Lungster.Com

Since leaving my last job, the Can-Can speakers have been sitting around collecting dust. I decided to re-use the Aura drivers as a computer speaker to replace a set of Altec Lansing multimedia speakers. I built new speaker boxes and mated them with a more powerful amplifier.

(66,666 bytes) The new amp is based on a pair of National Semiconductor LM3876 amp-on-a-chip and powered by a 25.2VCT transformer. The entire contraption is mounted inside an old Exabyte SCSI tape drive enclosure. External connections consists of a 1/8 inch stereo phono input jack and 5-way binding posts for left/right speaker outputs. A single volume pot decorates the front panel.

(73,817 bytes) The new speaker box is made from some material I had in the garage. I made the top, bottom, front and back from 5/8 inch void-free birch plywood while the sides are solid walnut. Using solid wood (lumber) is not a very good idea since it can move (expand and contract) with environmental changes. In this case, the room I'm using it in is fairly consistent in humidity year-round. Hopefully, this feature, and the relative small size of the box will keep the box from splitting. Time will tell. I don't have a lot of time invested in this project so if it were to fail, I can always rebuilt it.

(44,804 bytes), (50,882 bytes) The Aura driver is mounted towards the top part of the enclosure to better align with my ear height when I'm sitting in front of the computer monitor. The port is vented at the bottom of the box. Box volume is 0.10 ft^3 and the 1 inch ID vent is about 5-3/4 inches long. The pictures here were taken before I applied a water-based polyurethane to all surfaces.

29-December-2005

Note: The contents in these pages are provided without any guarantee, written or implied. Readers are free to use them at their own risk, for personal use only. No commercial use is allowed without prior written consent from the author.