POSTED BY

Steven Leckart

AT 9:10 AM
Tuesday August 11, 2009

Audio and Portables

ihorn • iphone • ipod dock

Old-Timey iPhone Dock - Part II

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Last night I joined my friend Matt in a wood shop where he works, and we cranked out a couple "iPhone Horns," the Magnavox-powered sound dock Matt invented and I blogged about a few months ago.

We used plunging and table routers, laser-guided saws, power sanders and more. By far, the best moment was the final step: rubbing the blocks with orange oil. Check out my walnut dock before and after...

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UPDATE:

If you're interested in purchasing an iPhone Horn, or if you already own a Magnavox horn and want to buy a custom, handbuilt dock box from Matt, you can contact him directly at: info AT ampersandhome DOT com ; Sez Matt: prices will be determined on a per-project basis depending on the wood, dimensions and whether you require a horn or can provide one.

Please note: Neither BBG nor I are tied financially with this venture.

9 Comments

RedShirt77

#1 – 10:05 AM August 11, 2009

Can you make me one that also has an audio in so I can also pipe my record player through it?

dtweney

#2 – 11:02 AM August 11, 2009

That is really cool! How does it sound?

feedingfashionistas

#3 – 11:51 AM August 11, 2009

@Redshirt77: These horns use the inbuilt speaker of the iPhone, run through a victrola-style horn to amplify the sound acoustically. To add an "audio in," you'd need to mount a small speaker in the box someplace, with a little amp. I'm envisioning using some kind of plumbing valve to choose whether to route the sound from the speaker, or the phone.

Steven Leckart

#4 – 12:02 PM August 11, 2009

Sounds pretty darn good, considering there's no electronics whatsoever. Both of these pump out sound on par with the first iteration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vpwOZz-XQc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fgadgets.boingboing.net%2F2009%2F04%2F27%2Fold-timey-iphone-doc.html&feature=player_embedded

alowishus

#5 – 1:21 PM August 11, 2009

I love it. Are you selling them? I want one. And I don't have access to laser saws and all that Norm-style woodworking stuff.

Steven Leckart

#6 – 1:46 PM August 11, 2009

If you're interested in buying an iPhone Horn, I can put you in touch with Matt. Just email me:

steven AT boingboing DOT net

Geir

#7 – 8:34 PM August 11, 2009

Okay, so I bought the horn on ebay after the last post, and spent a little time thinking about the design and wondering what the shape of the chamber between the horn and the iPhone should look like. I think I'll make one larger change to the design - who knows how long this form factor of iPhone will be in use or what the next phone I have will look like, so I think the receiving hole or "mouthpiece" should be cut in a block that can be pulled out of the base. That way I can cut a new mouthpiece for the next device/phone to come along.

Steven - is the channel in the block a certain shape? Does it curve like a horn instrument?

Ratbus

#8 – 6:26 AM August 12, 2009

When I stay at a hotel without an ipod dock, I remove a lamp shade and place it upside down on a hard surface. Then, I suspend my iphone on the bracket inside and the lamp shade provides this same effect.

These are really sweet!

Steven Leckart

#9 – 5:10 PM August 12, 2009

@Geir: Matt's experimented with different-shaped channels, so I can't really say for sure. The one I worked on was not especially curved, per say.

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