speaker – Richard Gallon

Working on the final Space Rocks (i)

The components for the second two Space Rocks needed to take up less space. In the case of Undarum, the amplifier was too large. Shown here is the circuit on a new PCB (version 3) using an Adafruit Mono 2.5W Class D Audio Amplifier (PAM8302), which has a much smaller footprint and height than the previous self-assembly amplifier kit I was using.

Adafruit Mono 2.5W Class D Audio Amplifier (PAM8302), speaker and PCB in action

Space Rock enclosed speaker test

Testing the speaker inside a (one-half) Jesmonite Space Rock.

New speaker to test

Love the packaging for this. One of these.

It’s definitely louder than the previous one, and with a better frequency response, but I think I will still need a pre-amp.

This blog documents the development of the interactive audio project, We Are Here.

We Are Here is about the time capsule that was returned to Earth by an alien civilisation in response to these original Voyager records. It is a ‘message in a bottle’ from an extraterrestrial life form. Who sent it? And why?

A series of interactive sculptures (Space Rocks) using sound to tell the story of their planet of origin. They are a message sent back to Earth in response to the launch of the Voyager Golden Record.

The final installation uses Arduino microcontrollers connected by LoRa (Long Range) digital wireless data communication, placed in specially-designed 3D printed shells.