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Atari Bluetooth Amplifier

I had a broken Atari Flashback sitting around so I turned it into a amplifier

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The other day I go to start up an Atari Flashback 5 that I got for Christmas back in 2015 I used it a couple times in the last year and it seemed to work OK to say the least. The very last time I went to go use the Atari it didn’t boot up at all so I unscrewed the back cover and inspected it and noticed one of the resistors on the board was fried. So I put it back in the box and was about to through it out and then it dawned on me that it would make a really cool looking amplifier! So I went down into my workshop and looked at what had. I had Wondom Amplifier by Sure that I bought a few months ago when they first came out. Sure really did make this simple, everything you could possibly need came with this amp minus a power supply and an enclosure. I thought to myself this will be a very cool and quick project. So I got to work.

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The other day I go to start up an Atari Flashback 5 that I got for Christmas back in 2015 I used it a couple times in the last year and it seemed to work OK to say the least. The very last time I went to go use the Atari it didn’t boot up at all so I unscrewed the back cover and inspected it and noticed one of the resistors on the board was fried. So I put it back in the box and was about to through it out and then it dawned on me that it would make a really cool looking amplifier! So I went down into my workshop and looked at what had. I had Wondom Amplifier by Sure that I bought a few months ago when they first came out. Sure really did make this simple, everything you could possibly need came with this amp minus a power supply and an enclosure. I thought to myself this will be a very cool and quick project. So I got to work!


  • 1
    Step 1

    Tools:

    Screwdriver

    Drill

    Dremel

    Soldering Iron and Solder

    Wire Strippers\Cutters

    Hot Glue Gun

    Materials:

    Atari Flashback

    Wondom Amplifier

    Speaker Terminals

    Wire Connectors

    Volume knob

    Shrink Tube

    Power Supply

    Panel Mounting DC Power Jack Socket Connector


    Step 1: Step 1: Modifying the Enclosure

    The first thing you want to do is remove the back cover

    • Take out the 5 screws 1 in each corner and 1 in the center.
    • Once you have the back cover off you will notice there are 3 plastic post that need to be removed in order to fit the Bluetooth amplifier. So take the Dremel out with a cut off wheel and remove the post. make sure you remove all of the post because this where the amplifier will mount.
    • Now remove all of the electronics and all of the buttons. Its a total of 7 screws to remove the the 2 boards and the buttons will just fall out. I do recommend marking the buttons as they do go in a specific place.
    • Since the electronics are now useless go ahead and cut the ribbon cable holding the 2 boards together.
    • once separated cut the controller connections off the board and hot glue them back into place so when you reassemble it looks factory still
    • Now you need to decide where you want your volume knob mounted I decided to put mine right on the top centered with the Atari logo which gave it a very natural look.

    Step 2: Step 2: the Electronics

    • At this point the main part of the enclosure should be modified now we can get the led mounted.
    • I decided to put my led in the factory led spot I drilled the existing hole slightly larger to accept the new led mounted it and hot glued it in place.
    • WARNING The Wondom amp is a very good amp it just seems like the skimped out on some the plastic pieces. With that said be very careful when removing any of the components on and off the board. I broke the connector for the power LED so I simply solder it directly to the board for a simple fix.
    • The next thing you will want to do is the power adapter remove the old one and replace it. You will have drill a bigger hole to accept it.
    • Once that is done solder the positive red wire to the center of the new power adapter and the negative to the switch on the factory board then to the amplifier.
    • The next thing you will want to do is mount you terminals for the speakers I chose to mount mine in the back angled part of the enclosure. You can put them on any side you would like all you have to do is drill 4 holes spaced out evenly and you are set.
    • Next is to wire your amplifier to the speaker terminals. All I did was crimp on some connectors and connected them to the terminal. You can also solder them on as well.
    • At this point you can test everything out plug in your power adapter and make sure everything is working once you are confident everything is working its time for the finishing touches.

    Step 3: Step 3: Finishing Touches

    • Now were close to being done, from here you will want to mount the amplifier to the case. I took some stand offs from a old computer and marked on the enclosure where the stand offs will end up. i then drilled some holes and screwed in the stand off and mounted the board.
    • The only thing left to now is mount the aux input where original RCA wires came out of the enclosure. all i did was Dremel out the hole a little bigger and it mounted right in. i added epoxy to this just because of the force of removing and inserting the aux cable. If you only plan on using the Bluetooth then don't worry to much about the epoxy hot glue will do just fine.

    Now get yourself some speakers hook everything up and ENJOY!

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