Second life of a wired radio
Parsing my grandmother’s things, I came across a wired radio ( subscriber speaker ), which served faithfully for about 30 years. Of course, it is impossible to call it an outstanding creation of the Soviet industrial design, but it is a pity to throw it out.
On the other hand, where to apply it? There is no subscriber radio point in my apartment, and there is no special desire to listen to the national radio broadcast. That would be to listen to what you want, and it seems like on the radio ... And, really, why not? And then I had the idea to make a regular speaker out of a subscriber loudspeaker! Well, i.e. ordinary mono speaker connected to the sound source through an amplifier.
To determine the model of the device, I had to search by appearance with exhaustive search, because neither the name of the model nor the manufacturer on the case was listed. Fortunately, the search was short-lived - I got a Donbass subscriber loudspeaker .
In my case, however, it is black and yellow, without a handle, without a back wall, without a plug and with a twisted wire.
The essence of modernization is to integrate the amplifier into the loudspeaker body and connect any sound source to the input. With an amplifier, the problem was solved quite simply: to extract it from unnecessaryChinese Taiwanese speakers.
It should be noted that the use of an amplifier from Taiwanese speakers is not the best option in terms of sound quality, but the easiest and cheapest (subject to the availability of such speakers).
The main issue of modernization was the sound source. You can connect anything to the input: portable radio, player, phone, laptop. At the same time, I did not want to clutter up the device functionally, but on the contrary, to make it as simple and convenient as possible for use. A good option would be to use the AirPort Express audio output, but it is already in use, and I did not want to buy another router. The best option was found unexpectedly.
It was decided to hang the loudspeaker in the kitchen on the wall, where it was originally planned to hang the TV. Conventional and television outlets were placed under the TV, and the television cable from the outlet goes to another room to a single cable switching point for the TV and modem.
But what if you make a sound on the coaxial cable from the room to the kitchen? From the room I connect everything I want, but at the exit I simply amplify the sound. It is clear that the oxygen-free copper is far from the coaxial, but I'm not going to hi-fi by the speaker.
Well, let's get started. Of the three parts in the housing of the loudspeaker: speaker, variable resistor and transformer, we leave only the speaker. More precisely, at first it’s worth removing all the details, flushing out the raid of violent youth from the case, and then reinserting only what is needed. I want to warn you right away : the speaker of the loudspeaker reproduces sound in the range of about 160-6300 Hz , so if you are going to listen to your favorite music through such a speaker, then it will sound at least not completely authentic.
We disassemble the Taiwanese speakers: from the one with the volume control, we remove the board and the transformer. In my case, the speaker in the column was not soldered, but connected through the connector. We solder the wires together with the connector from the dinoka kolnoki and solder to the speaker of the loudspeaker. The transformer from the speakers is also with a connector, and therefore almost without problems fell into place of the former in the speaker housing. We pass to the board.
We solder the second column (wires to the left), and instead of wires from the jack (to the right) we solder the original wire from the subscriber's device. The main thing here is to find which channel goes to the speaker and solder to it. The second channel can be grounded. Next, we solder the variable resistor, and in its place we solder three wires (again from the channel going to the speaker).
These wiring are soldered to a variable resistor of the same rating, but with a switch. And the variable resistor itself is fixed in place of the former in the case. The switch will serve as a button to turn on the gain circuit. As a result, when you turn the control knob, the amplifier will turn on first, and then adjust the volume.Interestingly, the power button on the amplifier in the speakers that I used is located after the transformer. Those. when these speakers are included in the network, regardless of whether the circuit itself is turned on or not, they consume their two watts. Actually, that's why I put the switch not in place of the button, but in front of the transformer.
I attached the board and power connector with silicone glue to the case, and from the old Soviet pens I chose the most suitable. As a result, this is how the loudspeaker looks from the inside:
And so - outside:
Do not forget about the sockets: we change the standard white to more suitable in color black and yellow:
Place of switching (adapter: coaxial - monojack, extension cable: jack-mom-jack-dad):
In operation, a regularsubscriber loudspeaker behaves well - it correctly reproduces the sound supplied to the input, staining it with the effect of a wired radio. Automatically, the sound source in the form of a laptop became a director's console, as when you connect a microphone, it becomes possible to broadcast from the room to the kitchen: send greetings, put your favorite music, and also communicate with radio listeners. Of the minuses, one can only note the characteristic background of the amplifier from cheap Taiwanese speakers.
Behind the director's console:
Connected Subscriber:
If you suddenly find an unused subscriber loudspeaker at home / at the balcony / at the cottage / at grandparents /, remember that you can give it a second life. The wired radio is not dead - it lives in another room!
On the other hand, where to apply it? There is no subscriber radio point in my apartment, and there is no special desire to listen to the national radio broadcast. That would be to listen to what you want, and it seems like on the radio ... And, really, why not? And then I had the idea to make a regular speaker out of a subscriber loudspeaker! Well, i.e. ordinary mono speaker connected to the sound source through an amplifier.
What did I get?
To determine the model of the device, I had to search by appearance with exhaustive search, because neither the name of the model nor the manufacturer on the case was listed. Fortunately, the search was short-lived - I got a Donbass subscriber loudspeaker .
In my case, however, it is black and yellow, without a handle, without a back wall, without a plug and with a twisted wire.
Modernization plan
The essence of modernization is to integrate the amplifier into the loudspeaker body and connect any sound source to the input. With an amplifier, the problem was solved quite simply: to extract it from unnecessary
It should be noted that the use of an amplifier from Taiwanese speakers is not the best option in terms of sound quality, but the easiest and cheapest (subject to the availability of such speakers).
The main issue of modernization was the sound source. You can connect anything to the input: portable radio, player, phone, laptop. At the same time, I did not want to clutter up the device functionally, but on the contrary, to make it as simple and convenient as possible for use. A good option would be to use the AirPort Express audio output, but it is already in use, and I did not want to buy another router. The best option was found unexpectedly.
It was decided to hang the loudspeaker in the kitchen on the wall, where it was originally planned to hang the TV. Conventional and television outlets were placed under the TV, and the television cable from the outlet goes to another room to a single cable switching point for the TV and modem.
But what if you make a sound on the coaxial cable from the room to the kitchen? From the room I connect everything I want, but at the exit I simply amplify the sound. It is clear that the oxygen-free copper is far from the coaxial, but I'm not going to hi-fi by the speaker.
Modernization
Well, let's get started. Of the three parts in the housing of the loudspeaker: speaker, variable resistor and transformer, we leave only the speaker. More precisely, at first it’s worth removing all the details, flushing out the raid of violent youth from the case, and then reinserting only what is needed. I want to warn you right away : the speaker of the loudspeaker reproduces sound in the range of about 160-6300 Hz , so if you are going to listen to your favorite music through such a speaker, then it will sound at least not completely authentic.
We disassemble the Taiwanese speakers: from the one with the volume control, we remove the board and the transformer. In my case, the speaker in the column was not soldered, but connected through the connector. We solder the wires together with the connector from the dinoka kolnoki and solder to the speaker of the loudspeaker. The transformer from the speakers is also with a connector, and therefore almost without problems fell into place of the former in the speaker housing. We pass to the board.
We solder the second column (wires to the left), and instead of wires from the jack (to the right) we solder the original wire from the subscriber's device. The main thing here is to find which channel goes to the speaker and solder to it. The second channel can be grounded. Next, we solder the variable resistor, and in its place we solder three wires (again from the channel going to the speaker).
These wiring are soldered to a variable resistor of the same rating, but with a switch. And the variable resistor itself is fixed in place of the former in the case. The switch will serve as a button to turn on the gain circuit. As a result, when you turn the control knob, the amplifier will turn on first, and then adjust the volume.Interestingly, the power button on the amplifier in the speakers that I used is located after the transformer. Those. when these speakers are included in the network, regardless of whether the circuit itself is turned on or not, they consume their two watts. Actually, that's why I put the switch not in place of the button, but in front of the transformer.
I attached the board and power connector with silicone glue to the case, and from the old Soviet pens I chose the most suitable. As a result, this is how the loudspeaker looks from the inside:
And so - outside:
Do not forget about the sockets: we change the standard white to more suitable in color black and yellow:
Place of switching (adapter: coaxial - monojack, extension cable: jack-mom-jack-dad):
In work
In operation, a regular
Behind the director's console:
Connected Subscriber:
conclusions
If you suddenly find an unused subscriber loudspeaker at home / at the balcony / at the cottage / at grandparents /, remember that you can give it a second life. The wired radio is not dead - it lives in another room!