Make a smartphone speaker

Easy-to-create speakers out of native timber

Smartphone speakers are a great small project for woodworkers. Basically a simple sound box amplifies your phone and becomes a desktop speaker, without batteries or wires. You can expect a surprising boost to volume and sound quality.

There are a number of designs that pop up on the internet, as it is not a new concept by any means. I made four design variations for this project.

The phone needs a relieved section, or cradle, to drop into that is about 20mm deep. You will have to measure according to the phone model you have. At the bottom of the cradle is a slot to carry the sound into a larger hole which is the speaker.

The first two designs that I made were glued-up boxes that, interestingly, were not as good at amplifying as the third design, which uses a drilled-out solid square section of wood.

Designs one and two use three pieces of wood — the backing board, a centre board with a cradle to house the phone, and a front soundboard. 

In theory this should have given an improved sound quality but actually, to my ears, it made little difference

Clarity of sound

The first design, made from Oregon, worked quite well, and then for the second design, made of King Billy pine, I used a thin soundboard, like on a guitar, for the front. In theory this should have given an improved sound quality but actually, to my ears, it made little difference.

The third design used a solid piece of West Australian she-oak, with a drilledout cradle and a 40mm diameter speaker opening. To improve the design from a lump of square wood I bevelled all the outside edges and the front of the speaker opening. This worked well, as the hardwood seemed to add more clarity to the emitted sound and the beautiful sheoak grain makes it a desirable object.

For the final design I added a five-degree angle to the front, which does no more than make it a more complex-looking object. The speaker hole was, however, drilled at five degrees as well, so the hole remained perfectly round. Anyone can cut off a chunk of wood and drill a few holes, but if we are fine woodworkers then surely we can add in some details.

You can have some fun experimenting with shapes and different local New Zealand wood species. These speakers are a great gift item and they do work well.

If we are fine woodworkers then surely we can add in some details

1. A drill press fitted with a 40mm diameter, carbidetoothed, Forstner-style bit was perfect for the job. This gave a smooth and clean hole that required minimal clean-up2. Three pieces of wood prepared and ready to glue up 1

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3. The three pieces all glued up4. Design three has the same 40mm diameter main speaker hole. A 9.5mm Forstner bit was used for the cradle drilling. Using the same settings on the drill press, a smaller 6mm drill bit created the sound slot5. Design three, almost finished6. A bevel was added using a laminate trimmer and a 45-degree cutter 6

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