# Speaker box repurposed



## woodtickgreg (Jun 28, 2020)

A friend of mine gave me these book shelf speakers, but the foam surrounds had deteriorated and crumbled. So I took out the speakers and decided to reuse the boxes.
This is what I have to work with. These where 2 way speakers with a bass port.





I found these in my garage the other day looking for something else. I forgot that I even had them. They have to be 15 years old, but brand new in the box. Good stuff back in the day. 



When I layed the template on the box it became clear that it wasn't going to be as easy as cutting a new hole. There was no material where the mounting screws needed to be. 



So I found some 3/8" Baltic plywood to remake the mounting surface. 



I drilled some entry holes and used my scroll saw to cut the hole. 



Nice clean cut with no splintering. 



I used the new mounting boards to mark what needed to be cut out on the boxes and cut them out with a coping saw.



And this is what it looks like so far.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 1 | +Karma 1


----------



## ripjack13 (Jun 28, 2020)

Do they go up to 11?

Reactions: Funny 4


----------



## woodtickgreg (Jun 28, 2020)

A test fit of a speaker. These should look and sound nice. 



Some extra wire connectors. 



A pair of cutters cleaned up the wires, I only need 2 connectors for the new speakers.



I need to cut a hole for the bass port, it allows air to flow in and out of the box as the bass driver moves. It makes the bass sound much better. 



A 2 1/8" hole saw was perfect. 



Test fits good. I didn't push it all the way in and glue it as I may need to shorten the tube. 



What it looks like inside the box. 



A little stain and some shellac to seal the plywood and darken it up some. I didn't have a darker stain on hand so this is better than nothing. 



More to come when they are finished.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 4


----------



## ripjack13 (Jun 28, 2020)



Reactions: Like 1


----------



## T. Ben (Jun 28, 2020)



Reactions: Funny 1


----------



## Nature Man (Jun 29, 2020)

Love the old speakers! I have a pair of AR-11s. Chuck


----------



## woodtickgreg (Jun 29, 2020)

Nature Man said:


> Love the old speakers! I have a pair of AR-11s. Chuck


I have a set of Cerwin Vegas in my living room that have that buttery smooth vintage sound. 
I'm not sure where I'm going to use these speakers yet, garage maybe because they are polypropylene cones and weather resistant.

Reactions: Way Cool 1


----------



## woodtickgreg (Jun 29, 2020)

I test fit the bass ports for clearance and then hot melt glued them in.





Some spray adhesive was used to glue the sound insulation back in.



The boxes will be less echoey with the insulation.



5 minute epoxy was used to glue the new mounting face board on.



Lightly clamped while the epoxy sets up. 



The speaker and grill frame are installed at the same time.



They are now resurrected! A nice new pair of bookshelf speakers.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 2 | Informative 1


----------



## woodtickgreg (Jun 29, 2020)

I hooked the speakers up on the b side of the reciever so I could test them and switch back and forth between the old shop speakers.



The 4 way kenwoods sound way better! So they are staying in the shop. I dont hear as well as I used to, I have aging hearing. But with these speakers I now hear mid range and highs I didnt hear before, very crisp. The old speakers sound muddy and muffled in comparison.



The old speakers will be relegated to garage use speakers. They still work good and will be fine in the garage.



Overall I'm very happy with how these repurposed speakers came out. And since I used speakers I purchased 20 years ago the project was really zero co$t.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 3 | +Karma 1


----------



## ripjack13 (Jun 29, 2020)

Very cool. Iove seeing this kind of stuff....

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


----------



## woodtickgreg (Jun 30, 2020)

ripjack13 said:


> Very cool. Iove seeing this kind of stuff....


And I got a serious upgrade in sound quality. Much more crisp, better vocals, and not as much overpowering base that can make things sound muddy. I can hear cymbals again!

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Mike Hill (Jun 30, 2020)

I thought all speakers were little cubes and called something like bluetooth or you wear them on your head!

Reactions: Funny 2


----------



## woodtickgreg (Jun 30, 2020)

Mike Hill said:


> I thought all speakers were little cubes and called something like bluetooth or you wear them on your head!


Some of us are old school. I still have an old school Marantz reciever and I just picked up a Sony of the same vintage. High quality Japanese.


----------



## Mike Hill (Jun 30, 2020)

I had some sort of Marantz for my dorm. Furniture store my dad worked at had a return and I bought it cheap, cheap. Turntable was ubiquitous, but the speakers were heavy 4' floor jobs I also got cheap from my cousin who custom made them for a house he was building and the owner said they wanted something else. Funny thing is that I only had 2 albums going into college and only 5 at graduation. I'm not a music guy at all. Just had it hoping the coeds would be impressed. Might as well confess and be honest about it!

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


----------



## Gdurfey (Jun 30, 2020)

Mike Hill said:


> I had some sort of Marantz for my dorm. Furniture store my dad worked at had a return and I bought it cheap, cheap. Turntable was ubiquitous, but the speakers were heavy 4' floor jobs I also got cheap from my cousin who custom made them for a house he was building and the owner said they wanted something else. Funny thing is that I only had 2 albums going into college and only 5 at graduation. I'm not a music guy at all. Just had it hoping the coeds would be impressed. Might as well confess and be honest about it!



They had coeds at A&M back when you were there???????????

Reactions: Funny 1 | Way Cool 1


----------



## Mike Hill (Jun 30, 2020)

I have no comment on that!!

Reactions: Funny 2


----------

