Hey everyone! I've been a longtime Macrumors reader, but haven't posted much. Figured I'd share a project I did recently (and hope this is in the right sub!).
I saw the iPod Hifi a couple years ago in person and became slightly obsessed, both with the design and the sound quality. I went on a bit of a buying spree over the years and ended up with about 8 units, some of which I've since given to family and friends. I always appreciated that you could pretty easily hook up an airport express and turn it into a wireless speaker, but hated all the wires behind the unit. I figured there might be some way to put the airport inside the hifi and make it self-contained, but it wasn't until recently that I figured out how to do so.
Cracking open the hifi is a pretty annoying process — you have to heat the metal faceplate with a hair dryer and slowly cut through the adhesive with a putty knife. Typical apple...
Faceplate successfully taken off!
Next step is cracking the airport express open. I originally thought it would fit inside the hifi as-is, but it's actually too large, so it had to be shucked out of the plastic case.
The challenge with having the airport sealed inside the hifi is that there's no way to push the reset button (as unlikely a scenario as that might be). I had to get creative, so I decided to remove the original reset switch and solder on a new one that could be mounted in the aux in hole in the back of the hifi.
To save space, I also decided to remove the power jack on the airport and solder the power cord on directly.
The inside of the hifi, minus the speakers. A lot less space than I expected!
The next step in making room for the airport is cracking off these structural supports. Luckily, they snapped off pretty cleanly.
Also had to snap off part of this enclosure to make room for the airport once the hifi is reassembled.
The new reset switch for the airport express.
Sitting in the aux in hole.
Next I had to solder the airport express power cord onto the hifi's power mains.
After a lot of testing, I realized that this was pretty much the only place the airport would actually fit (right below the woofer). You can see how I routed the optical audio cord on either side.
Almost ready to put back together!
You can see how the airport sits below the woofer.
I had to put a bit of new adhesive on the front.
All done! Some hifi porn for your viewing pleasure
So much nicer without all the extra cables.
Back when I first acquired all the hifis... yes, I might have a problem.
Hope you all enjoyed seeing the process! Happy to answer any questions you might have.
I saw the iPod Hifi a couple years ago in person and became slightly obsessed, both with the design and the sound quality. I went on a bit of a buying spree over the years and ended up with about 8 units, some of which I've since given to family and friends. I always appreciated that you could pretty easily hook up an airport express and turn it into a wireless speaker, but hated all the wires behind the unit. I figured there might be some way to put the airport inside the hifi and make it self-contained, but it wasn't until recently that I figured out how to do so.
Cracking open the hifi is a pretty annoying process — you have to heat the metal faceplate with a hair dryer and slowly cut through the adhesive with a putty knife. Typical apple...
Faceplate successfully taken off!
Next step is cracking the airport express open. I originally thought it would fit inside the hifi as-is, but it's actually too large, so it had to be shucked out of the plastic case.
The challenge with having the airport sealed inside the hifi is that there's no way to push the reset button (as unlikely a scenario as that might be). I had to get creative, so I decided to remove the original reset switch and solder on a new one that could be mounted in the aux in hole in the back of the hifi.
To save space, I also decided to remove the power jack on the airport and solder the power cord on directly.
The inside of the hifi, minus the speakers. A lot less space than I expected!
The next step in making room for the airport is cracking off these structural supports. Luckily, they snapped off pretty cleanly.
Also had to snap off part of this enclosure to make room for the airport once the hifi is reassembled.
The new reset switch for the airport express.
Sitting in the aux in hole.
Next I had to solder the airport express power cord onto the hifi's power mains.
After a lot of testing, I realized that this was pretty much the only place the airport would actually fit (right below the woofer). You can see how I routed the optical audio cord on either side.
Almost ready to put back together!
You can see how the airport sits below the woofer.
I had to put a bit of new adhesive on the front.
All done! Some hifi porn for your viewing pleasure
So much nicer without all the extra cables.
Back when I first acquired all the hifis... yes, I might have a problem.
Hope you all enjoyed seeing the process! Happy to answer any questions you might have.
