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The article removes all the smart features (not just the annoying ones) and requires pretty serious knowledge of analog electronics. Probably it doesn't fit the

The article removes all the smart features (not just the annoying ones) and requires pretty serious knowledge of analog electronics. Probably it doesn't fit the bill for the parent comment.

dheera 2y ago
I mean, it's a speaker in a box, so you could also just snip the speaker wires, ditch the circuit board, solder some extension wires, and plug it into an external audio amplifier box of your choice. If you go that route you don't really need much EE knowledge. (This is also only if you already have this box and want to reuse it. Otherwise I would just go to your next neighborhood garage sale and pick up some good speakers for $10)
seba_dos1 2y ago
> and requires pretty serious knowledge of analog electronics If you want to understand the whole thing in depth, then yes, I guess so. However, at the end it just links to the already made project published at MIT license that you can simply replicate with barely any knowledge. It's an equivalent of self-compiling a software project after checking out its repo, which sure, may seem overwhelming if you never did that before, but ultimately it boils down to some reading comprehension and step following exercise.
- sbierwagen 2y ago
  >It's an equivalent of self-compiling a software project after checking out its repo I would not assign this to someone as their first electronics project. They would have to order all the components and get the PCB etched themselves. There's a fair bit of soldering, and a usable soldering iron is not cheap. And there's no undo button in hardware: if you solder something in backwards and pop it, you get pay for a new component and wait for it to ship to you.
  - seba_dos1 2y ago
    Why would you bother with etching such PCB yourself if you can order 10 of them for $4, and that's including shipping? Get two sets of components in case you screw up and then just solder all this exclusively through-hole and one-sided stuff with cheapest iron around. The hardest part will be ordering the components, or more specifically verifying that you got them right, as the KiCad project does not include a BOM. Other than that, it's as easy as it gets. Entry-level workshop stuff, about as complex as ArduTouch. People who never held a soldering iron in their life successfully learn on this kind of boards. (and if you're willing to spare a few more bucks you could even get it assembled by a PCB fab and just receive ready-made boards in your mailbox - the prices aren't prohibitive there either)

The article removes all the smart features (not just the annoying ones) and requires pretty serious knowledge of analog electronics. Probably it doesn't fit the bill for the parent comment.

dheera 2y ago

I mean, it's a speaker in a box, so you could also just snip the speaker wires, ditch the circuit board, solder some extension wires, and plug it into an external audio amplifier box of your choice. If you go that route you don't really need much EE knowledge. (This is also only if you already have this box and want to reuse it. Otherwise I would just go to your next neighborhood garage sale and pick up some good speakers for $10)

seba_dos1 2y ago

> and requires pretty serious knowledge of analog electronics If you want to understand the whole thing in depth, then yes, I guess so. However, at the end it just links to the already made project published at MIT license that you can simply replicate with barely any knowledge. It's an equivalent of self-compiling a software project after checking out its repo, which sure, may seem overwhelming if you never did that before, but ultimately it boils down to some reading comprehension and step following exercise.

sbierwagen 2y ago
>It's an equivalent of self-compiling a software project after checking out its repo I would not assign this to someone as their first electronics project. They would have to order all the components and get the PCB etched themselves. There's a fair bit of soldering, and a usable soldering iron is not cheap. And there's no undo button in hardware: if you solder something in backwards and pop it, you get pay for a new component and wait for it to ship to you.
- seba_dos1 2y ago
  Why would you bother with etching such PCB yourself if you can order 10 of them for $4, and that's including shipping? Get two sets of components in case you screw up and then just solder all this exclusively through-hole and one-sided stuff with cheapest iron around. The hardest part will be ordering the components, or more specifically verifying that you got them right, as the KiCad project does not include a BOM. Other than that, it's as easy as it gets. Entry-level workshop stuff, about as complex as ArduTouch. People who never held a soldering iron in their life successfully learn on this kind of boards. (and if you're willing to spare a few more bucks you could even get it assembled by a PCB fab and just receive ready-made boards in your mailbox - the prices aren't prohibitive there either)