Birdhouse speakers: build a rustic wood shell to disguise an outdoor speaker - Home Weekend Project - includes materials-list - Brief Article

Sunset, July, 2002 by Peter O. Whiteley

You're more likely to hear Mozart or Dave Matthews than chirping emanating from this birdhouse. That's because it hides an outdoor speaker, giving new meaning to the audio-electronics term "tweeter." Our tweeter can mount to a wall, sit atop a pole, or even hang from a sturdy branch, depending on wiring needs. It's open at the bottom, so the speaker faces downward. The size and shape of the speakers you select determine the interior volume of the birdhouse shell. We bought a speaker that measures approximately 6 inches wide, 10 inches high, and 7 inches deep.

COST: $10 per shell, not including speakers

TIME: About 3 hours

MATERIALS

* Speaker

* One 6-foot-long rough-sawn redwood 1-by-12

* Glue

* 5/8-inch (depending on plywood thickness) brads

* One 4-inch square of 1/4-inch plywood

* 2 1/2-inch galvanized finish nails

* 1 1/2-inch deck screws

* Speaker wire

* Paint or wood stain (optional)

* Mounting hardware (see step 9 for options)

TOOLS

Tape measure, yardstick, protractor, circular or table saw, electric drill, C-clamp, hammer, nailset, and carpenter's square.

DIRECTIONS

1. Measure your speaker and calculate interior dimensions to be about 1/2 inch larger in all widths and lengths. The height of the shell can be several inches more than the depth of the speaker. Plan to make butt joints at corners; experienced woodworkers could make mitered joints. For a more professional finish, you could make an angled out on the two ends to match the pitch of the roof.

2. Lay out and cut pieces of redwood for the sides. Drill a 3/4-inch hole near the peak of what will be the front of the house, then glue and tack with brads the plywood square over the hole on the inside face. Assemble the shell using nails.

3. Rip four 2 1/2- inch-wide strips of redwood 3 inches longer than the sides and ends of the shell. They will make the open-frame bottom.

4. Use the carpenter's square to lay out the mitered pieces for the bottom frame, which should extend 1 inch beyond the sides of the shell.

5. Cut and assemble the bottom frame. Before cutting the roof pieces, determine where the tweeter will be displayed. For a vertical surface (a wall, fence, or post), the speaker wires should run through the back. A chain-mounted location requires feeding the wire up through the roof and weaving it into the chain.

6. Cut pieces of redwood for the roof and attach, If the tweeter will hang, find the balance point at the center of the roof and drill a hole big enough to accommodate speaker wire and an eyebolt.

7. Attach the bottom frame with four screws centered on each side running into the bottom edges of the shell. Paint or stain the shell, if desired.

8. Remove the bottom, feed speaker wire from the back or top, hook up the speaker so it faces down, and reattach the bottom.

9. We suspended one speaker from a chain that attaches to an eyebolt. Use L-brackets, heavy-duty picture hangers, or interlocking angled blocks of wood to suspend wall-mounted units.

OPTIONS

Use your imagination to personalize the tweeters you make, We finished one roof in shingles made from a bundle of cedar shims ($3.50); for another, we used an old shingle. Rusted sheet metal, asphaltic roofing, old boards, or slate tiles are other roofing alternatives.