I know this isnt exactly the right place to post this, but I thought since I have RuneAudio running on this project, I'd post it up in case an electronics nut has any ideas?
After I successfully got my iPod HiFi modded to run RuneAudio (http://www.runeaudio.com/forum/apple-ipod-hifi-raspberry-pi-runeaudio-t1036.html) my Dad was impressed and wanted something similar. I'd been wanting to get him something to go in his covered patio anyway, and something that could AirPlay would be awesome.
So, after some hunting on eBay I managed to find this "Lenco" brand iPod speaker tower. The 30pin dock connector doesnt work, but for £11 shipped, it was a bargain for the other parts! Here's a pic:
- The Lenco Speaker
- IMG_1825.JPG (109.78 KiB) Viewed 1855 times
This thing is pretty big for it's price tag! Has six speakers and a "sub" inside. It also has a radio and clock.
I cracked the back open and found that there is LOADS of space inside to mount extra components:
- The insides
- IMG_1826.jpg (119.81 KiB) Viewed 1855 times
Inside you can see at the top, the board that is the brains of the unit. I found the cable that plugs in here from the "aux" at the back of the unit.
This is what I tapped into.
- The brains of the operation
- IMG_1879.jpg (97.14 KiB) Viewed 1855 times
So my project was working well. I pulled out the board, took the connector for the aux audio in off, spliced into it and attached a jack headphone plug into it. I connected this up to my phone and tested that I could get audio through here. It worked!
Then I ran into two problems:
1. The "aux" port at the back required something to be plugged in to reliably get audio from my new "internal" connector. Without something in the back, I got around 40-50% volume from my internal aux connector. Not sure why this is.
2. Whine/whistle. When the unit is running (even without the Pi plugged in or my audio cable mod) the control board makes a whistle/whine sound. As you press the volume up/down buttons on the controls at the top of the unit, this noise changes accordingly in pitch. As a test, I ran the board without the speakers plugged in. The whistle is faint, but is the same, and is audible from a component on the board.
Does anyone have any ideas? It works... but it's not perfect.
I'll keep this post updated with my findings and my progress!
