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the problem

July 15, 2026
the speakers
the speakers

A couple months ago, my brother Eli and I were driving around our neighborhood garage sale looking for deals when we stumbled across these loudspeakers. There were 2 pairs listed for $100 each, and when I looked on the back I instantly recognized the brand name - Klipsch. I had never been into audio, but my Uncle Matt is the current VP of Technology and Innovation at Klipsch, so we instantly called him up to see if they were worth picking up.

He confirmed we had a steal. And, after reading the first couple paragraphs of this article and seeing listings like this online, I got excited. It felt like it would be a waste to leave the speakers behind.

The owner hadn’t tested them and just wanted them gone. I figured that worst case scenario, the speakers don’t work and I can sell them online to someone willing to fix them up. Best case scenario, I get an amazing pair of speakers to enjoy. I ended up taking home a pair for $100. Eli did the same.

I picked the speakers up for cheap, but I still had a problem- they needed a proper sound system to drive them. All I had was the speaker. I soon learnt there was much more to a sound system than the speakers. I made this diagram of the major parts of the process to help me understand:

simplified sound system diagram
simplified sound system diagram

There’s 4 parts to the audio signal’s path:

  1. The 1s and 0s are stored in a file and sent down a wire
  2. The Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) turns the 1s and 0s into an AC signal
  3. The amplifier takes that AC signal and boosts it so it has enough power to drive a speaker
  4. The speaker’s components create sound waves that you hear
onkyo muse y-50
onkyo muse y-50

Uncle Matt lent me the Onkyo Muse Y-50, a high end integrated amplifier that does all these functions. It was super nice… I especially liked the display, and how it let me stream over my home network. I didn’t have $1500 to get one of my own, but it made me wonder… Could I build my own?

I’d been looking for a reason to get into electronics, so I jumped in the deep end. I start the electronics courses for my ECE minor at Purdue in the fall, but I didn’t want to wait for formal education. I’ve started designing as I complete an online course.

That’s where I’m at. Check out the other posts on this blog for updates. I hope to have it done soon!