Retro Wireless Speakers from Ikea Salad Bowls

Thanks for checking out my Instructable for making your own Retro-modern style wireless speakers using rocketfish speakers and two Ikea salad bowls.  

In a nutshell, this tutorial is a housing conversion.  We'll take the guts out of the rocketfish speakers and transfer it over to each of the salad bowls.  I came up with this idea for my blog (http://theb-roll.com) where I do one creative thing a day for a year and document it each day.  This was Day 140.

I did this conversion mostly over a period of one night so some of my solutions might seem a little temporary to you.  As we go along I will try to suggest alternative methods.

The two main ingredients in this tutorial are:

1.  The Rocketfish speakers (RF-WS01)
http://www.rocketfishproducts.com/products/home-theater/RF-WS01.html

2.  2 BLANDA MATT 11in Ikea serving bowls
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60057258

Now, lets begin...

Step 1: Opening Up the Speakers

Now its time to open up these speakers.  The tools you will need to cleanly remove the circuit boards, woofer and tweeter from it's original housing are:

A phillips head screwdriver
A smaller precision phillips head screwdriver
A T10 Torx Screwdriver
A 1/2in. Nut Driver

Begin by removing the volume knob from the front of the speakers.  It's on there tight so you might want to use some pliers of channel locks to pull it off.  Then take the 1/2in. Nut Driver and remove the screw attaching the potentiometer to the plastic housing. (see picture)

Next, take your T10 Torx screw driver and remove all of the screws off of the back of the housing.  Don't miss the four located inside the battery compartment.  There should be eight altogether (see picture)  Once the screws are removed you should be able to open the speaker housing quite easily.

Comments

[pakosting]

It is interesting!

[tinker234]

wow those look awsome could you describe the audio qutaliy is it good for the price

[TheMortallyWounded]

That's no moon...

Awesome Instructable. Going to do this tomorrow. Thank you.

[mushroomdude]

how do yuo think i could atach a cd player or a i pod to this settup i may want to make a retro backpack with this

[DrZalinksy]

Hey Egon could u share us a video ?..Im especially curious about how it sounds..Its kind an exciting speaker with two opposite oriented bass drivers.
Btw.I thought those ikea bowls can be used in making "JBL Spyro " like subwoofer drive.It could be great.The only thing is how to manage the air flow inside of that sys. otherwise it may sound lil boxy.

[Questor]

if your using a hole saw it's best to go only half way through, until the drill bit pokes out the other side.
Then flip the hole (pun intended) thing over and finish from the 'back side.
very few if any jagged edges that way

[egon77]

Cool! thanks!

[Questor]

Also . . . A question . . .
if these are stereo speakers . . .
shouldn't they be in two spheres of their own and separated.
preferably hanging near a hard, relatively flat, surface

[egon77]

Yes, that's a great idea, especially to keep the costs down. I was initially inspired by this speaker sphere: ( http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/06/spherical-speaker-array-provides-blaring-ball-of-sound/ ) which uses multiple speakers in a sphere.

So, I just ended up going that way. I built myself two speaker spheres so that meant that I bought two sets of wireless speakers. (The more expensive option)

I liked the idea that someone on either side of the sphere is hearing the music. I initially made them for a party where guests would be amongst the speakers. Plus, the speakers themselves have a switch which can set them to be left mono, right mono or stereo, which works well for my setup.

But a great, cheaper alternative, which would still be the same process is your idea of a single speaker in two spheres.

Thanks

[prototype2213]

Nice idea for rehousing speakers. In my opinoin, the speakers look a little bland. Maybe you like the wood look, but I feel as though the salad bowls should have a design painted on them. Overall though, great Instructable!

[Questor]

if they're hanging in trees . . .
paint them to look like large fruit . . . ;- )

[egon77]

Thanks for the comment. My wife thought the same thing when I finished them but under the time constraints I opted for just straight wood. Plus, with paint I could have easily messed them up with some underwhelming painting abilities. Although, I would like to one day sand them down and stain them a darker color.

[racastro62]

They look beatifull in pure wood!

[RabidAlien]

Call me a geek, but my initial thought was "DEATH STAR!!!"

Nice 'ible, though, however they're decorated!

[xeroshifter]

When doing this kind of thing you have to be sure that not only a good tight seal is gotten on the speakers (base speakers especially) but that you have the exact right volume within the bowls (not sound volume, but physical volume.)

Each speaker set or rather each store bought speaker has a sort of dead zone in the tones, where pitches become less clear, and start to blur together or become extremely quiet, because in their current housing they cannot produce the frequency as well.

When you change their housing, you take the risk that you will adjust that dead range, and make it larger. Higher quality speakers by default usually have less of this dead range, and honestly the easiest way to cover up these dead zones is by adding speakers to your stereo that cover the dead zones of the others, until you have a fully functioning range. However having a bunch of speakers is no reason to go and increase the dead range of some of your others.

[egon77]

Thanks for your information. How would I measure the dead zone? A rising pitch?

I'm not well educated on the subject but would I be incorrect to assume that the spherical shape of the speakers added to the fact that they're wood would serve to enhance the resonance of these dead zones?

Thanks for the comment,

[Questor]

if you look at some speaker boxes you will notice a "vent". it is usually a particular diameter and there is a tube of a particular length. This is to accommodate the 'dead' freqs and tune the 'small' box to the woofer or sub woofer to make it "acoustically larger". It is usually parallel to, but not in line with, the woofer/sub woofer. All you really want to do is allow free movement of the woofer or sub woofer diaphragm, by compressing as little air in the box surrounding it. While canceling out reflected sound freqs. The ideal container for a woofer/sub woofer is the same size as the room it's in and separate from the mid range and tweeters (not really feasible). You should be isolating the mid range/tweeter from the woofer, sub woofer. A sphere is actually a very good container for speakers as there is very little direct reflection of sound back to the diaphragm. And (imho) they really should be two separate spheres. you need two more salad bowls.
Also low sound freqs are omni directional. The higher the freq the more directional is it (generally speaking)

[xeroshifter]

Here is a website that will help you out, even has a calculator. I know the website is mostly talking about base speakers and cars, but the reality is that the same concept applies to all speakers, location of the speakers is hardly important when talking about the enclosure (though for the best sound there is an optimum distance from the walls.)

http://www.bcae1.com/spboxnew2.htm

Not sure how much help it will be with speakers of spherical design though. The same volume concept should work though, just use the formula for calculating volume of a sphere.
Radius cubed x 4/3 x pi

[wobbler]

You could also put some speaker wadding inside which should improve the bass response. Also, if you are going to put a baffle in, why not put a baffle on each bowl and then attach a hinge so they could be opened out to point in one direction? That would also mean they could also be laid flat on a table if necessary. Great Instructible as it stands though, thanks for the ikea idea.

[racastro62]

Hi Egon77, did you thought about a bass-reflex hole to give more freedom to both speakers and to provide an enhanced sound quality (regarding the MDF piece you mention in your "Final thoughts"). Best regards, Raúl

[egon77]

Hi Raul, thanks for the comment. Do you mean adding holes to the MDF partition within the speakers? If yes and you recommend that I'd would definitely do it if it improves sound. If you mean bass port holes in the outer shell I most likely won't do that.

Thanks!

[racastro62]

Hi egon,
holes in the MDF partition will not help. Because you loose the isolation among both halves. My idea was an additional hole on each outer shell. I know that can be not so light...
BR, Raúl

[hell_raiser_1]

Dude, your speakers rock, you did one hell of a job. I think you should go on with the painting process......maybe trying some black piano finish !!!!!!

[egon77]

Thanks a lot man! A black piano finish definitely would make them look sweet!

[Lee Wilkerson]

Um, personally I like unpainted non-glossed wood. Paint hides the true beauty of it. Hand-rubbing and tung oil work well. With regard to bass porting, be very careful. A wrong-size port will have a detrimental effect. The port diameter and length are directly proportional to the speaker cone diameter and Fr (resonant frequency) - mainly Fr. Very beautiful, decorative, and functional. ~/Lee

[egon77]

Thanks Lee.

[wobbler]

To cut holes in wood, rather than using an electric drill and these round hole cutter, for a quality hole go old skool use a brace and bit and an adjustable hole bit, which looks a bit (!) like this: http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/members/images/41395/Gallery/13-09-05_0114_2.jpg It's much easier to control the speed of the cut and get a really fine finish by going slow and gentle. A good sharp drill bit will cut really clean and it will also adjust any hole width instead of the standard sizes. I like this design though, they look really good and look just right for some outdoor speakers I want to make. Ikea here I come!

[egon77]

Thanks for the information!

[racastro62]

You're absolutelly right for the 11/2 in. hole. The bigger one takes a another kind of tool, that works under the same principle, but the bit is fixed in a bar. It takes more money as well.

[mdegiova]

Are these the 11in or 8in bowls? Thanks

[egon77]

Hi, they're the 11in bowls. Sorry I have forgotten to add that bit of information in the instructable. I will add it now. Thanks.

[cuvette]

Nice one ! If you like the design (and are willing to spend some bucks), you may check out the "Planet L" by Elipson. A friend of mine bought a pair of them. Really pure sound, despite some lack in very low frequencies. A pleasure for the eye and the hear ! (I don't have any links with the company... Just loved the product ;-) )

[Shahared]

Paint it white and it would look like a personality orb from GlaDOS in Portal.

[Ward_Nox]

I agree was going to say the same thing all you need is some led's/el wire to make the speakers light up different colors

[Chewy1993]

Goa'uld Shock grenade. Like your design!

[21GeeOff21]

DEATH STAR! haha

[egon77]

That's the most popular reaction. I thought the same thing the moment I screwed in the woofer.

[21GeeOff21]

I might make one just for that reason. Paint it gray with some darker gray accent lines. Then hang it from the ceiling and rig it to play Star Wars music for my doorbell. well Probably not, but that would be cool.

[egon77]

I would LOVE to see a real Death Star version. Please do!

[21GeeOff21]

When I get some extra time and money, I definitely will.

[Jumpin Jehosaphat]

Great Gobelen Cookie Monsters!!! Youre listing some pretty pricey speakers my freind. but god knowes we all love hacking Ikea stuff, so ill work my way around it. Love the desighn, but hows it sound??

[egon77]

Thanks! It's true. Especially if you plan on making two speaker spheres. But for me they were worth the price. I'm no professional but I will say that this enclosure is a definite sound quality improvement over the original housings. Nicer low frequency tones in my opinion. Many of my friends, as well, have been surprised by the sound quality. I did receive a recommendation from someone to place a thin layer of MDF between the two sides to cut down on any noise cancellation that may be occurring from having the speakers directly behind each other. That would probably further improve the sound, I imagine. Thanks for the comment!

[mr.incredible]

Nice job. Instead of two half spheres you could add two more bowls and have two complete spheres. Not quite as portable but it should sound better. You may need a bass relief port drilled in to it. Maybe on the other side of the woofer from the midrange.

[egon77]

Actually I did make another one of these guys giving me a total of two spheres. Many of the pictures in the Instructable are actually from the second one I put together. I hear you on the bass port thing but I have trouble getting myself to put another hole in these guys. Thanks for the comment!