Speaker with Hidden DVD Shelves & DVD Player

I like big speakers because, well, they look cool. However, with the advent of small satellite speakers, you don't really see that many large tower speakers anymore. I recently came across a pair of tower speakers which were burnt out, but otherwise looked perfectly fine. It would have been a shame to throw out these monuments to acoustic technology, so I decided to get creative...

I also had an old DVD player and some DVD's just laying on my bedroom floor, so I thought to myself, "What better place to put them than inside a tower speaker?" That's when the mashing began and this instructable was born. I modified the DVD player to fit in the speaker (retaining all of its functions) and installed 3 shelves for the DVD's. I also put the speaker face on hinges, to make the DVD's both hidden and easily accessible. The finished product is shown in the picture below.

On another note:

This instructable will guide you through my "creative" process, from start to finish. In my case, I decided to make the speakers into a fully functional DVD player with 3 hidden DVD shelves (see pic 1). However, this project is definitely open to modification. I suggest that the reader keep their mind and imagination open while reading, because there are so many possible variations of this project. For instance, instead of a DVD player, you could mash up a stereo receiver or a cable box with the speaker and use the shelves to store hidden valuables, books, or old VHS tapes. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and any extra electronics you may have lying around.

Step 1 Materials

Here are some of the things which you will need to attack this project:

Things to be Mashed Up:

Tower Speakers (the bigger the better!), DVD player, DVD's, About 2 sq ft of wood (I used some drawers from a dresser my neighbor was throwing out)

Tools:

Drill, Saw, Sander (optional), Measuring Tape. Clamps (if you have them)

Materials:

Wood Glue, Screws, Hinges, Magnetic Door Catch (optional), duct tape

Comments

[scott1202]

The dvd drive looks somewhat like what would be in a computer i find. i think the wire also looks very simular, i love the idea. Car DVD Players

[Mosselman]

Looks great, I have a ton of these things lying around. The awesome thing is that generally they are very strong, strong enough even to put a printer or a tv ontop of it. Turn it horizontally and cut the door in half to make 2 doors, move the hinges and you have got a great horizontal equivalent strong enough to put a big tft screen ontop of. I am a student and I need space savers like that, it is all in the closet space.

[LMO]

Excellent idea! Puts a whole new perspective on it!

[Darkshot]

very cool :)

[darkmuskrat]

W00t SNES! 5/5

[Punkguyta]

What was wrong with those speakers? They looked fine. And I really liked how the manufacturer put 4 speakers in, but really it's only 2 as the other tweeter and woofer are fake (possibly free air diaphragms but from the look of them, not likely)

[LMO]

The guy I got them from said that the tweeter was on the fritz. I just took his word for it....but I also don't think that filling the box with DVD's would make the speakers sound that great if they still worked.

[Punkguyta]

1. Tweeters are a dime a dozen, whereas woofers are a quarter a dozen 2. If they worked you wouldn't be putting dvds in them in the first place would you?

[LMO]

1.) I've got a dollar - can you build me some speakers? 2.) With no DVDs, there's no awesome project! And besides, If the speakers are so cheap to begin with, I think this is a much better use!

[Punkguyta]

Yeah good use, but if I ever caught someone gutting a good pair of speakers or even just good cabinets I'd get rather annoyed.

[LMO]

I digress - my intention for this project was to take two seemingly worthless things and make them into something awesome. The speakers may have been functional, but either way I saved them from the landfill. You could always fabricate some speaker boxes de novo....a new instructable perhaps?

[MumblingTuna]

You could use one as a computer case, or as a wifi, cd drive, usb hub, power converter, and printer case all-in-one

[MumblingTuna]

PS uuuuber instructable.

[Bobfrizzle]

this is clean, clean. thanks for posting this. man ya'll people be creating some cool ass stuff

[Da_Fudge]

it would be cool if the speakers made sound. I might buy some slim speakers.

[mr_step]

(removed by author or community request)

[LMO]

All excellent ideas - I think it would be cool to have a light so you can see the DVD's when it's dark. The back side of the door is pretty bad - and I will be covering that up....

[!Andrew_Modder!]

LOL wow, i so made one of these (speakers built into a door of a shelve) a couple of months ago ;-P and mine is so great! great instructable for people who dont know the awesomeness of having dual (or triple) perpous shelves :-D

[gamer]

the dvd drive looks somewhat like what would be in a computer i find. i think the wire also looks very simular, and i also think that my computer will soon have a dvd upgrade, haha very very nice, i love the idea -gamer

[TeacherOfTheWays]

Wow! thats so cool, functional, and stylish! Great job! i always wanted to make something like this, but never had the time or space to put it. Excellent instructable!

[LMO]

Thank you!