Q&A for How to Make Your Own Speakers

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What is the resistance of a basic speaker?

Community Answer

There is no standard resistance. Most speakers are either 4, 8 or 16 ohms resistance.

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Question

Can I take any magnet?

Community Answer

Round magnets will be the best to use, but you can try to make it work with a different shaped magnet.

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Question

What is the channel of the speaker?

Joe hamel

Community Answer

A channel is a pair of connections. On a speaker, this refers to a set of positive (+) and negative (-) inputs. On a single voice coil, you will only have one positive and one negative, so you only have one channel. On a dual voice coil speaker, you have two positives and two negatives, so without bridging, you have two channels.

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Question

Can I convert an old radio into a speaker?

Community Answer

As long it has speakers and a working amplifier. You could replace the old amplifier for a Bluetooth one if you'd like (there are a lot of videos on YouTube on how to do this).

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Question

Can I replace the magnet with an electromagnet?

Community Answer

This is technically an electromagnet by itself. So you could probably do without the copper wire if you use an electromagnet. Also, try putting a thin piece of steel foil over the large opening in the cup. It will make it extraordinarily loud. However, vibrations may make it a little buzzy, so use a sturdy material.

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Question

Could this be flat wire?

Community Answer

Yes, I've made a basic speaker work with a coil of copper tape on paper, or even a coil cut out of tin-foil. so far mine have all been very quiet, basic speakers with low-quality sound.

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Question

Can it be scaled down for a 3 cm x 3 cm version?

Community Answer

It's possible, but it may struggle to produce lower frequencies. As long as you have the materials, this concept will work on any scale.

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Question

Can I use more than one magnet to make the speaker?

Community Answer

Not the way you are thinking. You cannot wrap two magnets with the same wire to make the speaker sound better. However, you can have multiple different types of magnets with their own copper wires, then combine the copper wires to make two of the wires for the gator clips.

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Question

How do I know the ohms of my built speakers?

Community Answer

You can Google the model of the speaker to find the impedance. Most speakers have a impedance of 4 - 16 ohms.

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Question

How do I make a louder speaker for my mobile device?

Community Answer

You can put your phone in a cup or cup your hand over your phone speakers to amplify the sound for your mobile device.

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Question

Can I use a 0.6 mm copper wire or do I need a thinner one?

Community Answer

You can use a 0.6 mm wire, that should be fine. A thinner one would release a higher pitched noise.

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Question

How long does it take to make speakers with this method?

Community Answer

With method 1(using cup magnet and wire) it will take 10 to 15 minutes. Method two will take around 1 hour if it’s from a kit and as a DIY project, a few hours.

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Question

How strong should the magnet be when making my own speakers?

Community Answer

If you use a weak magnet ,the sound quality will not be great. However, if you use a stronger magnet, then the sound quality will be much better.

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Question

Can I make a woofer at home?

Community Answer

You can, but it’s not easy unless you know how to build speaker. To do it, you will need a much stronger magnet and more coil. The easiest way to do it is to buy a kit but it is still possible to do it at home. There are YouTube videos that explain it more in-depth.

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Question

What do I do to get these handmade speakers connected to a phone?

Community Answer

Depending on the kit you buy, the circuit board should come with an auxiliary input, and you can purchase a bluetooth receiver to plug in to it if you like.

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Question

How does the cup affect it?

Community Answer

The cup projects the sound better. It helps create sound waves so you can hear. The cup is like a cone so that it can amplify sound waves coming from the electromagnet to produce sound.

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Question

Do the copper wires have to have a rubber coating or does it work without?

Community Answer

It depends on which part you're talking about. The inductor (part that wraps around the magnet) needs to be uninsulated (no rubber). The free hanging wire that connects to the audio source should be insulated by rubber or heat shrink to keep from zapping yourself.

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Question

Can I use these speakers to produce a high frequency sound that can break a glass?

Community Answer

Absolutely not. In order to break glass, you need around 100db of amplitude, which would require an electric amplifier. Then, you would need to find the resomance point of the glass that matches the waveform of the tone output by your audio source, usually achieved through a synthesizer or tone generator of some kind.

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