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…
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.
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?
Can you make me one that also has an audio in so I can also pipe my record player through it?
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.
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
That is really cool! How does it sound?
@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.
@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.
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
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!