Materials: Expedit, misc. shelves, mini amplifier, misc. speaker units
Description: I wanted to get a very discrete stereo system in our dining area. I have a Logitech Squeezebox radio that I wanted to use as source, but the small speaker in it doesn’t go a long way.. At first I thought of connecting a pair of PC speakers and hide them inside the Expedit, but I really wanted to get a full and deep sound that I wouldn’t get from most PC speakers or iPod docking stations etc.
Then I got the idea to make the Expedit itself into a speaker.
I used various shelf plates and dividers (including some IKEA’s) that I had lying around to make the front and rear baffles as well as for bracing and side wall stiffeners. I installed some old speakers that I used for my car hi-fi back in the days – Boston Acoustics tweeters and Vifa bass/mid 6,5″ units. For amplification I used a cheap but surprisingly good Dayton Class T desktop amplifier, hidden away on the rear panel. The bass ports and crossovers were properly measured and tuned to get the most out of the system, and of course a good amount of acoustic damping material.
The fronts covers are cut out of ply, painted white and covered with speaker cloth. Snap-in fasteners.
The amplifier has a standard line input jack allowing the Expedit to be driven by any kind of source – an Internet radio, iPod, bluetooth receiver, you name it.
~ Affi, Strand, Norway
Jules is the author of IKEAHackers.net: 25 Biggest and Best Projects".
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