Nowadays, there are a growing number of users who have abandoned their PC speakers in favor of other options, such as monitor speakers or, of course, headphones.
Obviously, many audiophiles have simply purchased better and newer speakers, and the old ones have been forgotten, but there are always options to be able to reuse them, as we will explain below.
Projects to repurpose your old PC speakers (if they still work)
If the speakers are still functional, there is no reason to discard them, especially if they can still be of great service to you.
However, bear in mind that most of the projects we’ll discuss below will require you to “gut” these speakers, which means you won’t be able to use them in their original capacity.
Charging station with mobile speakers
This project would only be doable with PC speakers with modest drivers, and it would require removing these components from their original enclosure, as you might expect.
In any event, this option is really simple and does not require welding; simply get a plastic container and cut several holes in the sides as shown in the image above; then glue or anchor the speakers immediately below, leaving their electronics inside the container.
Essentially, you will have replaced the housing of your PC speakers with a plastic container, but the idea is to also include a cable for connecting a smartphone and thus listening to music with it, as well as a wireless charging station so that you can leave the mobile terminal on top and charge its battery at the same time.
The old speakers of your PC, in an internet radio station
Do you recall listening to your favorite songs on the radio when you were younger?
The way we listen to music has changed since the Internet’s inception, but that doesn’t mean you can’t set up an Internet radio system to use your PC speakers.
For this project, you will need a pair of working speakers and a Raspberry Pi (of course); in fact, if you are a little handy with carpentry, it can look as good as the image above these lines, but in any case, here is a complete guide to configure Internet radio on a Raspberry Pi and, the rest, it is already open to your imagination on how to integrate it all.
Reuse the PC speakers for… a BoomBox!
PC speakers, regardless of how old or awful they are, usually sound nice and can thus be utilized in practically any audio system (unless you are an audiophile who always wants to have the best possible quality, of course).
In any event, you can use PC speakers for this project, but the developers advocate using vehicle speakers because they have superior quality than PC speakers, particularly in their drivers (yes, car speakers require a power converter, which you won’t need if you reuse PC speakers).
If you don’t already have one, you’ll need an amp to make a BoomBox; in any case, we’ll give you the idea and let you figure out how to put it together.
Projects to repurpose non-working PC speakers
So far, we’ve given you a few suggestions for repurposing some still-working PC speakers, but what if they were broken at the time and that’s why you weren’t using them?
They might still have a new lease of life, but it will be very dependent on the type of speakers you have.
Metal grids that often cover the front of PC speakers, for example, are great for making a stand for earrings or anything else with hooks, but if you do so, we recommend cutting and incorporating the grille into some form of box and sealing the edges with hot glue, as they are fairly sharp.
If your PC speakers are enormous, it’s a better idea to turn them into bookshelves, especially if your speaker box is constructed of wood.
Simply open them up and remove all of the electronics, leaving them hollow inside, and see what kind of furniture you can construct with a little creativity and expertise.
If you have huge speakers (especially if their boxes are made of wood), another possible option is to reuse them with additional speakers, especially if they are wireless (Bluetooth).
Simply open the box and empty it to discard the electronics of any speakers that no longer work (remember, we’re talking about speakers that no longer operate in this section) and replace it with a bluetooth speaker;
In general, if the soundboard of the old speakers was good, any bluetooth speaker, even the smallest ones, would considerably expand and improve the sound.
You can think that your creativity is the limit; whether you make a new shelf, a charging station, or any other gadget that comes to mind, the fact is that if you are a little handyman and feel that you can develop extremely fascinating projects to reuse old PC speakers, the sky is the limit.