[Sticky] Earbuds to Dual-Wireless Stereo Speakers (official topic)

Admittedly it's been a while since Matt did this particular project but I would expect that any cheap Bluetooth headset or even a standalone Bluetooth receiver will do the job. The advantage of the buds is that they're usually useless when the batteries go and it's impossible to replace them (which is hypothetically possible with over-the-head types).

Also if you think your desk is a mess... There was a point when I couldn't see the floor of my living room while I was working on a recent project. It's amazing how much stuff gets spread around and then suddenly squashed into a tiny space post assembly. There are some famous pictures from the 1970s of designers (I think at Intel) walking over across the artwork of what became a popular CPU).

thanks for the quick reply, as matt said in the video im hard pressed to find a stereo bluetooth receiver but maybe im just not looking well enough, there's load that have stereo output, but not a double receiver that is able to output stereo sound, which is what is too bad i cant get these to work, but i'll tinker on lets see what Marktplaats(Dutch E-bay) has on offer in bluetooth headphones, ive found tha most temu/aliexpress bluetooth headphones work with 2 volts. i printed these speakers with lightening infil to be nearly enitirely hollow, punched holes and used the plaster of paris mix matt used in a different video to fill them up tonight. so cant wait to bring it all together 😀

You mean connect to two devices? I have one here actually. Headphone and line out by Ugreen. It’s on Amazon I think. 

They say it has a battery inside but noppppe (it does, but it's feeble). Good enough if you have USB power though. 

Can 2 devices be connected at the same time and play Music on them simultaneously? If so which model is it?

Amazon: "UGREEN Bluetooth 5.1 Audio Receiver for HiFi With 3.5mm Aux and 2 RCA Ports, AptX HD, Noise Canceling, Dual Pairing, Long-Range Stereo Adapter for Smartphone."

There are several, I suspect the later Bluetooth specs include this as default. But I don't think any mix the audio from two sources at the same time. It was first introduced at BT v3 and has been steadily improving although I can't speak to how well it works, so it looks like any BT 5+ adaptor should suit.

BTW nice work on the speakers, sorry I forgot to approve that one I was dealing with some crafty spammer trying to camp on your post.

@marcdraco I think I misscommunicated, i reread what i typed and i wrote it up wrong, the idea is that my device would connect to two speakers, like in the video, in order to have a portable stereo speakers that can be controlled by 1 device, similar to how this would go with earbuds.

the ugreen receiver wont allow me to put one in each speaker and play on them simultaneously right? i understand i can get this as a receiver, and put it in one and wire it up to 2 speakers like that, but the upside of using the earbuds is that you can actually get stereo audio from 2 speakers and place them in different ends of the room.

I ordered some cheap earbuds and some buck step down coverters to get the voltage to 2 volts to test some temu earbuds and try my luck there.

Stereo audio isn't mixed as we listen to it on headphones.

I'll have to re-watch Matt's video and see what he did. HMU in a day or so if I haven't got back to you. Mad busy here and it's way past bedtime for grumpy old men. 😉

Ah, sorry @gijs - Now I see what you're trying to do - I had to go back to Matt's original and see what he was doing with them. (Clever chap our Matt.)

You're right that the UGreen won't do what you need in this case because that would mean wiring between the two which isn't what you want.

As Matt said in the video, pretty much any earbuds will work. The quality (or lack of it) is usually in the actual driver (speaker if you will) - pretty much any set of cheap buds will do the trick, better if they have BT5+ though.

Posted by: @diyperks

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Earbud to Dual-Wireless Stereo Speakers
-official topic-

View episode on YouTube.

 

 

The design of most Bluetooth speakers has a limitation; the sound comes from a single point and can’t be spread apart to enjoy the vivid nature of stereo sound. Thankfully this isn’t the 1950s any more and there are solutions, notably in the form of repurposing the electronics found in wireless earbuds to use them to drive two truly wireless and separate stereo speakers that work in tandem for beautiful stereo audio reproduction.
Utilising two very specific speaker drivers, this project dives into core speaker building concepts to ensure that the sound is well balanced and full sounding, whilst looking aesthetically pleasing to boot.
If you want to construct a pair of these great little speakers yourself you may find the additional resource pack useful, which includes full details of the crossover & smoothing circuitry, dimensions, cutouts (CNC files plus an additional square version that's easier to build), and extra info about specific bluetooth receiver boards that work as a stereo pair if you want even better audio quality than what ear buds can provide. You can find it on the members download page (requires Patreon payment of $5 to access): Members Area

[there is this extra capacitor  , some resistors you added explain them to me kindly.]

 

 

Posted by: @gijs

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thanks for the quick reply, as matt said in the video im hard pressed to find a stereo bluetooth receiver but maybe im just not looking well enough, there's load that have stereo output, but not a double receiver that is able to output stereo sound, which is what is too bad i cant get these to work, but i'll tinker on lets see what Marktplaats(Dutch E-bay) has on offer in bluetooth headphones, ive found tha most temu/aliexpress bluetooth headphones work with 2 volts. i printed these speakers with lightening infil to be nearly enitirely hollow, punched holes and used the plaster of paris mix matt used in a different video to fill them up tonight. so cant wait to bring it all together 😀

-- attachment is not available --

 

 

[ YOOH I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE END, ESPECIALLY WHEN ITS PLAYING.]

 

 

I don't have access to the members area (I know right...) 🤣 

But the extra resistors and capacitor are probably there to correct the level into the speaker amplifier and block any incoming DC.

Just a matter of interest - right now Poundland (which should be a familiar name in the UK, esp. for followers of the wonderful Big Clive) are selling pairs of stereo Bluetooth headphones which sound OK for £10.

In fact they would be OK at twice that, and the charger comes with the the silly flashing lights but it looks suitable for Matt's demonstration project.

I bought a pair to take apart but they turn out to be great for audiobooks so it looks like another trip to Poundies! 🙂

I finally got them to work, I've gone through 4 different bluetooth headphones to get the right ones, 
some tips when selecting headphones and you're a noob like me go for the exact ones matt are using which are the galaxy buds SM-R170!!!
i attempted to use temu headphones but they were using some kind of button on the pcb which i couldnt figure out how to rewire, or some sort of touch button which was also beyond my knowledge. 
its a hobby to work on and the speakers sound amazing, Matt used a SPDT switch in his video but all of those switches look horrid, so first i tried to use a Mosfet to activate the bluetooth circuit, which for whatever reason didnt work,so  I ended up using a cool looking button(Self locking) from aliexpress and a 2 channel DC relay to keep independent circuits.

It's my first build and I still have to finish spray painting and filling the back panel but its so great to hear everything working!

some mistakes I made and that may help others doing this project:

- the polarity of wiring up the batteries to the headphones matter, if you do it wrong and dont notice your headphones overheat
- I 3D printed the enclosure and used lightning infil 20% which basically allows you to make a hole at the bottom and fill it up with plaster of paris +pva-water mixture, after which you have a hole in the backpanel.
- you can fix this by pouring some 2-component silicone in a printed mould and cutting the gasket around the enclosure and glueing it to the enclosure(using silicone glue, I also used that to make custom speaker feet.

but just wanted to show the progress since last time

Matt is a hero and that's a wonderful looking piece of work.

I'm tempted to get a separate pair of the Poundland specials just to see what's inside. The other pair I have look like they won't come apart and still be functional. Eeek.

It's a great feeling when you get your first project working. It's so long ago (>50 years) that I forgot my first. It was probably something like a transistor turning a lamp on and off when it got dark. And the lamp was an Edison filament lamp (1.5V probably) switched by a transistor that has been out of production for decades.

But you never forget your first time. Congrats on a job very well done!

Is the loo roll there to mop up the tears? It really burns when things don't work out and you've put lot of time, blood, sweat, and tears into it. So much so that I used an Oxford comma to ram the point home. 🙂