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LEAK! LM386 extension speaker project needs a name

Bauhausler

Bauhausler

Rational Subjectivist
Howdy. I'm developing the device shown for publication in a magazine. It's a powered extension speaker with a LM386 chip amp in a cigar box. The 'rustic' appearance of the wood box was a design goal. This will see publication later this year and I'll link to the article and video.
I need a name for it. One that can be published, of course. Take a look and help me decide.
 

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The wicker weave front makes me think of the East India Company. Maybe call it the "Colonial"?
 
bsabel said:
The wicker weave front makes me think of the East India Company. Maybe call it the "Colonial"?
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I had one grille made from cane material for restoring chairs. I liked that one. I posted three different grille fabrics on Facebook for comments and this one won. It's scavenged from a '60s Knight speaker.
 
I build a couple of those using a 5w op amp chip harness from Guitar Fuel and a more substantial speaker than the little 3-4" driver provided.

Not sure what your working with there but in my case, squawk box it ain't.

I'd have to think a bit on the name thing.


RC
 
dumptruck said:
How about sidekick names? Conseil? Calavicci?
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I like the retro sci fi associations of Conseil. Okay, that one's in the running.
My last project, Squelette was named with a bilingual French/English pun that nobody got. Plus they couldn't pronounce Squelette. Might as well continue with the French/confusing trend.
 
doucanoe said:
I build a couple of those using a 5w op amp chip harness from Guitar Fuel and a more substantial speaker than the little 3-4" driver provided.

Not sure what your working with there but in my case, squawk box it ain't.

I'd have to think a bit on the name thing.


RC
Click to expand...

I've built a number of chip amps, including this Hi Fi one for MAKE magazine. This is intended to be very simple for novice builders. But it sounds ridiculously good with a $0.98 surplus parts Express driver. The trick was getting the feedback tone compensation and box loading right so there's good bass. If the bottom end's there I'll listen to it all day.
 
doucanoe said:
Not sure what your working with there but in my case, squawk box it ain't.
Click to expand...
It's about 0.5W. If you open up the gain it has a delightful grind-y overdrive, and it's easy to mess around with creating oscillation, feedback, pseudo-gating, etc., hence the guitar usage. For clean audio playback, it's pretty limited, but I'm sure Bauhausler knows what he's doing. Most importantly, you can buy a whole tube of the little guys for a couple bucks.
 
I've done a number of tricky things with this chip before, but this is a basic low gain implementation with some bass boost. It's intended as an extension speaker for an iPod or similar headphone player source. The chip has about 0.2% THD, mostly 2nd and 3rd. that's too much for Hi Fi, but okay for a cheap project.

I have one circuit where I run the signal through a lean-biased FET to create 2nd harmonic distortion. I run the clean signal and the inverted signal through a mixer to the inverted and noninverted chip inputs. This allows a precise amount of 'warmth' to be dialed in on the fly without changing the input level or volume level. It works like a charm. But this is nothing as tricky as that.
 
Bauhausler said:
I've built a number of chip amps, including this Hi Fi one for MAKE magazine. This is intended to be very simple for novice builders. But it sounds ridiculously good with a $0.98 surplus parts Express driver. The trick was getting the feedback tone compensation and box loading right so there's good bass. If the bottom end's there I'll listen to it all day.
Click to expand...

You bet. I was going in not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised by the results. I went with relatively high Q, easy to drive console drivers for mine and although bass could probably be better running them open back, found them quite satisfactory stuffed and closed. I may configure the cabs to open back at some point in the future but figured that there is no turning back once you start cutting so I have been reluctant to do so. I may just have to build some test cabs open back with similar internal volume(s) and test/experiment further.

I like your builds. Very cool stuff!

By the way, you can get wicker weave in a couple different flavors at JoAnne Fabrics if you run out of the old stuff.


RC
 
doucanoe said:
I like your builds. Very cool stuff!

By the way, you can get wicker weave in a couple different flavors at JoAnne Fabrics if you run out of the old stuff.


RC
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Thanks! And I appreciate the source for the fabric. I have to BOM every part used in this project and it's good to know where to refer people for the grille.

I found some great grille material at a craft store. It's pure copper mesh with a medium 1/8" hole. Looks really pretty but photographs poorly.
 

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dumptruck said:
It's about 0.5W. If you open up the gain it has a delightful grind-y overdrive, and it's easy to mess around with creating oscillation, feedback, pseudo-gating, etc., hence the guitar usage. For clean audio playback, it's pretty limited, but I'm sure Bauhausler knows what he's doing. Most importantly, you can buy a whole tube of the little guys for a couple bucks.
Click to expand...

I guess I wasn't being clear. I was referring to use as a guitar amp where the LM386 chip has been put to good use. It will be interesting to see how it can be configured for a audio application. The chip itself is usually under a buck a piece if purchased in quantity.


RC
 
Oh! Let's combine the India reference with the sci-fi reference. The old-school, steam punk look makes me think Jules Verne. What about the "Phileas" after the main character in Around the World in Eighty Days?
 
Nice one! I had been urging Zilch to build up a similar looking passive design as a kind of "Sleeper" unit. No one will believe that all that sound is coming from such a small package.
 
You wanted names. How about something like...

Ollie
Zeus
Casanova
Hero
Buddy
Chum
Chumly
Pal
Varsity
Hopper
Django
Pearl
Pony
Picasso
Cadet
Camper
Clyde
Steamer
Quarter
 
wiredbecker said:
You wanted names. How about something like...

Ollie
Zeus
Casanova
Hero
Buddy
Chum
Chumly
Pal
Varsity
Hopper
Django
Pearl
Pony
Picasso
Cadet
Camper
Clyde
Steamer
Quarter
Click to expand...

Man, you are full of ideas. I queried Gareth and so far all he's got is *shrug*.

How about 'Radar' after the radio operator on MASH. I've been trying to work a Radio Shack reference in since they're the project series sponsor and I used mostly their parts.
I like 'Cadet' and 'Ollie'. Those are friendly sounding names.
 
A Radar reference would be cool. He was a corporal, can you work that in? I'm biased because that character was from Iowa! :D
 
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