Introduction: Portable Speaker in a CD Case!!
Have you ever thought of making your own portable speaker in a CD case? Here is how you do it.
Step 1: Components Required
- 8W speaker with 4 ohms impedance (Make sure the speaker's impedance must match your amp's specification or you would damage your amp!!)
- CD case ( Use the one with a zip would be good)
- 18W Amplifier module (I used the Kemo #M033, you can use other amplifiers as long as the Watts are not 2.5 times larger than your speaker's power level)
- Rocker switch
- 3.5mm stereo adapter
- Battery snap and a 9V battery
- Solder iron and some solder
- Glue gun
- Cutting knife
- Drill
Note that:
If you choose an amp that is supplying too much power to your speakers, then its clear that there is a chance that you will damage them. It may cause the voice coil to overheat, or the speaker could move back and forth too much (known as exceeding its Xmax).
However if you have a smaller amplifier you may have to run it all the way up full to provide enough power to your speakers. When running at full blast, there will be lots of stress on the components of the amps and it can introduce a significant amount of distortion into your signal, which is often called 'clipping'.
As well as sounding very bad, trying to reproduce a clipping signal can potentially do far more damage to your speakers that a little too much power.
Therefore the unwritten rule is that you should have an amplifier that is capable of 1.5 to 2 times the power rating of your speaker system, and only turn it up part way. The extra power available is called the headroom, and means that your amplifier should never been running at full tilt and therefore producing a distorted, or clipped, signal.
Step 2: Cut Some Holes
Use a cutting knife to cut out some holes in order to fit the rocker switch and the speaker. Drill a hole for the stereo adapter.
Step 3: Connecting the Components Together
Solder two wires on the stereo adapter, one in the front (ground) and one at the very left /right back (it doesn't better which side since it is a mono speaker).
Solder other components together as shown in the 2nd diagram. Remember to leave out red wire of the battery snap for the rocker switch.
Solder the red wire of the battery snap to the rocker switch. Solder another wire that connects the rocker switch and the positive terminal of the amp module.
If you don't understand the steps above . Look at the next step to see how the circuit is connected.
Step 4: How the Components Are Connected
Step 5: Fix the Speaker, Switch and Stereo Adapter in Place
Use a glue gun to fix the main components in place. Don't glue the battery though!! Leave the glue to dry up for 15 mins. Connect the 9V battery, ipod and then switch it on!
Now you can carry this portable speaker anywhere you like. You can even put your ipod inside the cd case when it is not in use!!
Enjoy~
130 Comments
7 years ago
Nice idea, but that 9V battery won't last for very long...
They pack only about 300-400mAh,
and that's at low discharge rate (about 300mA)
7 years ago
cool :)
7 years ago
Very Cool!
8 years ago on Introduction
Thank you!!!!
12 years ago on Step 5
I would recommend not putting the iPod inside the case, as the magnets from the speakers could mess with your iPod's memory! Just a thought.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
Nah it won't... these days electronics almost aren't effected by magnets (excluding CRT monitors), here you don't have a tape to blank when you run a magnet by it :D. it's all just thousands and thousands of transistors (in chips of course well by that i mean , let's say you have a cpu in one of the older versions i remember there are about 73 mil. transistors and that cpu is from 2001 i think so....)
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
you don't have to explainit when you say something simple like you are the smartest one every.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
I didn't quite get that, would you mind re-writing it a bit better.
Besides, the answer you replied to is 2 years old!
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
I was actually responding to the other guy (zgybrwn) who responded to you. He basically called you a know it all for explaining your reasoning behind your comment to my original one. Also, not to nitpick, but my comment was worded properly in context, so I have no idea how to rewrite it for you.
It doesn't matter anyway, the guy was just being rude.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Yeah, I got the part about me being a know it all, his comment just seemed unfinished the way it ended but I guess he/she doesn't speak English that well (not that I do).
The re-writing part was addressed to zgybrwn, I had no trouble comprehending you comment..
Also looking at the time our comments were send we must have sent them at the same time, hence the confusion about who replied to who.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Did you read the "we have a 'be nice' comment policy" disclaimer below your comment? Dude was just explaining his/her thought process, on a website *designed* to share information. So if you don't have anything nice to say,gtfo.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Just wanted to give you some updated numbers:
The Tegra 2 (used in many smartphones but is being supplanted by the Tegra 3) has 260 million transistors.
Most modern desktop CPU's have between 250 million and 1.2 billion transistors, while server CPU's can have up to 2.5 billion transistors.
Modern desktop GPU's can have up to 4 billion transistors.
Most people will never encounter an FPGA (a sort of reconfigurable CPU), but they can have just shy of 7 billion transistors.
A gigabyte of DRAM (the kind of ram in smartphones and PC's) has about 8 billion transistors.
A gigabyte of Flash memory has either 8 billion (SLC) or 4 billion (MLC) transistors.
It would take a horribly powerful magnet to mess with any of it, since they all off specific electrical signals at certain voltages which are incredibly difficult to generate by accident with a magnet. As you pointed out the magnets were a concern for certain magnetic storage technologies. Even then, while a floppy disk could be damaged by an errant magnet in the pocket, even modern magnetic hard drives require much more powerful magnets to destroy the data without physically touching the platters inside (hard drives actually have quite powerful magnets sitting right next to the platters which don't affect the data at all).
Simply put, it's not likely you'll be able to get your hands on a magnet powerful enough to hurt your smartphone, and you most certainly won't be able to get that magnet to fit in your pocket.
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Yeah, the cpu i mentioned wasn't from 2001 but from 1991 or so lol.
About the hard drives, i've seen the magnets inside and they're really powerful but as you said they can't erase the data, to erase the data (and probably completely destroy it) it would take a magnet about as powerful as an MRI or something bigger.
There's always a way :) and most of the time it's fun as hell!
11 years ago on Introduction
Hello!
I wonder if i can make it work with a 80 Watt speaker?
11 years ago on Introduction
hows the sound? assuming that your using a subwoofer the bass should be outstanding
11 years ago on Introduction
so if i am using 2 8watt 4ohm speakers then is a 30watt amp appropriate??
12 years ago on Introduction
i bought one like this but allready built
13 years ago on Introduction
panalo to dre! hehe gumawa din ako nung little gem and MKII na guitar ampli. this site is the best.. the ideas are the best..
13 years ago on Introduction
I would try to link you on a site where to buy a 4 inch 20W speaker 4 ohms. I already have one and here in our country (philippines) it only cost $2 in php-dollar converstion. The speakers give a high quality BASS, MID RANGE and TREBLE. Its worth every penny. I could even be sold for $100 because of it's quality.
13 years ago on Introduction
pls suggest me where to get the amp from...
any preferable online websites ?