ervington's Profile

Agree with techtoys and orchid...so many speaker options, including DIY speaker options that you all have featured, mean that this is pointless. Stop calling speakers eyesores! They can be gorgeous and incorporated into any decor. Surely there are better solutions than spraypaint.

Oh, and all those tiny speakers sound terrible. I don't care how much they cost or who manufactures them, there are mechanical limitations to tiny speakers that nothing can overcome, be it their sound or their looks.

While the looks are to die for, you might be better served to buy a cMoy altoids tin amp (or better yet, make your own!) and put it in a wood box yourself. The circuit is essentially the same. I love Grado, swear by their cartridges and headphones, but the price on this one is a little outlandish.

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

This argument could get flame-ish in a hurry. Audio is subjective, and this being a site about simplicity and all, the project is interesting. I built a pair of speakers from commonsense audio's plans (and incorrectly and poorly at that) using their Audio Nirvana 8" drivers, and the sound was quite pleasant. Was there coloration? Undoubtedly. Was the response perfectly flat from 20 to 20khz? No way. But I managed to fill a large room with high ceiling with what at the time my friends and I considered nice sound.

Great project, very jealous of this find and the finished product. Hope you did in fact keep the vacuum tubed section. Don't junk it just because it doesn't work...I would love to see if I could get it going, or you could likely pay off your investment in this project selling it whole or in pieces on ebay. Vintage transformers are worth their weight in iron. Careful if you plug it in....

Martin G is correct that you will need some sort of amp if you plan on running standard bookshelf speakers. I would be wary of plugging speakers directly into the headphone output on your computer...it may work, and it might depend on your speakers, but most headphone jacks are not made to drive "passive" speakers (e.g., bookshelf speakers like you might get from best buy).

If the goal is to use regular speakers without having to buy a whole new stereo system, or without having to run wires to your normal stereo, I think the Sonic Impact T-amp ($60 from amazon or partsexpress.com I think) could help.

A Sonic Impact T-Amp is a quite small, possibly even stylish amp that you can run off batteries (no wires!) or from the wall (no wasting batteries!). Seems "underpowered" compared to the huge "8000Watt 10.1 channel!!!" systems, but it is not. I have powered dance parties with one. Again, small enough to hide under or on on a desk. No bigger than an external hard drive. Just plug it into your computer's stereo out with the cord provided, and wire your speakers to the back.

I know I sound like a T-amp salesperson (i'm not), and maybe the goal was not to have to purchase anything, but for $60 you're going to get sound that many say is better than you can get from the run of the mill stereo head units from your typical big box store. It's not expensive, it's small, and you're not paying for anything you don't need (surround sound features, remote, digital inputs, 8 speaker outputs).

Bah, the only people who are posting are not the people who are going to buy this. Let's say you already sprang for an iMac so that you have a nice compromise on apple appeal and performance without the extra cost of a laptop. Or you already have a desktop computer. The Air could be GREAT.

It's kind of getting at the "universal device" from the other side of the equation as the iPhone or iPod touch. While those allow internet usage anywhere, I could never type this comment on one. The Air is something that will appeal to many of the new users Apple is attracting, and to the average user who just want to watch DVDs, play mp3s, and surf the internet from anywhere.

Seriously, how many people really need "at least three usb ports," especially since the Air connects to everything wirelessly. Want to play mp3s to your stereo? Why use USB when you can get an airport extreme base station and do without? Same goes for storing to an external hard drive. Or a printer. And of course you wouldn't want to plug a keyboard and mouse into this thing...seriously, when the touchpad is so useful? When it's made to be small and portable enough that you're ONLY using it on your lap?

Email. Word Processing. Music. Internet. Video. Wireless printing. Excel? Keynote/Powerpoint? I'm running out of things the typical computer user does on a regular basis, but not out of htings you can do on the Air. Yes yes, I know everyone here is a "very serious" computer user and needs all that processing "power" or all that awesome video editing, audio editing, photoshopping, and weather simulation software they run sumultaneously in order to need the newest and highest computer specs. But my sister just wants to check her myspace and download music and maybe proofread a paper she's writing for school before printing it. And she wants to do it at her local coffee shop with free wifi. Damn, the Air is sweet for her.

Also, wearing a Halo neck brace gives me special insight on all things "Halo."