Micro bluetooth speaker idea (tiny) - Visatron BF37

[tomzarbo]

I guess you glue in the passives? I saw on one of the other speaker repair videos I viewed on YouTube someone was using E6000 but in black to actually assemble a monster 10" subwoofer, surround and dustcap. Must be pretty strong stuff! I know Wolf likes that stuff, and I use it now quite a bit, but I've only used the clear, the fella said black was supposed to be even better.

Anyway, better find a good pair of tweezers!

TomZ

[3rutu5]

Saw that last night, made me take a look at those drivers.

I actually have a 5 pack on there way of the 8403, rediculously cheap.. I think I would prefer that board as it is also a 5v board

[3rutu5]

I guess you glue in the passives? I saw on one of the other speaker repair videos I viewed on YouTube someone was using E6000 but in black to actually assemble a monster 10" subwoofer, surround and dustcap. Must be pretty strong stuff! I know Wolf likes that stuff, and I use it now quite a bit, but I've only used the clear, the fella said black was supposed to be even better.

Anyway, better find a good pair of tweezers!

TomZ

Yeah down to one PR.....I rushed a gluing and completely damaged one....

Also one of the BF37 rubber surround wasn't actually on the frame, so super glued it down.

[Jake]

I actually have a 5 pack on there way of the 8403, rediculously cheap.. I think I would prefer that board as it is also a 5v board

Those boards are great for the price, and offer good fidelity when modded.

[3rutu5]

Those boards are great for the price, and offer good fidelity when modded.

That's the one what did you do to hook up the pot?

[Jake]

That's the one what did you do to hook up the pot?

Wire the amplifier inputs as shown in the diagram. Hope this helps

[3rutu5]

Ok the forsner bit I used blew out the back of the hole and it is leaving massive gaps between the speakers....downside j have to rebuild, upside it didn't take that long to make...this time I'm trying a different method by printing a template and going to use a top bearing flush cut bit.

[3rutu5]

Also going to try a full printed box with rectangular ports 5mm wide 50mm high and about 180mm long, that's what I CAD'D up and got to see what it models first before printing as I might need to add a few bits it to make it multiple ports, who knows yet...just concepts but bigger than the wood working version

[3rutu5]

Had to go back to the drawing board due to not knowing what supports are in a 3d print...sort of feels like cheating, but I did do all the cad work.... apparently a 48 hour print, going to take a few days doing small sections at a time..

The other one has been completely rebuilt, the 3d template for the faceplate and router worked well, except in once spot where the router bit in and my immediate reaction is to let go, so there was a nick, which has been filled in and can't notice. Speakers and PR fits like a glove, would be nice to have a CNC or laser cutter, but can't justify the cost, so 200USD printer will have to do

left is the rebuild, right the first one. New one still needs the round over on the top and bottom. probably not noticable, but the previous one was a bit wonky with the speaker holes, especially the passive radiator location.

[3rutu5]

Might have hit a second hurdle with the small size of this box.

Was originally going to use a 1s charging board and have a step up/booster circuit to provide 12v to the amp, but have been advised that the step up module may add unwanted noise/distortion, but If I was to use the 5v PAM it may lack the power/output due to the sensitivity of the drivers....if I go a 12v setup the 3s arrangement takes up a bit of space internally.

I printed a z looking divider which I could put some batteries on each side, but may only leave 10mm between the passive and the outside edge of the batteries.

Bit torn at the moment, but do want to keep on trucking, keen to hear those who have done this before if there is something I'm missing.

[tomzarbo]

Stupid idea, but....

Could you 3D print a handle for this with a battery compartment for an 18650 or two CR123 batteries to save you some space in the device?
Probably not feasible because the handle would literally be almost as big as the box. Maybe add a riser to angle the box up which could house some extra electronics?

TomZ

[3rutu5]

Folks,I did a quick sound test yesterday using both PAM amps and settled so far on the 5v version. The question I would like to ask is around 80% volume (includes having an EQ setting on my phone) these little things start to distort, which made me think of a cap or BSC to reduce the output a bit to stop the issue, what is the view of the masses? Worth trying or is there something else to consider?

[3rutu5]

Ok, been about a month and started doing other things as i did lose a little intereset in this after the distortion issue i was having, even did something a bit wacky with 3d printing a funky looking box with massive passive radiators, but think one of the BF37's in that was actually busted. I've noticed with these vistatron drivers you have to be ultra careful with them as the driver itself can detach itself from the basket, which i tried to superglue back on, but more than likely i was unsuccessful. I couldnt recall which speaker i did it on, but superglued these little speakers into both units, which is also unfortunate.

after a bit of trial and error i can tell the group what i've noticed from my end.

* 5v pam amp seem to show signs of clipping, but i was unable to plug my usb into the charging board without it going a bit haywire, so abandoned that after it sounded a bit horrible without investigating further.

* using the 5v to 12v step up module was causing some interference with the 12v pam amp, so abandoned that after it sounded horrible without investigating further.

* there seems to be an issue with the 5v BT modules and the step down module i've used, whether or not it isnt getting a stable power supply and causing the fully assembled speaker to cut out when loud, i thought it was due to the PS only being 12v, but fairly certain it is failing at that step down. Dont have any others to trial and doubt i will be going out anywhere over the next few weeks to get another (thanks corona!)

* 3S charging boards purchased seem to be faulty as both do random stuff, first not actually having 11.1v at the B+ output and the other not actually charging anything. Not got any experience with this in the slightest and both boxes dont actally have room for the DA or Sure battery boards, which is a bit disppointing, but my fault for not thinking ahead.

so you may ask, so what now? well considering how bad the aussie dollar is with the worldwide crisis, i thought i would purchase a tinysine 2x8 watt class D BT amp locally, which i did, but didnt know that there is something called ghost purchasing or something equivilent, where i but something and the middle man actually somehow gets the end user to purchase direct from the site and not actually do anything except take my money, but in the end i got it from china it would seem direct from tinysine. Just took 3 weeks instead of 4 days.So tried the wooden bose knock off with a direct power supply and can almost get right up there with music, but can hear a little distortion at max volume with the EQ setting turned on my phone, which i think is acceptable. I dont beleive it is anything more than me pushing the limits of these tiny drivers. I dont know if it could be a result of me not having the dividing wall in the test run, nor being fully sealed and missing the rear passive radiator, but honestly i'm prepared to push forward and finish this little thing as i have a set of TEBM35''s i want to have a go at, which are slighty bigger and guess what Chris Roemer , i have some 15mm PVC pipe ready to use a ports as i think these cheapo rubber membranes dont actually do anything, but make me waste 2 AUD (should have listened as you were right as usual )

Looking at the picture as well, does one think i could solder to the DC Jack successfully? it doesnt have any contact points on the underside of the board, which i would have done that and the youtube examples would put a resistor over the input signal +/- to convert the signal to mono and not worry about the dividing wall, but considering the board only does BT i dont know if that is even a possibility now as i was thinking of maybe adding an additional PR to the back (taking total to 3) and start addiing some 5c pieces hot glued to the back of all of these.

upside is on both of these boards i have, they have full control buttons on them, but dont want to use them on the micro build as they may introduce issues with being airtight, but will on the other build, unless somebody thinks i could 3d print something and maintain that seal.

[3rutu5]

Decided to cut the back section and wire everything up, now just need to seal it better, paint and I'm calling this.one finished. Might look at adding a battery later or a cap to tidy up the low end or might not. Main thing is at normal operating level it sounds good which it does and shows signs of distortion at Max volume with certain music which isn't that bad I guess.

[tomzarbo]

Looking at the picture as well, does one think i could solder to the DC Jack successfully? it doesnt have any contact points on the underside of the board, which i would have done that and the youtube examples would put a resistor over the input signal +/- to convert the signal to mono and not worry about the dividing wall, but considering the board only does BT i dont know if that is even a possibility now as i was thinking of maybe adding an additional PR to the back (taking total to 3) and start addiing some 5c pieces hot glued to the back of all of these.

upside is on both of these boards i have, they have full control buttons on them, but dont want to use them on the micro build as they may introduce issues with being airtight, but will on the other build, unless somebody thinks i could 3d print something and maintain that seal.

It looks to me like you'd have no problems soldering a few leads to the existing tabs on the power barrel connector. They're far enough away from other components so you should be fine.

Could you solder small wire to the button tabs and use a remote button? At least two for the volume/track up/down? Something like this: https://www.parts-express.com/bws260...leads--299-564 for cheap...
Or, you could even do a toggle/rocker switch with momentary on-off-on, where you quickly press the lever one way or the other for one button press, or hold for the other function? Like this: https://www.amazon.com/IndusTec-Mome...480772&sr=8-18

(I didn't see that PE had either of these types except a rocker DPDT on-off-on momentary switch for $45 -- that's overkill for this.)

At any rate, it's looking good, and I'm glad you're getting it finished up soon. I'm sure version two will have all the updates on what you've learned from V1. That's how it seems to work for me anyway!

TomZ