Garage audio system on the cheap

[Tin]

I forgot to mention, since I did this, there are much easier ways to set this up now. Back when I started this thread, this sort of thing was still in it's infancy. Now there are a couple of purpose-built distros that are simple to set up.

PiCorePlayer: https://sites.google.com/site/picoreplayer/home

Squeezeplug: http://www.squeezeplug.eu/

It's as easy as writing the image to a SD card, inserting it to the Pi, and turning on the power.

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

Nice, I'm ordering these parts now to try it out. My father has an old pair of Infinity SM-102's that he can't seem to part with, even though the foam on the woofers is pretty much see-through. What should I grab from Parts Express to repair them?

 

[Tin]

Nice, I'm ordering these parts now to try it out. My father has an old pair of Infinity SM-102's that he can't seem to part with, even though the foam on the woofers is pretty much see-through. What should I grab from Parts Express to repair them?

Have a look at Simply Speakers or Orange County Speaker Repair. They sell complete kits that come with everything needed. Generally you get the glue, a few popsicle sticks, the surrounds, and voice coil shims depending on the speaker.

 

[Bateater]

I'm really happy you posted this because I will be closing on a house in about a month or so also and was looking into garage audio systems....so I might steal your design here.

 

[Tin]

I'm really happy you posted this because I will be closing on a house in about a month or so also and was looking into garage audio systems....so I might steal your design here.

No problem. As long as you have a tablet, phone, or access to a web browser, you can control it . Most of the stuff you need you can get from Microcenter.

 

[Tin]

Here's a little BOM for anybody looking to build their own.

Board $29.99: http://www.microcenter.com/product/438215/Raspberry_Pi_Model_B

Case $8.99: http://www.microcenter.com/product/434867/Raspberry_Pi_Model_B_Enclosure_-_Black

Wifi adapter $8.99: http://www.microcenter.com/product/411056/W311Mi_Wireless_N_Pico_USB_20_Adapter

8GB Class 10 Micro SD $5.99: http://www.microcenter.com/product/...l_High_Capacity_(Micro_SDHC)_Flash_Media_Card

$57.20 with tax from Microcenter

USB Sound Card $29.99: https://www.parts-express.com/behringer-uca202-2-in-2-out-usb-audio-interface-s-pdif-out--248-599

$35.94 with shipping from Parts Express

Old 5V 1a micro-USB phone charger: Free, if you have a spare around the house.

Total Cost: $93.14

Download and install Logitech Media Server to your desktop, then point it to your music collection: http://www.mysqueezebox.com/download
Download PiCorePlayer: https://sites.google.com/site/picoreplayer/home
Write to SD card using win32diskimager: http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ (or use the dd command if using Linux or OSX)

Insert SD card, plug in a network cable, plug in power. Log into your router settings, from there you can identify the IP address of the new device. Once booted up, point the web browser on your desktop to the IP address of the music player. Navigate the web GUI to the "networking" tab, and put in your SSID and password for your wifi. Power off, disconnect network cable. Boot back up, and you should be able to see the music player from the drop-down on Logitech Media Server. You can access Logitech Media Server by going to your browser and typing in 192.168.xxx.xxx:9000 (IP address of your computer where LMS is installed), then you can play music and add subscription accounts, such as Spotify. If you prefer to use a phone or tablet, iPeng is the better controller on iOS, and Orange Squeeze or SqueezeCommander are the better ones for Android. You can also use the official Logitech Squeezebox Controller available on both platforms.

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

http://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspb...8&qid=1421341135&sr=1-3&keywords=raspberry+pi

Better value

 

[Tin]

http://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspb...8&qid=1421341135&sr=1-3&keywords=raspberry+pi

Better value

Yep, plus you could throw something like XBMC/Kodi on there and use 1channel, Genesis, or Icefilms.

 

[derbydad276]

Dam I thought I was high tech using a battery charger and a car radio

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

If you have a B+ with the 1/8" mini audio out, is the USB DAC still needed for this software?

 

[Tin]

If you have a B+ with the 1/8" mini audio out, is the USB DAC still needed for this software?

The analog out on the Pi stinks, it suffers from a high SNR and larger amounts of crosstalk. You can always run HDMI out to an AVR if you want to omit the USB DAC, The AVR will decode the digital signal.

 

[Mike94ZLT1]

Supposedly the audio quality is supposed to be a lot better on the B+

 

[TWOBEERS]

Alright Bob, I read this whole thing, and now I know exactly what the wifey feels like when she makes the mistake and asks me what I'm doing to my car, and an hour later when I'm done telling her she just stands there and gives me the WTF look. Haha. Besides, my son is an engineer for Harmon-Kardon and gets stupid cheap discount on anything audio I could ever want.

 

[Tin]

Supposedly the audio quality is supposed to be a lot better on the B+

As far as I know, the B+ uses a 10-bit DAC and has a line-out level of 1.0V. Line-level outputs on most consumer audio gear is 2.0V to 2.2V at the most. With such a low output voltage, it'll take more travel on the volume knob to get any sort of loudness going.

 

[Tin]

Alright Bob, I read this whole thing, and now I know exactly what the wifey feels like when she makes the mistake and asks me what I'm doing to my car, and an hour later when I'm done telling her she just stands there and gives me the WTF look. Haha. Besides, my son is an engineer for Harmon-Kardon and gets stupid cheap discount on anything audio I could ever want.

I get that look from people all the time :lol: I've been researching home automation lately, that'll be my next big thing