My easy-peasy bookshelf 'tasteful' jukebox

[Dermbrian]

I started by trying different placements of my Logitech 2.1 speaker system with massive subwoofer and two satellite speakers.  The subwoofer takes up most of the bottom, pointed sideways.  Not ideal, but what the hey.  The satellites actually sounded best to me on a shelf immediately above the subwoofer rather than higher up.  So....I only had to make one frame for a grill cloth.

I made the grill cloth frame out of 5/8" square by 36" long hardwood hobby wood from Home Depot.  I did simple butt joints just connected withsurface mounted flat corner braces, testing the fit each step of the way rather than doing careful measuring.

One 2" hole cutout in the bottom section through the bookshelf back, a triangle shaped corner cut on the left rear of each shelf for the cables between the PC and speaker and power, and just assemble everything and plug the sucker in. Viola.  A 're-imagining' of a jukebox as living room furniture.  Volume control and modified USB keypad are the only things connected to the PC.  I can easily connect a keyboard for occasional use and maintenance, or just use the touchscreen.

I may change the cloth shown for some actual grill cloth.  The cloth I used was just something I picked up for $5 at Hobby Lobby this morning so that I could move the project along on my day off.

So after all these years of using DWjukebox, I finally have what I consider a jukebox instead of just a PC running the application.  I am one happy camper, and my wife as no problem with this jukebox in our living room.

Brian

[drventure]

Nifty. Yeah, with that color wood, I think black cloth would look better, but still, nice project!

What kind of touchscreen is that?

The only thing you might consider is framing out the touchscreen in that top opening. Not absolutely necessary, but it would serve to help "finish it off"

[Dermbrian]

Thanks!

I wanted to go with a tan fabric of some kind as a sort of tribute to late 1950's early 1960's hi-fi's.  But Mrs. Dermbrian gets the ultimate say on the grill cloth, and she's already told me she'll find something else.

The PC is actually a big 22.5 inch MSI All-In-One touchscreen PC running Windows 7.  Touchscreen doesn't work with DWJukebox in Vista or Windows 7, but I like using the keypad I made to select songs, so that's OK.  I've loaded Simple Touch FE and set a few other applications and web pages to be just a touch away.  I think appearance wise, from the point of view of blending in to the living room, this works for us better than mounting it or any other screen into the top of the bookshelf.

BTW, the two piggy banks are where I put the quarters in.  3 songs for a quarter, 12 or a whole album for a dollar.   This hobby supports itself.

Brian

[Dermbrian]

Some more pictures and a more detailed writeup:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Jukebox-from-a-shelving-unit/

Brian

[Kevin Mullins]

Your pictures don't do it justice.
Nice job !! 

[Dermbrian]

Thanks, Kevin.  I just borrowed my daughter's camera and snapped a few more.  

Left and right view.

The shelf with my "Philco" bookends (AM/FM radio...) holding up my collection of Frank Sinatra biographies.  The theme kind of makes me want to name my jukebox "The Voice" by Derm-O-Dyne.

The PC area.  The brass swan holds quarters that I put in the Japanese fortune cat bank, three songs for a quarter.  The US 50 bank holds quarters that I put in related to jogging a couple miles or riding my bike.  Incentivizing that helps me get up off the couch.

The front dropped down, revealing the Logitech Z2300 speakers.  I bought these a few years ago because they had great reviews for music as opposed to just booming sound for video games.  I think those reviews were right.  I'm very happy with them.

Easy-peasy, but tasteful.  And done.

Brian