Do-it-yourself Computer Speakers: Homemade Computer Portable Acoustics. How To Make Laptop Speakers Yourself?

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

A homemade portable speaker (no matter where it will be used) is a challenge to manufacturers who require from one to ten thousand euros for a semi-professional Hi-Fi stereo set of home acoustics. One or a pair of home-made speakers with high-quality speakers at a price of 15-20 thousand rubles will cost 30-40 times cheaper.

Tools and materials

Consumables that are required for do-it-yourself speakers

1. Plywood, chipboard or fiberboard . If possible, use a natural board. For example, one of the boards might be a soiled cutting board in the kitchen that is long overdue to replace. Dirty, but still fresh enough boards need to be cleaned - the column should have a fresh look.
2. Epoxy glue or furniture corners . The second option is more preferable: furniture corners will help to disassemble the column in case of malfunction and replace a faulty functional unit or radio element. What can not be said about the glue: attempts to open it require sawing with a grinder, which, if carelessly moved, can easily damage one of the functional units during disassembly.

Certain radioactive elements are required

1. Power Supply. Allows the speaker to be made active: it has its own power supply.
2. Amplifier. "Swings" the power of 0, 3-2 W, coming from the preamplifier of the PC sound card, TV or radio, to the required number of watts.
3. The speaker itself. One broadband or several narrowband is used.
4. Volume control. All devices have their own, electronic adjustment. But it is more convenient to use a separate one.

The amplifier, speakers and power supply are selected independently. It may be necessary to manufacture additional output stages on powerful low-frequency transistors, producing tens of watts, if the speaker is powerful enough. In this case, the corresponding radio parts are ordered, and the substrate is prepared as a basis for the printed circuit board.

You should stock up on the necessary tools

1. Hand-held locksmiths - hammer, pliers, side cutters, flat and figured screwdrivers. A set of different screwdrivers can be used - electronics manufacturers are switching to multi-faceted bolts.
2. Grinder with a cutting disc for wood, jigsaw.
3. Hand or electric drill. To speed up the assembly, you will also need a screwdriver with a set of bits.

Having prepared the tools, spare parts and consumables, proceed with the manufacture of the device.

Manufacturing methods

Computer speakers, being small-sized, do not require powerful speakers, the amplifier of which is powered by 12 or more volts of supply voltage. For such speakers, only five volts are enough, coming from a USB port or charging for a smartphone.

More powerful ones - for connecting a TV, a movie projector, a radio tape recorder - will require a separate power supply. You will need 10 or more amperes of current with a voltage of 12 V, as from a car battery, delivering up to hundreds of amperes.

Despite the use of plastic as a material for the body by many manufacturers, "homemade" make a "box" of wood or lumber based on it. All sides of the case are covered with a waterproof varnish.

If we are talking about chipboard, apply a putty before painting or pasting with decorative foil.

The design of modern speakers does not use the empty space inside the box, filled with air and equipped with a low-frequency bass reflex to improve the transmission of low frequencies, but filling with damping material. The characteristics of modern branded speakers have improved so much that they can be freely "locked" inside.

To fine-tune the frequency response, provide an equalizer - several knobs that control individual audio frequency bands. If there is no such adjustment in the radio or music center, the amplifier circuit becomes a little more complicated. The microcircuit on the basis of which the amplifier is assembled has this function . For a PC or laptop, this need abruptly disappears - the Windows system provides a graphic virtual equalizer, for example, in the WM Player settings. Android tablets allow you to adjust the frequency response on any of the third-party applications.

For hollow speakers, a sound labyrinth is used inside - construction of internal walls located at different angles (internal acoustic calculation). This is an improved version that produces the most effective frequency response - without reprogramming the device that acts as a sound processor. Compared to the bass reflex, it avoids the air flow hitting in one place at a significant volume, it is directed not forward, but backward. There is a window on the back and top of the case.

To remove parasitic modulations, noticeable by ear, the inner side of the "box" is upholstered with a damper. This solution is an alternative to filling the entire space.

The manufacturing process is as follows. Make sure you have everything already prepared

Mark and cut plywood or chipboard (or natural wood) into fragments, guided by the drawing

Mark the holes for the speaker and regulator. Drill them out in a circle. Carefully punch out the discs to be removed and smooth the edges with a file, chisel, or grindstone. Try to see if the speaker and volume control will fit into the sawn gaps. If there are jams when trying to insert them there, undercut the obstructing protrusions

Mark the front edge for self-tapping screws or bolts holding the devices for their regular "ears". Mount the power supply and amplifier on the bottom or back of the future speaker. Glue the required edges with a layer of damper, if the design provides for this

Start assembling. Connect the top, bottom, front, and back faces. This is best done with the outer corners. Some faces (except for one of the sidewalls) can be fastened with corners from the inside: only one of the sidewalls is collapsible from the outside, allowing access to the removal of other edges when repairing the column. Connect all functional units to each other according to the structural diagram. Check the correctness of the installation

Perform the first test by turning on the power and connecting the output from the audio source. Make sure the amplifier and speaker are working properly. Test the control by briefly making the sound extremely loud. The speaker should not produce audible distortion (whistling, humming, wheezing, etc.)

For comprehensive testing, use a home computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone on which the frequency generator is installed, listen to the speaker for the absence of resonance emitted by poorly fixed speakers, factory defects in it and in the amplifying board. After making sure that the column is working properly, install the second side panel, thus closing the insides of the column completely. Repeat testing

Place the speaker in the desired corner of the room or near any of the walls. Turn on the music and walk around the room listening to the sound. Move the speaker to the corner or location where it sounds best. This is called room acoustics. If there are two speakers, place them in the recreation area of the room so that 3D stereo sound will show itself "in all its glory."

After completing the assembly and commissioning, mount the speaker protection on the front edge of the speaker. This can be a fine-mesh metal mesh, a plastic grating with a thin blown and sound-permeable fabric stretched over it, etc.

Recommendations

Place your speakers where they sound best.

Do not use speakers and PCs in a damp, dirty environment, or near a source of acid fumes . This will cause them to deteriorate prematurely.

Do not exceed the recommended volume. To eliminate the amplifier overload (and its frequent shutdowns due to overheating), use matching elements in the circuit. The speaker should not "wheeze", give out distortion ("emphasize" high frequencies and underestimate the level of low ones).

If the speaker is powered from the USB port, overloading the 5 V module due to a voltage “drop” may lead to its failure. Don't overload your laptop. The same applies to smartphone and tablet chargers.

Take care of a separate power supply for the column. Try not to "power" it from a PC, through an OTG adapter from a smartphone or tablet.