I just run them all in series in the tin instead of one big speaker?

[jetsmiley123]

where can I get my hands on some cheap foam? I also think your pillow speaker is a great idea. I have everything but the foam. what can I use to improvise?