Birthday project

I like projects… and I don’t like to work on serious stuff on my birthday. So this morning, after dropping my wife off at work (by the way, thanks for going to work, honey), I went to the electronics store to find a project to work on (I mean, thanks for going to work while I play all day, honey).

For several days, I’d been annoyed with how terrible the twenty-one year old speakers in our Happy Honda sounded. Fair enough, they’re old speakers and I’m pretty sure they’re all blown out (which causes a really awful rattling noise), but I can only take so much. So I went into the store with the goal of giving the Happy Honda an audio pick-me-up.

Now, it may sound crazy to want to do that… after all, why spend money on a car that only cost £125, right? I understand your thinking, but I wasn’t looking for something extravagant, and my goal was to spend less than £20.

I have some decent speakers in the house that plug into my computer, and I thought about buying a power inverter so I could plug those into the car… which would effectively bypass the entire car stereo system, but then I would have wires and loose speakers to deal with, and I wouldn’t be able to plug anything else into my cigarette lighter (like the GPS or phone). Not a very elegant solution (and I drive a 1990 Honda Accord, so, clearly, I’m looking to keep things classy). And, in any case, the power inverter was £30, which was over budget.

Now, I’ve done a lot of things in my 27 years, but I have never done a single “car audio” related task in my life. However, when the guy in the electronics store asked me if I needed help, I started talking car stereos with him, and before long I was convinced that if this guy could replace car stereo speakers, then I could definitely figure it out!

So, after an hour and a half of me crawling around the back seat/trunk of the car… the task was completed. The new speakers sound great, and the whole project only cost me £16. It was a good birthday project… just me, some multi-tools, and my headlamp… and, let’s be honest, any day where I get to use my trusty headlamp for over an hour is a good day.