Portable stereo/MP3 player for when I work outside revisited (2024)

We have an FM transmitter connected to the stereo the living room TV plays through, mostly so we can hear the TV in the kitchen but I have a few other radios in various other locations, including the old clock radio in the master bath (if you have an old guy bladder you will understand why I get up to get something from the kitchen and end up running down the hall first). But it was hard to reach and not very good.
In addition, I have fairly bad arthritis and long soaks in a tub of hot water help a lot with that so I have been listening to the portable stereo then too.

So I decided to make a copy of the portable stereo, this time instead of a bay for a power bank it got a USB-C port on the end so I can plug it into a wall charger and since won't be carrying it around I used an antenna that doesn't fold and didn't bother with a handle.
I didn't bother taking in process pics this time since they would be the same the original project but here's what it looks like finished (on my cluttered workbench)



And here it is installed.


I promise that will be the last module stereo project for a while.

At least 10 years ago I sent my late friend Bill pics of some speakers I had made. He decided I needed logos with my initials for projects like that so after consulting with his (artist) brother he sent me artwork of a stylized version of my initials (R.E.K.). I printed a sheet of them at what passed for high resolution then and clear coated it so I could cut them out and stick them to a few projects over the years.
This time my neighbour Lee 3D printed one for me. Now the project is really finished

Sorry, I posted the first update as an edit. I think I'm doing this one right.

The first case was way too thin and eventually broke from falling over. Even with the new case it was too easy to make it tip forward; Moving the front feet as far forward as possible and shortening the rear ones made a big difference but it still wasn't as stable as I'd have liked. I initially decided to move the power bank to the rear to leave more room on the front panel but moving the weight of the power bank to the back should fix that issue too.

I also used the old front panel as a template for drilling the holes around the edge of the new one


New panel ready for assembly


Soldering done. 2 connections to the USB plug, 1 for antenna wire and 2 each for the speakers. This project certainly didn't strain my electronics skills
BTW, the white stuff on the left is polyester fibre for inside the case.


And assembled. It is hard to tell from the pic but I sprayed the speakers with Dark Teal Metallic




I've listened to it for over 12 hours so far. It is nice to have a volume knob (with power switch) but the time counter resets at only 20 minutes (the old one was 100 minutes). That wouldn't be a problem if you are just listening to songs but the radio shows & podcasts I listen to are 1-3 hours long and it would be nice to know how far into the program I am. The old player would reset to the beginning of the MP3 if I didn't pause it before turning the power off. It took me a while to figure out that with this one I need to pause and remove the USB drive before turning it off, after which I can plug the drive back in and when I turn it on again it will start where I left off. I think I'm already used to that.
It's not a big surprise that speakers that small could do with a bit more bass (I'd consider adding a port if I had a way to find the resonant frequency) but overall I think it sounds fuller than the round speakers I used in Versions 1&2.

Now about the parts I didn't reuse..... I have some ideas but they will have to wait for a few weeks until I get caught up on some other stuff.