Altoids speakers

See Full Project Here!

The Altoids tin speakers was my first attempt at making a portable sound system. I made it in 8-9th grade, and this was my first venture into audio/amplifier circuits, so naturally this iteration wasn't very good.  With fresh batteries and full volume, when held up to the ear, it could match the volume of cheap earbuds at half volume...  All in all, the sound was indeed a bit tinny.  The best part about these speakers is that somehow, i managed to use a voltage regulator as a transistor... even better, it works better with a voltage regulator than with a transistor.  The light changes intesity with music volume, and i figured out it could also measure resistance in skin if you put your finger across the audio jack.  The speakers also had a port on the side, where you could connect a larger speaker, which was louder.  And yes, the two speakers worked as stereo!

altoids speakers inside

This is the inside of the tin, housing all the electronics powering the speakers.  The wiring is a tad messy, and everything was very tight to fit in the tin.  Everything is secured using zip ties and hot glue, but it manages to hold together fairly well!

altoids speakers sketches

These are the sketches that I drew while designing the altoids speakers.  I intended to mirror the circuit for stereo capabilities, this diagram only shows half the circuit.








This is an early design of a wiring diagram for the speakers- with so few components (and no resistors biasing the transistor) i had decided not to use a circuit board, rather making all connections directly.  Which just added to the chaos inside...