Hello everyone! I wanna turn this old radio into a Bluetooth speaker..

[Wtfdidharryshoot]

So I got this old magnavox high fidelity radio I want to turn into a Bluetooth unit, the electronics were fried, so I removed them. The radio has a 4x6 and a a 3x3 speaker mounted up against the mesh from the inside id like to replace with something decent

anyway, where the old FM/am band is I was going to remove and replace with the actual Bluetooth interface, if that’s possible. I’m decent at woodworking/etc so I feel like I could make one fit. I know I would need to wire that to an amp then to the speakers, right? Am I way off base here? Any products/websites you guys recommend? Advice on how to go about this?
Thanks in advance.

 

[NINaudio]

Maybe check out parts express for some ideas:

https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/speaker-subwoofer-kits/speakertype/Bluetooth

 

[Wtfdidharryshoot]

Maybe check out parts express for some ideas:

https://www.parts-express.com/speaker-components/speaker-subwoofer-kits/speakertype/Bluetooth

I just don’t even really know what I’m looking for. Im a complete newbie

 

[afterlife2]

I'd go on youtube and do a search there are many videos.

 

[slipperybidness]

I just don’t even really know what I’m looking for. Im a complete newbie

https://www.parts-express.com/search?order=relevance:desc&keywords=kab

Start looking at the items on that link, then download some of the manuals from those products (linked at the P-E website).

 

[TLS Guy]

So I got this old magnavox high fidelity radio I want to turn into a Bluetooth unit, the electronics were fried, so I removed them. The radio has a 4x6 and a a 3x3 speaker mounted up against the mesh from the inside id like to replace with something decent

anyway, where the old FM/am band is I was going to remove and replace with the actual Bluetooth interface, if that’s possible. I’m decent at woodworking/etc so I feel like I could make one fit. I know I would need to wire that to an amp then to the speakers, right? Am I way off base here? Any products/websites you guys recommend? Advice on how to go about this?
Thanks in advance. View attachment 51351

If you have no electronic experience this will be a steep climb for you. You will need a Bluetooth receiver, a power amp, a power supply and a speaker. There are a lot of speaker options on Partsexpress.

Honestly, if you have no experience, then this is beyond what we can really do on a forum like this to help you. I think this will require some hands on guidance for your first rodeo. If you had some experience to fall back on that would be different, but as a total novice DIYer that would be tough.

 

[Eppie]

I guess it depends upon just how DIY you want to get. You could get a finished bluetooth receiver and a finished amp with RCA inputs and just hide them inside the cabinet. Modifications would be needed if you wanted to move some of the controls and indicators to the front face but that could be done with wire and solder. You need to use shielded cable if anything will be carrying an audio signal.

The remaining challenge would be to take a stereo output from the amp and connect it to the speakers. The old radio was likely mono and you can't just bridge the outputs on the amp unless it was designed for it. You'll either need to replace the speakers with two full range speakers, or bridge the output of the bluetooth device and use a mono amp. Besides PartsExpress mentioned, aliexpress.com has a lot of Chinese electronics that are not too expensive and could be modded for fun.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I just don’t even really know what I’m looking for. Im a complete newbie

From the link that @NINaudio provided, I would look at the Bluetooth kits which best match what you are trying to accomplish.

Be aware that Bluetooth devices tend to just link to your phone. They aren't FM receivers or anything like that. It's a Bluetooth receiver, a power switch, a volume knob, and a pairing button. It may have a couple of other buttons available as well. There is no 'bluetooth interface'. There is only the receiver.

Look at the kits on that link. Most are almost identical. Some have rechargeable internal batteries, some can use regular batteries, some require hard power. But, all three are almost the same. Let's just take a stab at something like this unit which has internal rechargeable batteries so you could do things without a plug...

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Portable 30 Watt Battery Powered Bluetooth Speaker Package with 2-1/2" Full-Range DriversParts express has put together all of the electronic components needed to build your own 2 x 15 watt battery powered Bluetooth speaker with stereo 2-1/2" full range drivers. This kit is perfect for building...

www.parts-express.com

You may want to consider other Bluetooth kits if they provide better instructions as the ones on Parts Express have really poor instructions it seems. Not sure if the kits come with something better, but it appears they may not.

The hard part is that you want to do something VERY custom, and it sounds like you don't know anything about electronics. Not sure what your skill set is on customizing or how you plan to get there. Are you good at soldering? Have you built electronics kits in the past?

These skills are learned by people who want to accomplish an end goal. You have one, and it's a nice project to consider. It's not really what I might consider a beginner project as you will have to do some serious modding to what you currently own and care and time will be needed to do it right.

An end goal that looks something akin to this, will take you a lot of work and some skill to get right...

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