There are some projects which are not big or flashy. Simple little things which are easy to build and fill a tiny but important niche in our audio setups. I call these “popcorn” projects.
I would love to be able to take credit for the name but I can’t. My wife and I both spend a lot of time working with our hands and making things. We both always have multiple projects in the queue, each in various states of completion. When my wife finishes a large or complicated project, she often says she needs a “popcorn” project. These are simple projects which go together quickly, don’t require lots of planning or detailed attention, but are nonetheless satisfying to complete. Hence the name “popcorn”. Something quick and not too difficult, but satisfying.
Today, I assembled one of these projects. It took maybe two hours from gathering the parts to completion. You see, lately I’ve been adding little bluetooth receivers by all my amps around the house. These are just the tiny little cubes that run off a wall wart and provide analog audio output. Like this one here. This way, anyone with a cell phone, iPad, or laptop that wants to play some music can connect to the amp. The only issue is the amps already have an input source and I don’t like swapping cables. So what’s needed is just a simple little source selection switch. So that’s what I built.
Here’s how it looks, inside and out.
This is literally just a 4PDT switch and six RCA connectors in a Bud CU-124 cast aluminum box. Now I can plug in both the original source and the bluetooth receiver and just switch between the two sources. What’s better is if someone wants to play something through an amp I don’t even have to get up. I just tell them to connect to the bluetooth and flip the switch. No tinkering required.
I find little projects like this very satisfying. When I feel the need to do a little assembly but don’t want to fidget with one of the bigger projects I’ve got going, something like this makes for an interesting and enjoyable diversion. Let me know in the comments if you have any “popcorn” projects that you’ve enjoyed building lately.
As always, questions and comments are welcome.