vintage radio bluetooth speakers

may 2026

i found a cheap transistor radio at goodwill for $6, and thought, "i could make a speaker out of this!"

so i did. eventually. it was several months before i got around to buying the soldering iron.

but all i needed to do was:

1. strip out the existing electronics, leaving only the speaker wire (this does mean it is no longer a radio, but it's much easier to do)
2. buy the cheapest bluetooth speaker i can find from amazon (i went with this one) and rip the speaker off, leaving everything else on the board intact.
3. red to red, black to black.

and it worked! it has a nice vintage sound that is fun to put on in the background. i was so pleased i bought two more little radios on ebay and two more speakers, and now i have three! these new ones pictured atop my dust collector.