Light-Up LED Speakers

Our Story:

It all started when my partner, Wanting Mao, and I, Meghna Mavila, realized that our plain, old speakers did not do our favorite music justice. As a result, we looked for project ideas that would enhance our music-listening experience for our project in Ms. Berbawy's Intro to Engineering Design class. One of us found a clear laser-cut speaker enclosure project in Makezine; the other found a sound sensitive LED lights project on Princetronics. That was the moment we knew that we HAD to combine these two projects to make the ultimate Light-Up LED Speakers.

What does it do?

Our project consists of a speaker that flashes light in tune with the beat of the music. The LED lights are programmed to light up when sound is detected past a specific threshold. Combined with the sound sensitive LEDs, when you play music from a device, the LED lights will flash to the beat of the music creating your own little concert!

Materials:

• Arduino
• Breadboard
• Sound sensor
• LED lights (7)
• Resistors (seven 230 ohm)
• Speaker
• Speaker wire
• Auxiliary cable
• Acrylic
• Jumper Wires (12)
• 9V Battery
• Battery Wire

Equipment:

• Wire Strippers
• Screw driver
• Soldering iron
• Acrylic cement
• Plastic cleaner
• Super Glue
• Laser cutter

Step 1: Connect the sound sensor to the arduino with the help of male-to-female jumper wires.

• AO from sound sensor to to AO on Arduino
• G from sound sensor to GND on Arduino
• + from sound sensor to 5V on Arduino
• DO from sound sensor to Digital pin 2 on Arduino

Step 2: Connect the arduino to the breadboard using male-to-male jumper wires

• Digital pin 3 on Arduino to a29 on the breadboard
• Digital pin 4 on Arduino to a26 on the breadboard
• Digital pin 5 on Arduino to a23 on the breadboard
• Digital pin 6 on Arduino to a20 on the breadboard
• Digital pin 7 on Arduino to a17 on the breadboard
• Digital pin 8 on Arduino to a14 on the breadboard
• Digital pin 9 on Arduino to a11 on the breadboard

Step 3: Place LEDs into column d on the breadboard

• Insert the long side (+) of the first LED into d29
• Insert the long side (+) of the second LED into d26
• Insert the long side (+) of the third LED into d23
• Insert the long side (+) of the fourth LED into d20
• Insert the long side (+) of the fifth LED into d17
• Insert the long side (+) of the sixth LED into d14
• Insert the long side (+) of the seventh LED into d11

Step 4: Connect resistor from ground (-) to shorter LED wire.

• Insert one end of the first resistor into e28, and insert the other end into 1[-] (ground)
• Insert one end of the first resistor into e25, and insert the other end into 5[-]
• Insert one end of the first resistor into e22, and insert the other end into 6[-]
• Insert one end of the first resistor into e19, and insert the other end into 10[-]
• Insert one end of the first resistor into e16, and insert the other end into 11[-]
• Insert one end of the first resistor into e13, and insert the other end into 15[-]
• Insert one end of the first resistor into e10, and insert the other end into 16[-]

Step 5: Plug Arduino into computer using the Arduino wire.

Step 1: Open up the Arduino application on your desktop and copy the following code.

int DO = 2; //Pin for Digital Output - DO

int DA = A0; // Pin for Analog Output - AO 

int threshold = 74 ; //Set minimum threshold for LED lit

int sensorvalue = 0;   

void setup() {
  

Serial.begin(9600);
  

pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
  

pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
 

 pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
  

pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
  

pinMode(7, OUTPUT);
  

pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
  

pinMode(9, OUTPUT); 

}   

void loop() {
 

 sensorvalue = analogRead(DA);  //Read the analog value
  

Serial.print("Analog: ");
  

Serial.print(sensorvalue);  //Print the analog value
  

Serial.print("  ");
  

Serial.print("Digital: ");
  

Serial.println(digitalRead(DO) );  //Print the digital value
 
  

if (sensorvalue >= threshold) { //Compare analog value with threshold
    

Serial.println("HIT THRESHOLD --------------------");
    

digitalWrite(3, HIGH);
    

digitalWrite(4, HIGH);
    

digitalWrite(5, HIGH);
    

digitalWrite(6, HIGH);
    

digitalWrite(7, HIGH);
    

digitalWrite(8, HIGH);
    

digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
 
  

}
  

else {
    

digitalWrite(3, LOW);
    

digitalWrite(4, LOW);
    

digitalWrite(5, LOW);
    

digitalWrite(6, LOW);
    

digitalWrite(7, LOW);
    

digitalWrite(8, LOW);
    

digitalWrite(9, LOW);
  } 

}

We made our speaker enclosure case plans on a website called Makercase.

Our case dimensions:

• Box: 5in x5in x7in
• Speaker Hole Diameter: 2.757in
• Cable Holes Diameter: 0.65 in

Step 1: Cut a 4 inch speaker wire.

Step 2: Split ½ inch of the wire with your hands, then use wire strippers to cut and pull off some of the plastic.

Step 3: Solder the split ends of the speaker wire onto the speaker. Step 4: Solder the other end of the speaker wire onto the backside of your amplifier.

• Positive on speaker to R+ on amplifier
• Negative on speaker to R- on amplifier

Step 5: Plug battery wire into amplifier and then plug in the 9V battery.

Step 6: Plug audio jack into amplifier.

Step 1: Use superglue to glue the Arduino next to the breadboard to the back of the speaker enclosure (the one with the two holes). Pull the Arduino wire through one hole. Pull the battery wire and audio jack through the other hole.

Step 2: Superglue the speaker into the large hole on the front of the speaker enclosure

Step 3: Glue all sides EXCEPT THE TOP of the speaker enclosure together using acrylic cement. (Leave the top open because you can adjust the volume from your amplifier and change LED lights.)

Step 4: Connect the battery to the amplifier using the battery wire, and plug in your device to the audio jack to start playing your favorite music!