Last month I was at my aunt’s and I found a vintage radio. I switched it on to check if it stills worked but it didn’t. Radio receiver wasn’t working fine and music had interferences, but I still wanted to do something useful with this radio because I liked its outside design. That’s why I decided to convert it into a Bluetooth speaker.
Buying parts needed
I removed everything from inside and I left only the twitter because I was going to use it in the new speaker. Apart from that, this is what I bought:
- Another 2W speaker (2€): Existing one had 0.25W. I bought it in a local store.
- A Bluetooth audio receiver TDA7492P 50W (9€): I looked on the internet and many people build the circuit themselves. I found this circuit on eBay with everything integrated.
- A switch (1€): A simple switch from a local store.
- A 9V adapter (Free): I use one from an old Polycom.
Building the Bluetooth speaker
The process was quite easy because the most difficult part is usually building the circuit. My circuit included everything, so I just needed to pull everything together to make it work:
- I opened the radio and remove everything useless, I need space for my new circuit and 2 speakers.
- I attached speakers to the radio with screws.
- I weld 2 pairs of cables in the speakers to connect them to the circuit.
- I fixed the circuit to the back of the radio with silicon glue.
- I made a hole in the back of the radio to locate the interruptor and I connect cables from the adapter.
- I finally connect speakers to the Bluetooth circuit and that’s all!
Final result
Bluetooth speaker works fine with my iPhone 7 and I have also tested it with some Androids and it works too. It is easy to use, you just have to switch it on and the bluetooth receiver creates a network. You can use your phone to connect to the speaker and play some music from any app, for instance, Spotify.
I’ve used 2 speakers with not too much Watts but it sounds great and I it is enough for a room, actually, I’ve placed it in a big living room (50-60 square meters) and it has enough power to hear music even with people talking.
As you can see process is quite easy and with almost 12€ you can do it yourself a bluetooth speaker in a few hours. I know there are a lot of speakers in the market, I’m owning an Aeroskull XS too, but doing it, yourself makes you feel better 😊
Here you can find some pictures of the process and the radio placed near the fire in my village. Perfect place!
