Potential retro hifi project

Potential retro hifi project

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SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
It may be because it's Friday and the office is quiet because of the snow, but I'm a click away from buying all of this kit to make the biggest low quality bluetooth speaker (with fancy retro fitted LED backlit gin cabinet) my missus would potentially let me put in our sitting room.

Anyway, tell me why it's a bad idea.

One of these, or similar. There's millions for sale really cheap.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252681978431

Rip the guts out but leave the old control panel in because it looks cool.

Add a hidden bluetooth receiver and amplifier

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282216157423

Then replace the speakers with something cheap but more modern and better sounding

How could I improve it? Realistically as long as I can stream music to it via bluetooth and it sounds as good as a crappy little speaker I'll be happy with the output. I've got Sonos speakers around the house for anything that deserves reasonable quality.

dxg

8,121 posts

259 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
Do it!

Maybe use a raspberry pi with a little dac card on it (about £50) and some gubbins for make the leds respond the music. Someone must have done that somewhere.

With a little fiddling, you can set that up as a Bluetooth receiver and an airplay receiver. A good starting point would be one of the music-focused distributions.

chasingracecars

1,696 posts

96 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
Be aware you also need a PSU for that one 12v 5A so that's another £20. If you want a cheap simple hifi and you have Sonos in other rooms. Then buy a play1.

You will not need the cabinet either then!

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
chasingracecars said:
Be aware you also need a PSU for that one 12v 5A so that's another £20. If you want a cheap simple hifi and you have Sonos in other rooms. Then buy a play1.

You will not need the cabinet either then!
I work in IT, we have rooms full of discarded PSU's, it's just a matter of finding the right one.

The point of the cabinet is that I think the cabinet will look cool with a little fettling. Retro-modern sort of thing.

Sonos is great, got it all round the house. This is just a bit different and at least guests could stream music to it from their devices too.

chasingracecars

1,696 posts

96 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
Ok no worries. Sure you are ok specify the kit for this, drop me a PM if you need anything.

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
chasingracecars said:
Ok no worries. Sure you are ok specify the kit for this, drop me a PM if you need anything.
Thanks for the offer, will do.

I figure I'll buy the guts now and build it all on my bench in advance of getting the actual cabinet. Easier to test it all while it's not hidden inside a freshly varnished box!

TEKNOPUG

18,843 posts

204 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
Has potential but I can't see the point in time and effort is you are just going to fit cheap rubbish components?

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
TEKNOPUG said:
Has potential but I can't see the point in time and effort is you are just going to fit cheap rubbish components?
I figure once the actual box and hidden drinks cabinet is sorted I'll then own it for a while and upgrade things as and when I come across better quality stuff for almost no money. But as a starter kit, I reckon my missus will like this setup enough to allow it in the house.

What upgrades are you thinking?

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
I think it is a great idea.

As you already have Sonos why not use a connect or a connect amp?

Guests can still connect and you would have the advantage of having the use within your system, plus you would be able to use the record player as a source for your wider sonos system.

edit: just checked the price of the ebay receiver/amp. I can see why you wouldn't.






Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 13th January 11:01

Rollin

6,077 posts

244 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
My Mum and Dad had that exact model. First LP I ever played was on that. Thanks for the memory thumbup






SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
desolate said:
I think it is a great idea.

As you already have Sonos why not use a connect or a connect amp?

Guests can still connect and you would have the advantage of having the use within your system, plus you would be able to use the record player as a source for your wider sonos system.
A connect amp would be a game changer, I initially thought about that but saw my budget flying out of the window! I was hoping to get it all sorted for under £100 and then it's just my beer money fund rather than an actual project.

But, I may add it back in to the mix. I do like the idea of adding a subwoofer to it though, everyone likes a bit of bass.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
SHutchinson said:
A connect amp would be a game changer, I initially thought about that but saw my budget flying out of the window! I was hoping to get it all sorted for under £100 and then it's just my beer money fund rather than an actual project.

But, I may add it back in to the mix. I do like the idea of adding a subwoofer to it though, everyone likes a bit of bass.
I edited my post above to reflect the relative prices.

Sonos kit holds onto its value amazingly well making it really difficult to bag a bargain.

benz0

339 posts

132 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
Do it!! I have similar ideas for connecting a chromecast to an old valve radio.

I would use just a second hand conventional amplifier rather than a t-amp though. They're very low powered.

You can get good advice on speakerplans.com

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
benz0 said:
Do it!! I have similar ideas for connecting a chromecast to an old valve radio.

I would use just a second hand conventional amplifier rather than a t-amp though. They're very low powered.

You can get good advice on speakerplans.com
The office is really quiet and I'm a little click-happy. I now already own this amp, it's hopefully arriving next week! hehe

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
benz0 said:
Do it!! I have similar ideas for connecting a chromecast to an old valve radio.

I would use just a second hand conventional amplifier rather than a t-amp though. They're very low powered.

You can get good advice on speakerplans.com
I have got a connect amp that is currently not in use so I am now going to look at doing similar.

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
Hadn't planned to re-use the control panel, at most I was thinking I might be able to add an amber LED backlight so it could be lit up.

I'll decide what speaker setup to go for when I've bought a cabinet I guess. Anything is going to be an improvement on what will be fitted to it though. Hoping a pal/relative will have a reasonable old hifi laying around that I can butcher.

benz0

339 posts

132 months

Friday 13th January 2017
quotequote all
boxxob said:
> Rip the guts out but leave the old control panel in because it looks cool.

Do you plan on connecting the original control panel to replacement amp/preamp? For the speakers, I would keep it simple and stick bookshelf items behind the grill/louvred areas (on MOPADs or something similar....e.g. I use pieces from an old double-layer camping roll mat to isolate speakers sat atop desks/furniture)
I'm not sure putting speaker cabinets inside a cabinet is a good idea. better to just stick the drivers in there no?

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

183 months

Saturday 14th January 2017
quotequote all
So, you reckon the 'best' course of action regarding the speakers is to find a modern pair of hifi speakers and put them inside the cabinet? Seems achievable I guess. I'm really not going for any great quality of audio, but it would be handy if it didn't sound crap. I'll bear that in mind.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Saturday 14th January 2017
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SHutchinson said:
So, you reckon the 'best' course of action regarding the speakers is to find a modern pair of hifi speakers and put them inside the cabinet? Seems achievable I guess. I'm really not going for any great quality of audio, but it would be handy if it didn't sound crap. I'll bear that in mind.
It would sound fine and bear in mind that a SH pair of bookshelf speakers will sell much cheaper than you can buy the drivers.
The cabinets on any speakers you buy will be optimised around the drivers. Unless you have Thiele-Small software and know how to use it I doubt that you can do the appropriate calculations to come uip with anything similar in your 'gram. You will need to isolate the cabinets from the radiogram of course and have a cloth covered aperture or similar on the front to let the sound out.

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Saturday 14th January 2017
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Would be nice to get that up and running with a proper hifi amp - those old Garrard turntables are very good bits of kit, so would be awesome to get that side of it working.