Potential retro hifi project

[SHutchinson]

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.

[SHutchinson]

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.

[SHutchinson]

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!

[SHutchinson]

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?

[SHutchinson]

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.

[SHutchinson]

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!

[SHutchinson]

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.

[SHutchinson]

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.

[SHutchinson]

bristolracer said:

I would get it home and try it out before you rip it apart.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality especially if it uses a valve amp.

I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stream music to it via bluetooth as standard.

[SHutchinson]

benz0 said:

SHutchinson said:

bristolracer said:

I would get it home and try it out before you rip it apart.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality especially if it uses a valve amp.

I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stream music to it via bluetooth as standard.

Ok Mr. Sarcasm. Old equipment like this often has an RCA input where you can still connect a chromecast audio or bluetooth dongle.

I don't mean to offend, my posts are entirely tongue in cheek. I can't imagine that the drivers will be in any reasonable state after laying around for this long. Cheap modern stuff must surely better it, surely? I wouldn't trust anything with electrics as old as that to be left switched on in my house unattended.

The amplifier has been dispatched to me and I've got a set of old hifi speakers ready to test it once I've got it powered up. I'll update the thread with progress. My next task is finding the radiogram, I've got a few leads locally so should see some movement on it.

[SHutchinson]

Amplifier has arrived and suitable 12v 5a power supply sourced in our room of doom (Cisco network switch PSU if anyone's interested). I've got a few cabinets locally on my watch list, hoping to source one pretty soon. Now that I'm looking to just reuse old hifi speakers (of which I have a set in the garage) I should be able to get it powered up and pumping tunes out this evening once I get home.

[SHutchinson]

Cactussed said:

I did exactly this for my wife's xmas present.

Lit cocktail cabinet was in perfect condition, as were the original speakers.
I removed the original tuner amp and put in a Nobsound hybrid valve amp which worked a treat.
Also removed the record player and installed an LED-lit slide-out tray to hold whiskey tumblers.

Looks awesome and sounds lovely.

Sounds great, did you document it online anywhere or have you got a picture?