Right then, how do I do this?
I bought the radio, and it sat in a box under my desk for a while. And I had a vague plan to make it into "a speaker", though I wasn't sure exactly how.
I came up with a plan, a bluetooth speaker with a rechargeable battery. I came up with a list of components - little bluetooth unit like the one my brother got for his classic car, rechargeable 9v battery pack, couple of smallcar audio speakers... and it then I realised two things:
- That lot was adding up in price (and im sure I missed a couple of things off the list).
- I already had some old but decent computer speakers knocking around (mains powered, with a 3.5mm jack and a volume control)
So I came up with a new plan. I don't need bluetooth, I don't need a rechargeable battery, where I intend to use it most - the car - both power and audio input can be plugged in. So I formed a new plan: put the computer speakers in the radio casing, make a top panel that sort of resembles the one on the radio (which is attached to the internals that I'm saving for later). Simple, right? Well, it would be. But then I decided I needed buttons like the original radio, and they needed to do something. Play/pause, next and previous track, perhaps? And so began some research on how to make that work (more on that soon), and a new shopping list of electrical components. But they were cheaper this time, and Christmas was coming so when family asked if there were gifts I'd like they recieved answers like "panel mount 4-pole 3.5mm audio jacks" and "pcb prototype board set". And those slightly puzzled family members did bring the goods on December 25th. Thanks mum!
That's about where I am with this project at time of writing (the early hours of 06/01/2024), a plan in my head that I hope will work, and the bits gathered to give it a go. My electrical experience is limited (I've bodged about some fairy lights and very basic model railway things in the past, but that's about it) so I'm looking forward to learning something in that department as I work on this project.
What I want:
- Speaker that I can plug phone/iPod/etc into
- Vintage appearance using original case and...
- Functional original style control panel: i.e. two knobs*, row of buttons
*one will be volume, the other I want to find a purpose for - maybe I will even try integrating an actual radio tuner?