Bringing Back the Boombox
Ever wondered how to add an auxiliary input to an old stereo/tape player using nothing but a soldering iron and some old headphones? Then stop reading right now and head over here.
Just want to learn a little more about how analog audio equipment works and doesn't work? Then read on to hear a little of what I've picked up over the years.
Last week the cassette adapter I was using in my car to listen music from my phone gave out on the left channel.
I was pretty sure it was just a break in the cable, since I was able to get sound back by holding the wire just right, so I decided to give repairing it a shot.
I started by cutting the earbuds off an old set of airline headphones and stripping them back to bare wires on the ends.
When I opened up the cassette, I was surprised to find not two, but three wires soldered to the tape head.
Some quick research revealed that the third wire is a signal ground, which makes contact with a ground pin inside your iPod or smartphone and then connects back to each channel giving a cleaner signal. Although the repaired adapter transferred sound through my car stereo, the quality was pretty abysmal, with a weak signal and lots of humming.
Although I wasn't too disappointed by this failure, since it was a good excuse to buy new car stereo, it did remind me of a similar electronics failure shortly after getting an iPod for Christmas back in high school.
Rather than use a cassette adapter to listen to my new iPod (boring), I pulled apart my stereo and soldered a "pigtail" onto the contacts where the tape head was soldered to the stereo circuit board.
When I hooked it back up and cranked Switchfoot's "Meant to Live", I nearly blew the ten watt speakers out of my pickup.
Turns out the signal from a cassette head is much, much weaker than from an iPod, so analog signal must be run through a pre-amp before being send out to the main amplifier and the speakers. The end result is that even with the volume turned all the way down, the sound from an auxiliary port comes out load and clipped when run through that pre-amp.
Although I suspected at the time that running the signal through a resister might tone down the signal and solve my problem, I didn't have any resisters lying around and never followed up.
If you're interested in trying this project, check out the blog post linked at the top by someone who's had more success than I have in modifying electronics.
Just want to learn a little more about how analog audio equipment works and doesn't work? Then read on to hear a little of what I've picked up over the years.
Last week the cassette adapter I was using in my car to listen music from my phone gave out on the left channel.
I was pretty sure it was just a break in the cable, since I was able to get sound back by holding the wire just right, so I decided to give repairing it a shot.
I started by cutting the earbuds off an old set of airline headphones and stripping them back to bare wires on the ends.
When I opened up the cassette, I was surprised to find not two, but three wires soldered to the tape head.
Some quick research revealed that the third wire is a signal ground, which makes contact with a ground pin inside your iPod or smartphone and then connects back to each channel giving a cleaner signal. Although the repaired adapter transferred sound through my car stereo, the quality was pretty abysmal, with a weak signal and lots of humming.
Although I wasn't too disappointed by this failure, since it was a good excuse to buy new car stereo, it did remind me of a similar electronics failure shortly after getting an iPod for Christmas back in high school.
Rather than use a cassette adapter to listen to my new iPod (boring), I pulled apart my stereo and soldered a "pigtail" onto the contacts where the tape head was soldered to the stereo circuit board.
When I hooked it back up and cranked Switchfoot's "Meant to Live", I nearly blew the ten watt speakers out of my pickup.
Turns out the signal from a cassette head is much, much weaker than from an iPod, so analog signal must be run through a pre-amp before being send out to the main amplifier and the speakers. The end result is that even with the volume turned all the way down, the sound from an auxiliary port comes out load and clipped when run through that pre-amp.
Although I suspected at the time that running the signal through a resister might tone down the signal and solve my problem, I didn't have any resisters lying around and never followed up.
If you're interested in trying this project, check out the blog post linked at the top by someone who's had more success than I have in modifying electronics.
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