I first came up with the idea of recycling old car audio equipment to build a garage stereo after building a work bench in my garage and liking how uncluttered everything looked. The old stereo was a cheap bookshelf system that took up a lot of real estate and just looked dumb. I knew the car stereo system from my teenage youth was up in a closet at my retired parents' home, so when they came out to visit I asked them to take it along. A few hours of magic and I knew I could have a unique system for the garage.
The materials list:
- Sony XR-6150 Receiver - free from the closet, originally purchased from Radio & TV Center, Hull, IA
- Sony XE8 equalizer/spectrum analyzer - free from the closet, originally purchased from Radio & TV Center, Hull, IA
- Dayton DTA-100a class T amp - $89
- Sony XS-6931 90W 6x9s - free from the closet, originally purchased from Radio & TV Center, Hull, IA
- Nitrous arming switch - $6 in-store
- 12V DC fan - $6 from Microcenter
- NPC 103R 120v to 12v AC to DC converter left over from my parents' days of having a CB in the house - free
- Leftover plywood
- Aluminum sheet metal
Component Selection
My initial thoughts were to have this be network enabled, possibly connecting to our Logitech Media Server and streaming that way. In the end it was accomplished, but in the lame duck way of simply connecting my Samsung droid to a line in to use Pandora and stream local network music. The initial attempt was planned to utilize an old Rockford Fosgate OmniFi DMP1 I also had sitting in a box. Some failed searching showed no wired network adapter that would work with it. Wireless was an option, but WEP was the only available security and not acceptable. Beyond that, to synch its drive with the local network automatically, the OmniFi DMP1 needed SimpleCenter running. SimpleCenter is a very old software and had a lot of resource issues. If I were smarter I may have been able to write my own stuff for this, but I'm not, so the OmniFi DMP1 idea was scrapped.
Component selection was focused primarily on cost, but space and load on the AC-DC converter was also a consideration. I had an amp from the my teenage car stereo, but was a little hesitant about running it on the converter. It also was a little large for the case i had in mind. I was planning on hanging the case under a shelf, so weight was also important. For these reasons I didn't use my teenage amp and instead went with a Dayton DTA-100a class T amp for $89. This proved to be a great decision, the amp is one of the best sounding amps my ears have listened to.
The rest of the components were simply box-in-the-closet components. My Sony XR-6150 receiver, the beautiful Sony XE8 graphic equalizer/spectrum analyzer (admittedly the entire reason for doing this), and some old Sony XS-6931 90W 6x9s. The Dayton amp above specifically says it is not to be used on 4ohm speakers. Most, if not all, car stereo speakers are 4ohm. For a bit I contemplated running two sets of 4ohm speakers in series to have a total 8ohm load, but then I simply decided I'd try it and see what happens. So far it hasn't burned up.
The Build
The hardest part of the entire project turned out to be situating the components and making the cutouts. I did a lot of measuring, test fitting, filing, and swearing. Plywood was chosen for its lighter weight, although screw holding power may not be adequate for the long-term, we'll see. Once I had the cutouts cut exactly how I wanted them, I pulled out some lightweight aluminum sheet metal and wrapped the front and sides for a nice look. Holes were then cut in the garage drywall to mount the 6x9s and their associated grills.
Once all of that was complete, I installed a small case fan on to the back of the box for amp longevity, wired it up to the probably 35 year old NPC 103R AC-DC power supply and fired it up.
For modern tunes I simply hook up my Samsung Galaxy SII and stream Pandora over our wireless network, or I use AllShare to stream via DLNA from our Vortexbox using my phone. Several line in options are available, including a tape adapter that puts all music through the pretty digital graphic equalizer, or the line in on the front of the amp, which sounds very clean. When I'm done in the garage I simply close the nitrous arming switch and shut off the amp.
You're probably wondering how it sounds. Nothing short of amazing. The Dayton amp is probably the reason for it, the 25 year old 6x9s were definitely nothing special, nor was the stereo. It probably took a little bit north of 4 hours to complete this and about $100. In the end I felt the end result was worth it, I have a unique and nostalgic garage stereo, sort of on the home network, that sounds amazing. My retired parents will also be happy that there are a few less things from my youth still lingering in the storage closet.
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