Zakum - a bluetooth speaker set

Zakum is the name of a boss character in MapleStory, a PC game I enjoyed a lot during my childhood. Back in 8th grade, I used a copy drawing of Zakum for a printmaking project in my art class. I kept the carved wooden sheet as a memento for several years but recently found it was taking up too much space.

While searching for materials to build the casing for my Bluetooth speaker project, I decided to repurpose the Zakum sheet—transforming it from a simple printmaking piece into a delicately carved box.

The rawness is the best part — it brings out the brutal, energetic image of Zakum.

Front view of the control box containing a on/off switch (left), and a volume adjuster (right).

Back view of the control box containing the power input (left port) and the speaker connections (right port). The back board is slightly tilted outward since the bottom joint was not made perfectly at 90 degree. I think it looks cool afterall so let it be.

Specs of the speakers. I found them from an old Philips CD player set at home and they’re still pretty good at it!

Testing the electronic parts with the former design. The process is always messy, but once it’s done, it would be so beautiful that it doesn’t matter.

The sound it plays has a slight electrical humming in the background. I think it’s due to my poor soldering skills, since I initially tried wiring the AUX output directly onto the 3.5 mm connector on the amplifier board. Even after redesigning it and using a short 3.5 mm cable for the output, the humming noise still remains. So, I took it as a “lo-fi” style speaker!