Building a Wireless Speaker with LED Indication and Bluetooth Amplifier

Holding the components together is a delicate process as they are fragile, especially when wet. It's recommended to hold them with a piece of wet paper towel as it's very gentle and will also wick away some of the soldering heat. Although this helps, it's still a good idea to be as brief as possible with this to prevent any damage once they've been soldered together into two sticks of three.

Once the components are held in place, the next step is to solder them together. This will form the basic structure of the speaker and allow for the integration of the LED lights. The copper wires that support the LEDs can be soldered to the completed stick structure. A tiny length of copper wire can also be soldered to these sticks to create a connection point.

The remaining wires on the base can be bent into shape using some pliers, taking care to ensure that each side is equal and straight. This will prevent any unevenness or imbalance in the speaker's design. Once the LED lights are connected, they should illuminate evenly and provide a warm glow. The LEDs themselves are rated for 3 volts of power, which would result in an overly bright light if all connected together at their maximum capacity.

However, by limiting the current to each LED with a resistor, a lower but more suitable voltage can be used. In this case, the speakers have been wired to receive approximately 2.7 volts per side, making them much dimmer and easier on the eyes. This also results in a longer lifespan for the LEDs as they do not become warm to the touch.

The next step is to work on the electronics that will enable streaming of audio wirelessly to the speaker and the illumination of the LED lights. The first thing to do is drill a hole for the power socket at the back of the speaker, which will be used to power it externally rather than with a built-in battery. An adjustable voltage step-down board can then be glued inside and soldered to the new power socket.

It's essential to note that the polarity of the components should be respected when soldering them together. The power adapter for this project is typically from an old laptop, which has a 19-volt output. A multimeter should be used to monitor the output voltage of the step-down board as it adjusts its trimmer until it outputs a stable 16 volts or so.

Once the stable voltage is achieved, the LED lights can be soldered directly to the copper wires that support them. It's also crucial to disconnect the power adapter from the step-down board before soldering it to the copper wires, as this could damage the board if done simultaneously.

A 1-ohm resistor has been added to one side of the LED to help limit the current flow through it as it warms up. This is a good practice when working with LEDs that are sensitive to excessive power consumption. By adding this resistor, the LED will now illuminate softly and warmly, making it an attractive feature for the speaker.

The next part of the project involves building a Bluetooth amplifier using several low-cost components that can be found in the description. The circuit diagram provided should be followed closely to assemble all the necessary parts correctly. This is recommended as they have often had poor performance when it comes to distortion and interference noise, especially in all-in-one amplifiers.

Instead of relying on pre-assembled modules, this approach allows for a more customized solution that can be tailored to meet specific requirements. By following the circuit diagram provided, the Bluetooth receiver's audio output can be mixed to mono and reduced in volume using six-point-eight kilo-ohm resistors. This is necessary to prevent overloading of the speaker.

The power wise and speaker wires can now be added to the amplifier, along with a small isolator to prevent ground loop interference. The entire assembly can then be glued in place and sealed up, allowing for a finished product that looks sleek and compact.

Once all parts are assembled, they should work together seamlessly, enabling streaming of audio wirelessly from your phone or other Bluetooth-enabled device. However, as there is no enclosure on the speaker itself, it may result in a thinner sound quality due to resonance spikes within the glass shape.

Fortunately, the speaker has been sealed tightly to the base and features a rigid cylindrical shape that provides a remarkably solid sound. The audio output from this speaker should be crisp and clear, even with the presence of glass resonating characteristics.

In conclusion, the final result of this project is a wireless speaker that not only looks stylish but also produces excellent sound quality due to its enclosure design. If you are interested in building something similar or contributing to my projects, feel free to check out the description and consider joining my Patreon account for exclusive updates and content.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso what do you think this is a light an ornament of some kind well it's actually a Bluetooth speaker and it's what I'm going to be showing you how to build in this video as you can see the speaker looks visually charming resembling an old valve amplifier or an Edison light bulb the light it gives off is warm and cozy and akun softly illuminate a room in an evening which is a great way to chill before bed sound quality is excellent too as the glutes functions as the speaker's enclosure allowing for a full-bodied sound which I'll be demonstrating later in the video now the speaker also fires the sound downwards which is then reflected in all directions by a cone so that there's no sweet spot so the gets optimal audio no matter where you're standing and the best part is that it's really cheap to build as well so without further ado let's get to it despite appearances this project is actually very easy to make and first thing to work on is the base which houses the electronics and supports the glass and speaker as this is going to be 3d printed it first needs to be designed on the computer if you're new to 3d modeling you can find a link to the one I designed in the description which includes a short tutorial on modifying it to house different sized speakers or glass tops as you can see it's separated into three different sections the top section will house the speaker and also supports the glass while the middle section is shaped like a cone so that it will reflect the sound out words in all directions the bottom one simply houses the electronics I printed mine at a high resolution which took around three hours for each piece don't worry if you don't have a 3d printer however as there are many 3d printing services available online some of which are very reasonably priced as you can see due to the nature of 3d printing they do have tiny little steps visible on close inspection I want them to be smooth however so I sanded them down to take the worst of it off they're still not perfect but that can be dealt with in just a moment it's now time to join them together and whilst we're at it we need four lengths of enameled copper wire for later conducting the sound signal and also carrying the power for the LED filaments these need to be inserted through the holes on the 3d prints progressively building them up from top to bottom and gluing them in place super glue would work well for this but as I used ABS plastic when printing my pieces I could just dab a bit of acetone onto each side which softens the ABS temporarily allowing them to be strongly bonded together and effectively become a single piece so it's looking pretty good but I want to make it even smoother beyond what sanding can do so I'll be giving it an acetone vapor bath I have an entire video on this subject which you can find a link to in the description but essentially it's just a case of wedging some paper towels inside the bottom of something like a glass VARs and drenching them with acetone the 3d print can then be placed on a flat surface like a plate or a piece of glass with a small brush 'less fan next to it for circulation the vars can then be placed over the top trapping the acetone vapors inside as the 3d print was made with ABS plastic which as shown earlier dissolves in acetone it will start to gloss over and become smooth as the vapor gently softens the outer surface there are a few safety precautions to take when working with this method as acetone and it's vapours are highly flammable so be sure to watch the previously mentioned video for more details before trying this yourself as you can see it's very effective and has removed all traces of the stepping instead becoming super smooth no longer looking like it was 3d printed it can now be sprayed with plastic primer and then painted any color you like I've gone with a thin spattered coat of matte black which makes it look somewhat metallic so now it's time to up the speaker and the one we're going to use is a two inch full range driver that's fairly inexpensive yet sounds great a link to which you can find in the description as the back of it will later be visible through the glass we can neaten it up by taking off any labels and then using some fine sandpaper and water followed up with metal polish to give it a more shiny appearance in an effort to improve its appearance even more we can carefully remove the mounting brackets with a rotary tool ensuring that no particles bounce into the interior of the speaker and lastly we can remove the ugly connector rail with that done the speaker on the whole looks a lot more presentable from the back and can now be mounted into the base to help seal it so that there are no air gaps I added a small amount of silicon sealer all the way around the internal rim after which the speaker can be pushed into position two opposite wise can now be cut down and so that we can solder to them we can use a knife to carefully scrape off a chunk of the enamel after which the speaker cables can be soldered to each of them with that done we can now start working on the internal light to give it that old retro feel for this we'll need six low voltage LED filament bulbs these are tiny little things but look really cool when lit up and a very inexpensive links to them are as usual in the description these need to be soldered up in series meaning that the positive side of one gets linked up to the negative side of the next like a chain when soldering these it's a good idea to hold them with a piece of wet paper towel as it's very gentle and will also wick away some of the soldiering heat although it's still a good idea to be as brief as possible with this to prevent any damage once they've been soldered together into two sticks of three we can solder them to a tiny length of copper like so now the two remaining wires on the base can be bent into shape using some pliers care needs to be taken with this to ensure that each side is equal and straight and once the LED is assaulted to them it should look something like this looking good now it's time to work on the electronics so that we can stream audio wirelessly to the speaker and also have the LEDs illuminate so the first thing to do is drill a hole for the power socket at the back as we're going to power this externally rather than with a built-in battery we can now glue an adjustable voltage step-down board inside and solder it to the now added power socket being careful of the polarity this is for powering the LEDs but before we do that we need to plug a 19 volt power adapter like one from an old laptop into the power socket and use a multimeter to monitor the output voltage of the step-down board adjusting its trimmer until it outputs a stable 16 volts or so after which it can be soldered to the copper wires that support the LEDs make sure that it's disconnected from the power adapter when you do this however as it would likely damage the board if you were to sold it at the same time and also note that I've added a 1 ohm resistor to one side to help limit the current to the LEDs as they warm up with that done the LED should now illuminate softly with a warm glow each LEDs actually rated for 3 volts of power which as they're in series would mean that if given 18 volts they would reach their maximum brightness this is just too bright for this use case however which is why we've gone with 16 volts as it's the sweet spot as each LED receives 2 point 7 volts making them much dimmer and easier on the eyes if looked at directly not to mention having a hugely longer lifespan as they don't even become warm to the touch now we need to work on the Bluetooth amplifier we could just use an all-in-one amp and Bluetooth module for this and while this is probably the best option for beginners from my experience they've often had comparatively poor performance when it comes to distortion and interference noise so instead we'll be building one out of several low-cost components which you can find links to in the description along with a circuit diagram on how to fit them all together I recommend that you follow the diagram for this section but I'll just give you a quick overview of the process here to give you a rough idea so first up is the Bluetooth receiver which needs to be popped open and have the connectors removed to make it smaller its audio output can now be soldered to the input of the amplifier going through to six point eight kilo ohm resistors to first mix it to mono and reduce the overall volume so that it doesn't overload the speaker now to power the Bluetooth receiver we need a five volt regulator like this one whose output needs to go through a small isolator before hooking it up this prevents noisy ground loop interference lastly the power wise and speaker wires can be added and the whole thing can be glued in place and sold it up so now the whole thing should work as intended and you should be able to stream music to it from your phone but as there's no enclosure it will sound very thin so for this as you've seen already we're going to use a drinking glass this one isn't anything special it's stuff from my local supermarket in fact but it does have a nice shape to it so it's perfect mounting it is just a case of clipping it into the base like so which completes the build after plugging in the nineteen volt power adapter the LED should light up and the Bluetooth module will pair with your chosen device now you might have thought that the speaker having a glass enclosure would result in unpleasant resonant spikes but this isn't the case as its well sealed to the base and actually delivers a remarkably solid sound due to its rigid cylindrical shape take a listen all before so that's a success I think not only does it look good but it sounds good too don't forget that you can find all the links to everything that you need to make this in the description and I've also recently set up a patreon account so if you do like my projects and want to support what I do feel free to check it out and if you want to contribute it will be greatly appreciated but other than that I'm Matt you've been watching DIY perks and I really hope I see you next time good bye for nowso what do you think this is a light an ornament of some kind well it's actually a Bluetooth speaker and it's what I'm going to be showing you how to build in this video as you can see the speaker looks visually charming resembling an old valve amplifier or an Edison light bulb the light it gives off is warm and cozy and akun softly illuminate a room in an evening which is a great way to chill before bed sound quality is excellent too as the glutes functions as the speaker's enclosure allowing for a full-bodied sound which I'll be demonstrating later in the video now the speaker also fires the sound downwards which is then reflected in all directions by a cone so that there's no sweet spot so the gets optimal audio no matter where you're standing and the best part is that it's really cheap to build as well so without further ado let's get to it despite appearances this project is actually very easy to make and first thing to work on is the base which houses the electronics and supports the glass and speaker as this is going to be 3d printed it first needs to be designed on the computer if you're new to 3d modeling you can find a link to the one I designed in the description which includes a short tutorial on modifying it to house different sized speakers or glass tops as you can see it's separated into three different sections the top section will house the speaker and also supports the glass while the middle section is shaped like a cone so that it will reflect the sound out words in all directions the bottom one simply houses the electronics I printed mine at a high resolution which took around three hours for each piece don't worry if you don't have a 3d printer however as there are many 3d printing services available online some of which are very reasonably priced as you can see due to the nature of 3d printing they do have tiny little steps visible on close inspection I want them to be smooth however so I sanded them down to take the worst of it off they're still not perfect but that can be dealt with in just a moment it's now time to join them together and whilst we're at it we need four lengths of enameled copper wire for later conducting the sound signal and also carrying the power for the LED filaments these need to be inserted through the holes on the 3d prints progressively building them up from top to bottom and gluing them in place super glue would work well for this but as I used ABS plastic when printing my pieces I could just dab a bit of acetone onto each side which softens the ABS temporarily allowing them to be strongly bonded together and effectively become a single piece so it's looking pretty good but I want to make it even smoother beyond what sanding can do so I'll be giving it an acetone vapor bath I have an entire video on this subject which you can find a link to in the description but essentially it's just a case of wedging some paper towels inside the bottom of something like a glass VARs and drenching them with acetone the 3d print can then be placed on a flat surface like a plate or a piece of glass with a small brush 'less fan next to it for circulation the vars can then be placed over the top trapping the acetone vapors inside as the 3d print was made with ABS plastic which as shown earlier dissolves in acetone it will start to gloss over and become smooth as the vapor gently softens the outer surface there are a few safety precautions to take when working with this method as acetone and it's vapours are highly flammable so be sure to watch the previously mentioned video for more details before trying this yourself as you can see it's very effective and has removed all traces of the stepping instead becoming super smooth no longer looking like it was 3d printed it can now be sprayed with plastic primer and then painted any color you like I've gone with a thin spattered coat of matte black which makes it look somewhat metallic so now it's time to up the speaker and the one we're going to use is a two inch full range driver that's fairly inexpensive yet sounds great a link to which you can find in the description as the back of it will later be visible through the glass we can neaten it up by taking off any labels and then using some fine sandpaper and water followed up with metal polish to give it a more shiny appearance in an effort to improve its appearance even more we can carefully remove the mounting brackets with a rotary tool ensuring that no particles bounce into the interior of the speaker and lastly we can remove the ugly connector rail with that done the speaker on the whole looks a lot more presentable from the back and can now be mounted into the base to help seal it so that there are no air gaps I added a small amount of silicon sealer all the way around the internal rim after which the speaker can be pushed into position two opposite wise can now be cut down and so that we can solder to them we can use a knife to carefully scrape off a chunk of the enamel after which the speaker cables can be soldered to each of them with that done we can now start working on the internal light to give it that old retro feel for this we'll need six low voltage LED filament bulbs these are tiny little things but look really cool when lit up and a very inexpensive links to them are as usual in the description these need to be soldered up in series meaning that the positive side of one gets linked up to the negative side of the next like a chain when soldering these it's a good idea to hold them with a piece of wet paper towel as it's very gentle and will also wick away some of the soldiering heat although it's still a good idea to be as brief as possible with this to prevent any damage once they've been soldered together into two sticks of three we can solder them to a tiny length of copper like so now the two remaining wires on the base can be bent into shape using some pliers care needs to be taken with this to ensure that each side is equal and straight and once the LED is assaulted to them it should look something like this looking good now it's time to work on the electronics so that we can stream audio wirelessly to the speaker and also have the LEDs illuminate so the first thing to do is drill a hole for the power socket at the back as we're going to power this externally rather than with a built-in battery we can now glue an adjustable voltage step-down board inside and solder it to the now added power socket being careful of the polarity this is for powering the LEDs but before we do that we need to plug a 19 volt power adapter like one from an old laptop into the power socket and use a multimeter to monitor the output voltage of the step-down board adjusting its trimmer until it outputs a stable 16 volts or so after which it can be soldered to the copper wires that support the LEDs make sure that it's disconnected from the power adapter when you do this however as it would likely damage the board if you were to sold it at the same time and also note that I've added a 1 ohm resistor to one side to help limit the current to the LEDs as they warm up with that done the LED should now illuminate softly with a warm glow each LEDs actually rated for 3 volts of power which as they're in series would mean that if given 18 volts they would reach their maximum brightness this is just too bright for this use case however which is why we've gone with 16 volts as it's the sweet spot as each LED receives 2 point 7 volts making them much dimmer and easier on the eyes if looked at directly not to mention having a hugely longer lifespan as they don't even become warm to the touch now we need to work on the Bluetooth amplifier we could just use an all-in-one amp and Bluetooth module for this and while this is probably the best option for beginners from my experience they've often had comparatively poor performance when it comes to distortion and interference noise so instead we'll be building one out of several low-cost components which you can find links to in the description along with a circuit diagram on how to fit them all together I recommend that you follow the diagram for this section but I'll just give you a quick overview of the process here to give you a rough idea so first up is the Bluetooth receiver which needs to be popped open and have the connectors removed to make it smaller its audio output can now be soldered to the input of the amplifier going through to six point eight kilo ohm resistors to first mix it to mono and reduce the overall volume so that it doesn't overload the speaker now to power the Bluetooth receiver we need a five volt regulator like this one whose output needs to go through a small isolator before hooking it up this prevents noisy ground loop interference lastly the power wise and speaker wires can be added and the whole thing can be glued in place and sold it up so now the whole thing should work as intended and you should be able to stream music to it from your phone but as there's no enclosure it will sound very thin so for this as you've seen already we're going to use a drinking glass this one isn't anything special it's stuff from my local supermarket in fact but it does have a nice shape to it so it's perfect mounting it is just a case of clipping it into the base like so which completes the build after plugging in the nineteen volt power adapter the LED should light up and the Bluetooth module will pair with your chosen device now you might have thought that the speaker having a glass enclosure would result in unpleasant resonant spikes but this isn't the case as its well sealed to the base and actually delivers a remarkably solid sound due to its rigid cylindrical shape take a listen all before so that's a success I think not only does it look good but it sounds good too don't forget that you can find all the links to everything that you need to make this in the description and I've also recently set up a patreon account so if you do like my projects and want to support what I do feel free to check it out and if you want to contribute it will be greatly appreciated but other than that I'm Matt you've been watching DIY perks and I really hope I see you next time good bye for now\n"