Jonny69 project: Roberts Radio ipod conversion

[Jonny69]

Aaaaaages ago SWMBO's brother gave me a Roberts Radio to convert to an ipod dock. I never actually got around to it so I decided it would make an ideal Christmas pressie. This is a photo of the finished article:

I was given a dead Roberts Radio. The speaker was mullered and the guts were already ripped out so I just had an empty shell to work with.

Inside I've fitted it with a 4" 20W twin-cone Pioneer speaker to replace the pathetic offering it came with (probably). The amplifier is a 1W per channel TDA2822 which I've found you can overdrive quite easily with a few more volts on the supply side, powered by 4 AA batteries:

The amp is on the left soldered up on strip board, really basic reliable stuff which can be upgraded later for something a bit more manly if needed. Battery box is mounted on the door:

On the back is the on-off switch and the headphone cable:

I really wanted to have it as a 'dock' to slot the ipod into but I couldn't find a suitable ipod dock unit with a volume control so I opted to just use a cable. I'll keep looking because I have another old radio to convert and the MDF panel I made for the top of this one is easy enough to modify.

Hope you like

 

[Cosimo]

Nice one.

When are you going into low volume production?

 

[Jonny69]

When are you going into low volume production?

I haven't done any electronics for well over 7-8 years, took me ages to do two simple little amps

I did get to pull all the power tools out though

 

[Tomsk]

Nice.

Maybe this will help - http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/18/how-to-design-your-own-ipod-super-dock-part-1/

Or you can buy an ipod dock with remote for <£30. I'm sure you could hack one into the Roberts.

 

[Jonny69]

Nice.

Maybe this will help - http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/18/how-to-design-your-own-ipod-super-dock-part-1/

Or you can buy an ipod dock with remote for <£30. I'm sure you could hack one into the Roberts.

Cool, cheers for that. Original plan was to hack a remote control dock up but I couldn't find one for a decent price. This was budget build to the max. The one I had was such a funny shape it would never have fitted.

 

[BigglesPiP]

Sweet, does the iPod's headphone socket support track controls via a resistor array?

 

[xJcBx]

Hack up one of these, I'm sure it has a iPod dock you could use ^^

 

[numnutz]

Like it, great present.

Is that a car speaker your using?

 

[loltim]

Cool, you lose points for saying SWMBO though.

 

[Andr3w]

Thats really good mate

 

[p4radox]

Quality piece of bodging, that.

You should add it to the DIY audio thread.

 

[gillywibble]

Very good

 

[Jonny69]

Is that a car speaker your using?

Yes, it's one I had in my car a few years ago. It could do with an 8-Ohm driver ideally but these are effectively free and it goes up loud enough

 

[Ciphon]

MAN! You do so many cool things like this!

 

[mattyprice4004]

Yes, it's one I had in my car a few years ago. It could do with an 8-Ohm driver ideally but these are effectively free and it goes up loud enough

150w PCB amp for the win, I reckon if it's a decent unit you could out-Bose some ponces who spend £300 on an iPod dock

Find an old Mission Hifi speaker to destroy, make a hole for the tweeter, job done

 

[Jonny69]

150w PCB amp for the win, I reckon if it's a decent unit you could out-Bose some ponces who spend £300 on an iPod dock

Find an old Mission Hifi speaker to destroy, make a hole for the tweeter, job done

It's more a matter of whether it'll run off batteries

I've got a small 12V 1.3Ah lead acid battery waiting for a project though, so maybe it's time to rape that old car amp