mr sneff
pfm Member
Interesting repurposing of FM4!
Quad streamer
- Thread starter mr sneff
- Start date
mr sneff
pfm Member
Still working for me, maybe you have to be a member of the QUAD AUDIO CHAT / INFO EXCHANGE / BUY / SELL FB Group to view the video. Basically this guy has stripped out a non-functioning FM4 and turned it into an Alexa-controlled streamer, complete with a display. I managed to get a screen capture...........I thought it looked rather cool!
Looks interesting. shame there is no image of the working unit. I might have a go, but not sure I would want to go back to Volumio from LMS!
Roog
pfm Member
I can't see the video, but having converted a 1975 Sony cassette deck to an RPI based streamer myself I can see the appeal of using the the FM4 as a donor chassis, very smart and like repurposing cassette decks there is currently little interest for the original device.
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mr sneff
pfm Member
There is a video on the QUAD AUDIO CHAT / INFO EXCHANGE / BUY / SELL + more Facebook group
Brown Bottle
UTB
Roog
pfm Member
I did, I used the official 7” RPi touch screen. It is a bit bigger than the QUAD FM4 though!
With my basic skills I managed to modify the mechanical cassette ‘piano keys’ so that they operated micro switches.
These are wired through a USB keyboard interface, which I pinched out of a cheap QWERTY keyboard, which works to operate the equivalent RPi functions; rewind/stop/play/fast forward & pause. (I set up the 'Record key' to skip to the next track). VU meter circuits pick up their signals from an additional low cost DAC linked off the Rpi digital output to display level. I used as much of the original cassette electronics as I reasonably could. The unit is used as a streamer only providing SPDIF coaxial digital output to an external DAC.
The Sony was good to work with, back in 1975, Sony built this thing like a tank, with each sub assembly built as a separate unit and bolted to a common chassis, the bulky cassette mech came out as one sub assembly, OK it did have a big loom of cables trailing off it!
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Brown Bottle
UTB
That looks great, much more exciting than a standard Pi. Well done.
Cheers BB
Cheers BB
Roog
pfm Member
Thanks, being strapped into a big old item of HiFi, it has one particular advantage over a standard RPi / 7" screen package, it doesn't fall backwards when you prod the screen!
Roog
pfm Member
I set out to tap into the 1970's vibe due to a number of retro styled new products I saw at a HiFi show. I did spot a nice 'vintage' Yamaha cassette player which might have made a good donor chassis, it had a more modern semi matt black wedge look about it, this also had 'nice' analogue VU meters, I think the model No. was TC 800, but the cost was much higher and I saw this project as a bit of low cost therapy.
I'm always on the look out for an economical project and the FM4 looks ideal.