Hi there,
I read this article about hacking the Sonos / IKEA Symfonisk, and thought I'd try it with a nice old radio I have in my kitchen. It earns its keep as a decoration alone, but it sure would be nice to get it playing as well.
Now, the first issue that I've run in to (I'm sure there will be more), is that the radio only has one single woofer, while the Sonos looks like some sort of bi-amp setup. I'm not familiar with such. Would it be possible to wire both sets of cables to the same woofer?
From makezine.com:
I read this article about hacking the Sonos / IKEA Symfonisk, and thought I'd try it with a nice old radio I have in my kitchen. It earns its keep as a decoration alone, but it sure would be nice to get it playing as well.
Now, the first issue that I've run in to (I'm sure there will be more), is that the radio only has one single woofer, while the Sonos looks like some sort of bi-amp setup. I'm not familiar with such. Would it be possible to wire both sets of cables to the same woofer?
From makezine.com:
Be a gentleman to your ears and add a tweeter. There are very small ones out there with about the size of a Euro coin. Don't put the wires together to the woofer as the Ikea mainboard will be kaputt. The text of the article says it all:
Along with a speaker, of course. This is where things start to differ. As mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial, you will need either a bi-amp-able speaker (i.e., separate terminals for woofer and tweeter) or a two-way speaker for which you can bypass the internal crossover. These are two discrete digital amplifiers, one for the tweeter, and one for the woofer. Bridging them not only causes the amplifier to shut down, but it may damage your $99 pile of circuit boards and wires.
Now you have a mono 2 way setup. Having a woofer and a tweeter is the minimum for succeeding as the IKEA Symfonisk requires a woofer and a tweeter both having a separate built in amplifier. Please read this whole post to get some ideas.
Think of a second IKEA Symfonisk speaker for a phenomenon called stereo 🙂 If it all can be fit in the old radio you will need 2 woofers and 2 mini tweeters (possibly as far away from eachother as possible). Of course these can be 2 external 2 way speakers with the crossovers removed. That would mean an old radio with the internals of 2 IKEA Symfonisk internally mounted and 2 external speakers. Hmmm, stereo but 3 boxes.... Probably best sound but 3 boxes is maybe undesired?!
Now since you already have gutted an IKEA Symfonisk you can reuse that Ikea woofer and Ikea tweeter IN the old radio so mono 2 way setup the correct way.... Hmmmm, just 1 mono box.
Maybe you can even add the Ikea woofer and the Ikea tweeter of a second IKEA Symfonisk that you also gutted for the internals so stereo 2 way the correct way .... Hmmm, just 1 stereo box...
Just some ideas in irregular order to give ideas and make things happen 🙂
Along with a speaker, of course. This is where things start to differ. As mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial, you will need either a bi-amp-able speaker (i.e., separate terminals for woofer and tweeter) or a two-way speaker for which you can bypass the internal crossover. These are two discrete digital amplifiers, one for the tweeter, and one for the woofer. Bridging them not only causes the amplifier to shut down, but it may damage your $99 pile of circuit boards and wires.
Now you have a mono 2 way setup. Having a woofer and a tweeter is the minimum for succeeding as the IKEA Symfonisk requires a woofer and a tweeter both having a separate built in amplifier. Please read this whole post to get some ideas.
Think of a second IKEA Symfonisk speaker for a phenomenon called stereo 🙂 If it all can be fit in the old radio you will need 2 woofers and 2 mini tweeters (possibly as far away from eachother as possible). Of course these can be 2 external 2 way speakers with the crossovers removed. That would mean an old radio with the internals of 2 IKEA Symfonisk internally mounted and 2 external speakers. Hmmm, stereo but 3 boxes.... Probably best sound but 3 boxes is maybe undesired?!
Now since you already have gutted an IKEA Symfonisk you can reuse that Ikea woofer and Ikea tweeter IN the old radio so mono 2 way setup the correct way.... Hmmmm, just 1 mono box.
Maybe you can even add the Ikea woofer and the Ikea tweeter of a second IKEA Symfonisk that you also gutted for the internals so stereo 2 way the correct way .... Hmmm, just 1 stereo box...
Just some ideas in irregular order to give ideas and make things happen 🙂
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It clearly might be an idea for me to actually read all the words in the article, not just the ones that I like...
Thanks for bringing up some good thoughts and fun ideas! I did consider just mounting all the Symfonisk hardware into it, but I built an iPod dock player using another speaker I had from the same era and a class D amp, and I found that I somehow really liked the sound of that old paper. They also seem to be easily driven, despite their large size. This being a kitchen setup, I think I'll stick with a single box so as to not upset the boss.
In that context it would be nice to just add the tweeter along with the radio's woofer, any reason it wouldn't work? I can always mount all the gear from the Symfonisk as a plan b.
This stereo phenomenon you talk of seems like a hoax put out by big audio to sell more speakers 😀
Thanks for bringing up some good thoughts and fun ideas! I did consider just mounting all the Symfonisk hardware into it, but I built an iPod dock player using another speaker I had from the same era and a class D amp, and I found that I somehow really liked the sound of that old paper. They also seem to be easily driven, despite their large size. This being a kitchen setup, I think I'll stick with a single box so as to not upset the boss.
In that context it would be nice to just add the tweeter along with the radio's woofer, any reason it wouldn't work? I can always mount all the gear from the Symfonisk as a plan b.
This stereo phenomenon you talk of seems like a hoax put out by big audio to sell more speakers 😀
Yes I was too late to edit the post but reusing only the tweeter is of course also possible.
Big Audio... yeah before you know it you will be vaccinated via 2 channels 🙂
Big Audio... yeah before you know it you will be vaccinated via 2 channels 🙂
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3D printed a coax frame for the tweeter, and it actually turned out rather ok. Plays all right too, but it needs a round with Trueplay after I'm done. Thanks for the advice on including the tweeter, it sure is needed!
Next step is to replace one of the knobs on the front panel with a rotary encoder and a small arduino circuit to act as the volume and play/pause buttons. A holder for the wifi antennas is also needed, but that's rather simple.
PS. Don't know why the aspect ratio is so weird on this site...
Next step is to replace one of the knobs on the front panel with a rotary encoder and a small arduino circuit to act as the volume and play/pause buttons. A holder for the wifi antennas is also needed, but that's rather simple.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
PS. Don't know why the aspect ratio is so weird on this site...