Building A Monitor Soundbar (DIY Project With Video)
OK, to start this article, I going to state that this is not about an electronic design or repair. Its’ more of an assembly…
The reason I started this project was because in my automotive workshop, I have a desktop computer and a wall mounted monitor. This had worked well for several years, but I had noticed over the last few days, the screen would disappear after the monitor had been running for any length of time. I started working on repairing it, but unfortunately, it took longer than I expected.
No problems, I had a spare monitor that I could use until I repaired the original. The spare, unfortunately, didn’t have speakers, nor did the desktop computer.
Yes, I could have spent more time trying to repair the original monitor, but I had an idea in my head that wouldn’t go away!
For some time, I had a little 100W amplifier that I had purchased. Now was an opportunity to put it to work. I also had disassembled a laptop computer that was unrepairable, salvaging parts that I could reuse.
I’ve always enjoyed timber work & have built furniture, restored our house & other projects. Now was the time to combine both timber work with electronics.
I came up with a basic design and went to work.
I had some spare MDF timber that I was able to cut to size.
Using masking tape helped hold the pieces together temporarily for testing.
At this point, I made a template to house the laptop speakers. I enclosed them in their own little boxes to enhance the massive base notes…….
Using a hole saw gave the basic shape, while a jigsaw was used for the final shape.
I wanted the front to have a grille look of sorts. I bent up some window screen mesh & this became the soundbar face.
I was not happy with the placement of the power supply to the amp. This was simply done by a terminal block that did not allow for easy disassembly.
I purchased a power supply that had a barrel jack. However, due to the size of the female barrel jack that would be soldered to the board, this would interfere with the soundbar housing. This was solved by facing the terminal block backwards and remotely installing the barrel jack into a different section of the soundbar. This was then glued into place.
After allowing the glue to dry overnight, the soundbar could be assembled & tested. Considering all it had to do was provide sound from the computer, it successfully carried out the task. It was light enough to not put excess stress on the wall mounted monitor.
It has been working flawlessly for almost a year now & I am more than pleased with the results.
If you are interested in this repair, you can see a video on my channel following the link below:
This article was prepared for you by Mark Rabone from Australia.
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Note: You can check out his previous repair article below:
https://jestineyong.com/hisense-50-smart-tv-struck-by-lightning-repaired/
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Albert van Bemmelen
March 8, 2021 at 7:01 pm
I share with you the fact that I like building and making new things over fixing them. Because fixing things not always gives a satifying result whereas creating new things always does! And you did a good job saving some money on a soundbar because they don't come cheap!
Mark
March 9, 2021 at 5:46 am
Thanks Albert,
I saw this cheap little amp on Aliexpress and couldn't resist. I knew I would use it one day.....or at least I hoped.
I have been doing timber work for many years - in fact back in 2002 I stuck my fingers into the blade & cut through 2 of them! They got stuck back on & now I'm back into timber work!
I still have the other monitor to repair, but because I have been struggling with it, it has been put on the back burner for now.
It was easier to build the sound bar!
Albert van Bemmelen
March 11, 2021 at 12:02 am
Happy to hear you completely survived that very hurtful accident Mark! My cool brother, at one of his previous jobs, once provided first aid to a young man that got very serious injured while he was not paying enough attention. And at such moments any second counts!
Mark
March 11, 2021 at 3:01 pm
At the time it seemed like a good idea to leave the guard off.....not so much now!
I took photos at the time (or actually, my wife did 🙂 ) & I now show the apprentices what can happen when I teach OHS.
A hard lesson learned!
Parasuraman S
March 8, 2021 at 7:29 pm
Vow! You are really amazing! There is no limit for your innovative ideas! Wonderful work finished with a lot of skill and tricks employed! Many thanks for sharing!
Mark
March 9, 2021 at 5:47 am
Thank very much Parasuraman, that means a lot! 🙂
Yogesh Panchal
March 8, 2021 at 9:37 pm
Mark,
Excellent! Exploring creative idea by making things of our interest.
tino
March 8, 2021 at 11:36 pm
well done
Lynn Blakely
March 9, 2021 at 3:35 am
Good Job Mark: that was an innovative solution to a problem. We sometime call that southern engineering in the south part of the USA.
Mark
March 9, 2021 at 10:12 am
Or thinking out of the box........or inside the box in this case 🙂
Mark
March 9, 2021 at 5:47 am
Thanks Yogesh,
It was a good fun, practical project.
Jorge
March 9, 2021 at 11:48 am
good job Mark, congratulations
Mark
March 10, 2021 at 4:33 pm
Thanks Jorge 🙂