Music player: The case

Over the past few weeks, I've been building a music player using a Raspberry Pi and a number of components to power and amplify the project.

In my last post, I completed the soldering I needed to do, and completed the circuit. There are still improvements that can be made to the system overall, but for now I've got a complete, working system. I just need to fit it into a case.

I've always liked the combination of old fashioned style and modern technology, and while browsing a vintage shop I came across an old Bush radio from the late 1950's.

The Bush DAC70

The model is a Bush DAC70 which was built in London around 1957. It only picks up Long-wave and Medium-wave transmissions, so in working condition would be fairly limited in what can be picked up with today's radio broadcasts, especially since I don't listen to LW or MW.

The inspection card found inside the case

This unit was not functional, but was only used to make a nice display in the shop. The light inside the dial worked, but the radio itself didn't work.
This wasn't a problem for me, since I only needed the case, and I know that to radio enthusiasts that destroying a perfectly functional radio would be a crime.
Since this unit isn't working, and I'm planning on restoring it in a fashion, so it can be used again, it feels a better use for the radio than just being sat unused on a display.


The case needed a bit of a clean, so I removed the back, and unscrewed the side-knobs so they could be removed. I removed the screws holding the central panel in the case in position, but found that it couldn't be removed easily. The front dial was connected to the tuner inside the case, so I'd have to disconnect this before I could take the components out.

The inside of the radio

I didn't want to break the front dial as the plastic seemed that it would be quite brittle, but with some gentle twisting and pulling I eventually managed to remove the dial in it's entirety from the tuning mechanism. With the dial removed, the rest of the components came out easily and I gave the case and the controls a good clean.

I used an old toothbrush and some soapy water to clean the dials I'd removed from the radio, and they looked much better. For the case itself, I just wiped this down with a damp cloth, there were quire a few cobwebs inside the case before I started cleaning so clearly it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

Case with dials removed and cleaned

With the parts of the case clean and dry, I first installed my speakers into the case. The existing speaker was a single, larger speaker which was fitted inside the left side of the case. I managed to use some of the existing mountings to attach my own speakers.

Inside of the case with new speakers fitted

I then needed something to attach my components to inside the case. I found a piece of old wooden shelf which was lying around and seemed to be about the right size. I had to trim and shape it slightly to make it fit properly in place of the previous metal centre panel.

With this fitted, I screwed my components to the inside of this to stop them moving around inside the case. I'd managed to pick up some small 2.5mm screws which were the right size to fit through the mounting holes of the Raspberry Pi and the other circuits.

The Raspberry Pi and components inside the case

With all the components installed, I checked the connections were fitted correctly, and powered up the radio. I'm still using the simple On/Off switch.

I connected to the Pi MusicBox browser interface from my phone. I also connected to the Pi using SSH from my pc, to check everything was running correctly.

Since the project is using a Raspberry Pi and it's built inside a Bush radio. I've decided to call it The Raspberry Bush.

The Raspberry Bush playing music using Pi MusicBox

I played some radio stations via the TuneIn radio feature of the software, and this seemed to work with no problems.
The volume is loud enough even with the relatively small speakers I used. The sound quality is also great, it might not be as good as a full Hi-Fi system, but for the size of the speakers I don't think it could really sound any better.
If I was to build a system with large speakers, then I expect the built in audio direct from the Pi wouldn't be good enough and I'd need an external DAC add-on, but for this setup it's perfect.

Using the Pi MusicBox software from a mobile phone

There's a number of improvements I plan to make, but for now the project is essentially complete.  It's a fully working system.

The original radio's dial was illuminated with a bulb, which looks really nice when it's working, so i'd like to recreate that by adding some LED's inside the dial. The LED's can be powered and controlled directly from the Pi, so they should be fairly straightforward to add.

I also want to restore the function of the volume control dial and create a better power switch. I'm planning on using a rotary encoder behind one of the dials to allow it to instruct the software to increase or decrease the volume, rather than using something like a variable resistor or potentiometer. This way the system only has a single volume which can be controlled via the software or the dial.
I plan to somehow mount the second dial so it can be used as a simple push switch to turn the system on. I don't have any plans for the front tuning dial currently.

I've mounted the charging circuit in a position where it cannot be very easily accessed at the moment, so I'd have to remove the back to charge it, or feed a micro USB cable through one of the gaps in the rear of the case. It's not a problem for now, but I'd like to improve this.

I also want to try out some different variations and configurations of software. I plan to try those out on my old Raspberry Pi until I've got a setup I'm happy with.

Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome of the project. It's the first project I've done of this type. I've not built any circuits since school, and not used the Raspberry Pi for anything more complicated than a simple media player connected to a TV.

I'd say that most people would be able to tackle a project like this, just be sure to do your research and take your time.