[crooner]

Yeah, I love it so much I built my own customized "no holds barred" Super Squeezebox:

[1000a]

In all, the Squeezebox is the best thing that has happened to digital in 20 years, IMHO.

FACT for me too

I have not been this torked about my stereo & music in years and this SB thing has got me DIYing ICs, PCs, SPKR wires, Room lenses, bass traps, diffusors, so I have not even Wayne-anized mine yet but with all the system improvements and good power supply & DAC I'm in heaven with improvement headroom to look forward to.   It has sparked for me a total synergistic effort on MS and room for little money.

Yeah, I love it so much I built my own customized "no holds barred" Super Squeezebox:

OK are you gonna market that beautiful thing, how much?
Or at least explain it to us, looks awsome!

[DSK]

Wow! Veeerrrryyyy classy!

You should sell the design to Logitech as the SqueezeBox Signature series .... or perhaps the ...Not So Squeezy box! 

Is the 2nd antenna for show or have you changed the wireless reception setup?

[crooner]

Thanks for the compliments DSK!

Yeah, I wish Logitech would have designed something like this instead of the current Transporter. This was actually my main motivation to build this one-of-a-kind machine!

As for the wi-fi, I decided to have two external antennas instead of a single one (as in the Squeezebox2). It was easy to accomplish. I simply connected both to the dual antenna connections on the mini PCI wireless card. Signal strength jumped from around 80% to a whooping 96%!!! 

[crooner]

OK are you gonna market that beautiful thing, how much?
Or at least explain it to us, looks awsome!

Thanks man, it turned out much better looking than I had expected!

I have had many requests to make more of them. The problem is the availability of the Squeezebox2, in which it is based. The current model is not well suited for a chassis transplant, unfortunately.

Both Squeezebox2 and 3 are functionally identical with the same display and technical specs.

For this design I placed the most emphasis on the digital output since I am using it with an external DAC. Therefore it features a Scientific Conversion pulse transformer and Neutrik true 75 ohm BNC connector.

Special care was taken to reduce or filter out RFI/EMI. The display was shielded with an extra aluminum panel. Stillpoints ERS sheets were also used in both main unit and power supply. Tons of ferrite beads as well.

The power supply is rated at 5 volts 12 amps (overkill, I know!) and features 64,000 microfarads of filtering with Sonicap bypasses and IXYS FRED rectifiers.

Silver solder was used exclusively, along with mil-spec Teflon coated silver and Kimber copper wire.

I'm not a believer in replacing SMD components with conventional types because of the long leads picking up all sorts of RFI. The benefits of the fancy parts being negated by this.

I believe proper shielding and a careful layout yields much better results...

[1000a]

thanks, no holds barred, with your own sweat - it does not get better than that!   
Very, very nice you gotta know we are certainly jealous and probably have out our leagal pads trying to dream up something cool like that.

[crooner]

That's cool man!

I hope this inspires others to build similar machines. There's really nothing unique in my design. The chassis and pretty much everything is available online for the DIY savvy.

My only concern was the possible introduction of the Squeezebox4, which is rumored to happen sometime this year.

However, the current model is already bit perfect and with some careful modification can yield superb sonic results. The improvements will come in the form of a Sonos like user interface, I am sure.

Not too crazy about LCD displays in remotes, so I'm not expecting anything revolutionary in the near future.

[DSK]

Crooner, do you mind if I ask where the chassis came from? Also, do you think the wireless reception improvement was purely due to using 2 antennae instead of one, or were the replacement antennae different and better than the stock unit?

[crooner]

The chassis' came from diyenclosures.com

They had two types that were perfect for the SB and power supply. Sheer luck!

Yeah, the improvement in reception is definitely due to the extra external antenna, no doubt about it.

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

[ctviggen]

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

Why? 

[crooner]

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

Why? 

Because internal antennas have poorer reception.

[jhm731]

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

Why? 

Because it cheaper than external antennas.

[tanchiro58]

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

Why? 

Crooner,

What about the laptops which have wireless cards inside of the thick enclosures? I have three SB3s in three different rooms and between thick walls far away from the wireless router but they work well.

Tan

[lcrim]

I think that in discussing ethernet connections, either wired or wireless, a connection is either made or not.  It doesn't make any practical difference whether or not the signal strength is high or low, as long as there is a connection-all the packets will be reasembled at the end point.  The quality of the sound derived will be the same.  If accurate data communications were an issue w/ ethernet then it wouldn't be the standard that it obviously is. 
While your photographs certainly demonstrate your ingenuity and craftsmanship,the larger form factor is not necessarily a good thing.  The small size of the factory product, while problematic to modders does make placement less of an issue. 

[tomjtx]

Crooner,

Your super SB looks terrific and has a perfect form factor for integrating visually into a high end system.
It has a professional high end look.

I would say that some of the modders out there  should be very nervous if you decided to go into production

You unit looks so much better than a garage built look.

[Luigi]

I'm pretty much totally ignorant about Squeezebox but like the sound of its convenience, and the avoidance of some Redbook CD issues.

So some questions which will make most of you 'box users cringe, I'm sure.

Or perhaps someone can direct me to where all such questions for newbies are answered.

1) Is the system compatible with Apple Macs?
2) Is it compatible with Airport?
3) If I was to get a SB, would I then rip CDs losslessly instead of what I currently do which is use AAC or Apple Lossless encoder?
4) What version is best for mods?
5) What simple mods can be made?
6) Can it be run on 12v SLAs?

TIA

Luigi

[Luigi]

Doh, sorry, answered most of my own questions by going to Slimdevices.com

[crooner]

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your comments!

Yeah, that was the aim. To build something worthy of a high-end system.
I've seen some of the popular modder's stuff, including power supplies. Some sell for $800. I don't think any of those could touch my power supply, IMHO.

I'm very proud of my Super Squeezebox and who knows, maybe I'll go into production. I would need people to send me their SB2's though, that would be a pre-requisite.
 

Crooner,

Your super SB looks terrific and has a perfect form factor for integrating visually into a high end system.
It has a professional high end look.

I would say that some of the modders out there  should be very nervous if you decided to go into production

You unit looks so much better than a garage built look.

[crooner]

The antennas inside typical laptops are much larger than those used by the SB3. I've taken a laptop apart and have seen them. Perhaps this explains the slightly better reception.

Still, a main disadvantage of an internal antenna is that you need to rotate the laptop or Squeezebox to obtain the best reception. If the unit is at a fixed location, such as my high-end Super Squeezebox, this is not always possible or convenient, hence my decision to go with external antennas.

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

Why? 

Crooner,

What about the laptops which have wireless cards inside of the thick enclosures? I have three SB3s in three different rooms and between thick walls far away from the wireless router but they work well.

Tan

[crooner]

The SB3 has internal antennas exclusively, a weak point in the design, IMO.

Why? 

Because it cheaper than external antennas.

Very true. Antennas for wi-fi of decent size and performance are not cheap.