The Task…To build a pair of stereo speakers using your ShopBot and the amazing Soundpads speaker modules
A little history…I’d been looking for some loudspeakers for the shop to replace the cheap-o computer speakers that I had been using and stumbled on Soundpads stick-on speaker doohickeys on the web. Now it’s hard to imagine that $20 a pair speakers that you stuck on to stuff could sound all that sporty but they had some pretty good reviews and figured it’s hard to go too far wrong for $20! Grant at ShopBot was interested in them as well so we ordered a couple of pairs of Soundpads and two of the tiny $30 T-amps that the same company makes that are getting such fantastic reviews in the high-end Audio magazines.
When the Soundpads arrived I started testing them with all kinds of materials to see what they sounded like, not expecting much, and was amazed at just how good they sounded. Basically, you stick them onto something, and that “something” becomes the soundboard. There’s some variation in volume and sound quality between different materials, and a few dense materials like thick lexan and mdf didn’t really work well in my very limited tests, but basically we were amazed by just how good they sounded with most of the materials we tried. I built some fantastic sounding speakers for my office out of Baltic Birch ply and thin plexiglass, tried the same frames with plywood panels, and made the pair for the shop out of 1” construction Styrofoam insulation with a ¾” plywood base…they not only looked very “shop-y” but are good and loud and sound really great. Even made a speaker that was shaped like a clam for a friend’s seafood business and started working on some shaped like toy ducks for the “Yellow Duck Bakery” in town! We had a great time coming up with ways to use them and started thinking that they might be a great “application” for ShopBotters.
At ShopBot we’re always looking for project ideas and it’s tough to come up with ideas that appeal to everyone…the 3d-carving guys don’t want to cut out “flat stuff” and the sheet-goods cutters don’t want to get that nasty foam crud all over their shops! These Soundpads seem to have a universal appeal…everyone needs speakers and they work with cheap construction foam as well as plywood and space-age honeycomb panels. So we decided that we would make them the focus of a Jamboree contest that should appeal to every ShopBotter. The details for the contest are still evolving and the rules might change before they are finalized, but here’s what we have in mind so far.
Rules.
*) Speakers must use Soundpads speaker modules…no other speakers allowed
*) Speakers must not cost more that $200/pair in materials counting the Soundpads, but we’re thinking that most won’t cost much more than the $20 Soundpads themselves
*) Speakers will be judged by the attendees at the 2006 ShopBot Jamboree in Durham, NC. You don’t have to be there, but your speakers do.
*) Sound quality will be judged with the speakers connected to one of the T-amps
*) All contest entries must include the ShopBot part files, which will be made available to other ShopBotters (restricted to personal use only if you prefer) after the contest.
*) The designer must own the copyright for all elements of their speaker design (except the Soundpads of course), or have permission from the copyright holder…no Mickey Mouses or Harley Davidson logos will be accepted unless you can prove to us that you have permission to use it
Judging Criteria (preliminary)
*) Originality and creativity 35%
*) Use of ShopBot in construction 35%
*) Sound quality 15%
*) Workmanship 15%
Categories for Awards/Prizes
*) Overall best
*) New ShopBotter…owned ShopBot less than 1 year
*) Best speaker designed and built by a student
*) Sneakiest…who did the best job of hiding the speaker function in the construction
*) Most marketable…which one would be the most likely to be a successful product
*) Most “bang for your buck”…who made the best use of inexpensive materials or shop
*) Best “virtual” speakers… if you make some speakers but can’t ship them to the Jamboree, send us some pictures and info on materials, etc. and you’ll be in the running for the best virtual speakers.
Stay tuned for more contest details and info on how to get involved. And just to give you some idea of how the Soundpads might be used these are some of the speakers that I’ve made using them…they really do sound great.
My office speakers. The panels are plexiglass and the frames are Baltic Birch ply.
Varnished plywood panels in the same office speaker frames.
Styrofoam shop speakers…notice the care taken in matching the “grain”!
The Soundpad stuck on the back of one of the Shop speakers
Bill P. giving away a pair of small foam desk speakers with the ShopBot logo cut into them at his Camp
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