Photos: Turning a Mac into an iPod speaker
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“Didn’t look like anyone was going to buy me an iPod Hi-Fi. Set to work on a couple of MacPlus cases and so the iPod Hi-Fi mini was born.”rn
rnThat’s how Australian Simon Clement of Arawak Art Solutions opens up a photo essay on Flickr explaining both the how and the whys of his tinkering away at some old Macs to turn them into a pair of speakers for his iPod.rn
rnThe iPod Hi-Fi, by comparison, is a unibody boom box put out by Apple Computer itself.
For the system’s amplifier, Clement turned to the Class T Amp from Sonic Impact Technologies. The battery-powered amp generates 15 watts per channel and weighs less than 1.5 pounds.
More details on the interior: “The case now features a wooden rim, hot glue gunned in place, and covered with closed cell foam so when the speakers in place they are reasonably well sealed The interior has been sealed, painted black, and then sanded back to reveal the names again. A splash of varnish on the back has made them stand out even more, even though they will spend the rest of their life in the dark. (Why should Apple have all the fun paying attention to the details?).rn
rn”The amp is standing on a a piece of plywood which is fixed to the bottom of the case. It’s held in place by a strip of wood on either side and a metal clip. This means it can be easily removed when the batteries need replacing. A 12-volt transformer is plugged into an outlet fixed on the back of the case. A problem at the moment is that plugging the amp into the mains power source overrides the battery so you have to remove the speaker to switch from AC to DC. I’ll have to work away around this at some point. In the meantime the battery life has been very good.” rn
rnThe on/off volume control has been removed and attached to the back of the Mac so the amp can be controlled from outside the case.
The original iPod Hi-Fi from Apple. If a build-your-own speaker system isn’t something that works for you, there are a number of commercial speaker systems for the iPod.
