Connect an Ipod or Other Mp3 Player to Normal Household Speakers Without an Expensive and Bulky Amplifier!

Intro: Connect an Ipod or Other Mp3 Player to Normal Household Speakers Without an Expensive and Bulky Amplifier!

Do you have loads of extra stereo speakers, that either came with cheep stereos that broke or you just have them for no apparent reason? In this Instructable I will show you how you can connect them to any Mp3 player or any device with a sound port for less than 5 $.

STEP 1: Gather Up Those Materiels.

You will need the following:

2 alligator clips ( may substitute heat shrink tubing, but this is easier)

1 Pair of wire strippers and cutters, I used gardening scissors because of their ability to do both.

1 Pair of cheep headphones, I used some westjet ones.

1 Speaker, mine is just a cheep sony one.

That's it!

Gather them up and continue!

STEP 2: Stripping.

Now, the first thing to do is start stripping, but first you have to cut the wires ( DUH! ). Cut the wires on the headphones wherever you see fit, I did it about a foot in front of the headphones.
Then strip of about half a centimeter.

Done that?

Then let's continue!

like the macro mode on my camera?

STEP 3: Testing the Connection

Ok, so you have the wires stripped (usually speaker wires come pre-stripped, but if not, do the same thing on them) now clip one on the headphone wire. ( Plug in your ipod/ mp3 player into the headphone cable now and start playing some music) Now try touching the other clip to the other wire. If you get sound, connect it! But if not switch them around.

Now that you've done this, you're done! If you have any problems, comment down below and ill help.

I realize I've done the opposite, but it will work just as well

STEP 4: Sound Quality

This is a quick video of how good the sound quality is.


Hope you enjoyed this, please rate and comme- oh whatever, it's not like me telling you to comment changes anything......

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Comments

[EHB98]

Hi I have my speaker connect but plays quiet any way to make it louder?

[Bartboy]

You can buy a very cheap and small amplifier.

http://www.dx.com/p/jtron-pam8406-digital-amplifie...

They require a power supply.

[SàraM184]

do amplifier only works with batteries? is there one which can be plugged-in?

[SunitaG3]

Hey hi i have speakers n tried connecting headphnes but not able to connect n play .. please help me to connect in right way

[JennG2]

i think this is genius! Keep thinking outside of the box! :)

[VosD]

hi, just wondering on how you'd set up two speakers? left and right for stereo sound? :)

[Deisha]

Could someone tell me whats the name of the amp to connect the speaker wires to the mp3 ? I would like to buy one instead.please

[arshal.metallicka]

not trying to be rude, but this set-up would be better as long as you don't exceed 3watts bcoz it might damage your ipod

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPENERO24Nc

[tcharaniya]

do you have to use the alligator clips? or would you be able to just touch the wires together? or attach them with electrical tape or something?

[Bartboy]

You can just touch them, but need them really well together.
If you want something cheap and fun to play with, buy this:

http://dx.com/p/fx138-20w-digital-power-amplifier-headphone-amplifier-board-blue-206762

[chekespeare]

mmm...How old are you? . I think you do better if you get an old computer amplified speaker and just disconet the original speaker cables and then connect your bigger speaker to that cables. be careful and be sure to disconect the power cord from wall.

[lilBrent]

Is there anything i can use to substitute for the clips?? or will it work without them?

[Bartboy]

You could probably just twist the wires together, or use heatshrink. I used these cause they're easy.

[evanwehrer]

I don't mean to be rude, and I'm not saying this isn't a great instructable, but the amplifier is there to provide power to the speakers, so doing this could damage your iPod and destroy your battery.

[Bartboy]

No, it won't damage the ipod or destroy the battery, but it will wear the battery down more, like using a headphone splitter with two headphones. I would suggest plugging it in when you do this. And yes, the amplifier provides power to the speakers, so you can go a bit louder, but this works better than the cheap ipod speakers.

[oli1122]

It will damage your ipod battery. By draining the extra power needed for a speaker of that power can cause permanent damage to your ipod. By using more power than recommended you will dramatically shorten your ipod life time from around 5 years to 1 or 2.

[Bartboy]

I've had my ipod video for over 4 years and the battery on it still works better (lasts a lot longer) than my new iPhone.

[nicholast]

If you don't know what your talking about please don't post stuff like this, it won't hurt anything. You just might get shorter play time off the iPod.

[evanwehrer]

Oh, and great pictures!

[Bartboy]

Yay! Macro function FTW!