Renovating budget speakers on a budget

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A friend of mine was listening to her tv with build in speakers, we all know how those are specially on basic Sony tv's. She told me she wanted something a bit better sounding but had some requirements ...
- not to much cabling
- no boom boom subwoofer things
- fitting her interior at home (riverdale style, classy)
- no flashy colors
- main focus on television, movie and a bit of radio / music
- easy to use amplifier
- her house was fitted with wires for 4.0 speakers and her TV setup was right in the middle of one wall, kind of perfect actually
- special clamps that could be screwed to a VESA kind of speakers where also left on the wall and looking well build.

I just stored it in my head ... and as her birthday was approaching I started looking around in order to surprise her.

please please please note that this was as a basic upgrade from some build in stereo speakers in a Sony television.

And there they were ... on a Belgian second hand site a set of 5.0 Eltax speakers. The outside was not very nice, they where kind of dirty and the protection was worn. Risky business but hey ... 25 euro is not a lot of money !!! Yes indeed 25 euro :). Visited the guy, listen to them and made sure all components in them where working, and they did they where all perfect, no pressed dust caps or anything.

how did they look?
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the fronts are removable
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yes yes 13 elements for 25 euro ... 3 soft domes and a bunch of cevlar inspired woofers/mids

The center speaker fits in the TV cabinet perfectly where the amp also will go so perfect for the anti cable requirements

Build quality is quit ok actually however scratches all over the place
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This side was the worst ... no idea what happened here however I thing they where originally not silver :)
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The fronts were ok so just leaving them and used paint tape and newspapers to cover them
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Polyfiller and sanding
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Sanding
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First layer of paint
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3 layers of paint
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I used masking tape on the connectors and put some newspapers in the bass tube
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While everything was drying outside I started with the fronts
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I bought some black speaker fabric from conrad (electronics chop online here in Belgium/Netherlands)

Probably not how you should do it but hey ... it worked
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Half an hour later
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rough cutting
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Bison kit fabric glue
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Starts to look nice
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finished product
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other view
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The rattle can's had color name "warm inox". The results are kind of Marantz like champagne color.

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total cost in materials
- 1 rattle can 7.5 euro
- sanding paper I had at home
- polyfiller I had at home
- fabric was way to much (5 meter) only used half a meter price about 12 euro

total price for the speaker set -> 40 euro !!!

As amplifier I found an older 5 channel dolby amplifier from Sony with remote control ... easy front buttons saying TV, DVD, ... and a big volume knob. Payed 20 euro. second hand total price -> 60 euro ... you can't even buy a soundbar for that money.

How does it sound?
For the money ... surprisingly well actually :) there is even a fair amount of bass, it plays pretty clear due to the dome tweeters, Rear speakers give a well spread indirect sound and the Sony amp has some pretty cool electronics in it making the sound very spacious specially when looking at a DVD or listening to for example a live concert. No idea what kind of DSP is in there but for this purpose it's quit nice.

Not top hifi however thought it would be nice to share ;)
 
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I hope your friend appreciates the time you have put into this for her. You are a good friend.

Well the seller was only a 15 minutes drive, all together it took me one afternoon :) she loved them and was very pleased I kept in mind all her wishes. Speakers are used on a daily base by both her and her 2 kids. Currently making some other speakers for another friend ;) will post some details later :) it will be 3 way speakers with a class D amp fitting in an ikea book shelf, here I will be building the cabinets myself ... the proper way.
 
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