Portable Speaker

This is one of two portable speaker systems i wanted to build.  I used the LM386 circuit from my previous instructable and incorporated it into this portable speaker system.  It is a single channel (mono) speaker system which lights up blue in the background when you turn it on.  I hope you enjoy this one and feel free to give me suggestions or ask me to clarify anything that may be confusing.

Step 1 Obtain Parts

All Components (except for Acrylic Sheet) can be found at RadioShack.

Multipurpose PCB with 417 Holes painted black
4.5-9 Volt DC power supply (3 or 4 AA or 9v Battery)
8 Ohm Speaker
Audio Source e.g. iPod
Acrylic Sheet from "Lowe's"
Project box
 2X Blue Square LED's
Mono Audio Jack
8-Pin Retention Contact
IC1      IC                                       LM386 Audio Amp IC
R1      Resistor                            10 Ohm
R2      Resistor                            1K Ohm
R3      Potentiometer                  5K Ohm
R4      Resistor                           10 Ohm
C1      Capacitor                         220 Micro Farad
C2      Capacitor                         10 Micro Farad
C3      Capacitor                         220 Micro Farad

Comments

[gbollyneutron]

just curious, will it work without the potentiometer

[Ririshi]

Yes, it will work, but you'll have no choice for volume. You should put a trim pot or normal 5K resistor in it, then. But why not just buy a potmeter and place it in to make a volume knob.

[gbollyneutron]

nt sure if my ic connection is rite

[gbollyneutron]

please i just joined the site, but am having problem, after connecting excluding the speaker and audio input, just to ensure continuity, the lights came on, but on puting d others, no sound. help moi, u can reply to my mail.. [e-mail]

[cekpi7]

really cool but you can remove speaker and make box for it :D but anyway good project

[David97]

That looks realy cool.

[mar043]

its so cool...... can i have that...? how many money did you pind that...? did you have a facebook...?

[mar043]

how many money did you spind.....?

[apolicarpio]

How many watts?

[ski4jesus]

386's are half watt amplifiers. but they still put out a lot of juice, even tho it sounds small.

[ajervis]

200

[eescobar]

im new at this can anyone plzzzzz help me with the schematic

[ski4jesus]

Hey these amps are really fun and quite easy to build. Here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Pocket-Protest-a-LM386-amp-in-a-9v-battery-casing/step2/Amp-Circuit/ is a good circuit for the 386. but be careful to add a 2200uF capacitor across the power and ground if you are going to run it off a wall wart. also the bigger the speaker the better sound you will get out of it. less gain more volume. Good luck, reply if you have any questions

[haaglm]

same here i have no idea

[curious youth]

how big is it?

[rhanson294]

Can I use stereo instead? The person at The Shack said that stereo would be better but it looks different.

[mandrews92]

This is going to be my first project like this. The only question I have is, What do i ground everything to? Do I just solder the ground to the pcb board?

[LiLGq]

nope...but all you have to do is connect all ground arrows(arrows pointing down)and connect it directly to the -neg. side of the battery clip......hope it helped....:))

[mandrews92]

Oh ok that makes sense. Oh and one more question... On the diagram the negative side of C2 isn't connected to the 8'th pin. Should it be connected, grounded, or just left unconnected from anything? Thanks in advance :)

[LiLGq]

well as you see its just a small gap......its the pictures problem......anyways you should connect it for bass...

[mandrews92]

Nvm. Saw your hand sketch that showed it connected to 8. Just finished and it works great. I got the plastic speaker that you showed in one of your other tutorials and was wondering if the one you use here sounds any better because I wouldn't mind it to be a little louder without distorting?

[krmartin3]

The small one i have doesnt sound very good at loud volumes either, what you might want to do is search online for a speaker that is able to handle at least more than one watt. the small one you were using can only handle .25 watts and your amp provides more than it can handle. i bought a small car speaker that is 50 watts and it sounds much better at higher volumes.

[elspethdick]

Hi - I built this today and have carefully checked every connection and solder joint, but all I get is fuzz with no variation to the input music when I turn it on. I have soldered a mono audio cable with 3.5mm jack on the end to the potentiometer rather than a mono connector... maybe this difference is the problem. Is there something you need to do with the inner sleeve within the mono audio cable? I just soldered everything to one terminal of the potentiometer. Thank you sooooo much in advance for any assistance!

[elspethdick]

Now the speaker is playing the music, but it is so quiet I have to hold it to my ear to make it out. The speaker I am using is only 0.5W, could that be the problem?
It really doesn't seem to be amplifying - any ideas?

[LiLGq]

as you know.....you need to change the speaker..obviously your speakers is only .5watts...change it to 1watt or more as you please.....

[rubenjr829]

Also how many watts are the resistor 1\2 or 1\4 what are they

[LiLGq]

thats 1/2

[rubenjr829]

what about if you do not use the leds what will happen

[LiLGq]

nothing will happen......the sound produced by this amp is stronger/louder than with leds.....

[rubenjr829]

What speaker works best with this system meaning how many watts should it have

[charvelman87]

Do you know where i can get an acrylic sheet?

[dan95]

i have a problem with it: audio in the speaker has a lot of distortion when I turn up the volume of music player and I have to increase the voltage of the LM386 to eliminate distortion. Could you help?

[LiLGq]

and another question...is a 50 watt 8 ohm amp. is able to be used?

[LiLGq]

what volts does the capacitor needs??...

[cmai00]

I made one but when I turn up the sound it don't work I remove the R1

[Chumlee]

heyy im a newbie to electronics so ive got a few questoins

1) dose it matter where i solder the components on the circuit?

2) is this suitable for a complete begginer??


thanks for your time

[dale44443]

When you say you are a begginer do you know about I.Cs?

[Chumlee]

no, sorry

ive done some soldering befor an stuff

[dale44443]

you give it a go if you want it's not to hard but make sure you know the pin out for the I.C!

[Chumlee]

ok ill include pics if its a sucsess!!


if you have annny spare time on you, do u reccon you cud quickly explain I.C
if not then dont worry an thankyou for your time