DuB-EnG: GOOGLE HOME MINI HACKED - Adding a big speaker to the google MINI

[@woahcanunot]

The fact that you two are laughing and smiling over a couple of wires and speakers is beautiful

[@DubiousEngineering]

You are so kind to send us a lovely message!! It’s people like you that keep us happy 😃 and making more crazy videos :-). Thank you 🙏!!!

[@prateekbhardwaj9943]

laugh is more good in 2x speed

[@benjifrater6077]

Considering 95% of my Google Home use is for Spotify, podcasts and listening to the news, this is brilliant. FUN THING TO DO: Go to your friends house, practice impersonating his voice then when he steps out the room say "Hey Google, add alarm at 3:14am named YOU'VE BEEN HACKED" Keep changing your voice and say "Hey Google, what is my name" over and over until it says your friends name.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahahahahah.... brilliant! ... thanks for that Benji... I’ll look out for a chance to try it on someone else’s google Home device! :)

[@benjifrater6077]

@@DubiousEngineering I can do my wifes voice, somehow. So when she is at work I say this "Hey Google (in her voice) set reminder for 15 minutes text my husband how much he rules" she gets so annoyed haha

[@DubiousEngineering]

Holy crap... just tried the alarm thing ... OMG it works!!!

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@dark_shadow4027]

I like the way you started smiling right away, like "look what I've made that works" 😂 i always thought to myself i bet someone already did it, and here you are lol that's my plan actually thank you so much for your video

[@DubiousEngineering]

Pleasure! You'll nail it too!

[@cjxgraphics]

Thanks for the lesson. I've got a set of small Mackie monitors that went out a while back, and this makes a pretty decent speaker. Now if only this little thing could do stereo, I'd be in paradise.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Allegedly you can configure two units in remote stereo

[@julianbell9586]

​@@DubiousEngineering I'd love to see the link for this somewhere?

[@baselkhan3231]

@@julianbell9586 You can pair multiple Google home's into a speaker group. Planning on doing that with all the free ones spotify sent to my house. (one wired through to my soundbar, the rest as tweeters). Soundbar is good for music but too intense for YT, so hopefully I can decouple the units this way and sync audio

[@lurchie]

Thanks for posting this! After watching this a couple of times I got up the courage to try this myself AND IT WORKED! (I'm not terribly handy) The most challenging part I found was reconnecting the serial(?) connector . It took me FOREVER to get that thing reconnected. I did a pretty sh*tty job of soldering too, but I slapped some heat shrink on there and no one is the wiser. I'm going to try connecting my mini to a sound exciter / speaker transducer to see if I can use wall as a speaker for google home. Wish me luck!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Oh wow! - That sounds like a really great idea!! Google Home Mini in a wall! :-)

[@EricCosner]

My Google went off when you said hey google 😂

[@DubiousEngineering]

Bahahahahaha

[@DanTheMan3]

Just did this for my outdoor speakers, super awesome!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Makes quite a considerable difference in sound quality 👌

[@WilliamJSisti]

Just did this hack. Works great with a huge old speaker from my dad's garage. Criterion 100b

[@DubiousEngineering]

William J Sisti excellent!! Great to know you have a big speaker on a small google!!

[@WilliamJSisti]

@@DubiousEngineering here is the final product imgur.com/gallery/9xMYhGw

[@DJJunglemunky]

it would look so nice if the Mini was mounted where the tweeter is on the speaker

[@DubiousEngineering]

Damnit!! So many people say that!! I should have done that!! :-)

[@JamesNormanYT]

@@DubiousEngineering there's still time... 😜

[@WX4CB]

that's the one thing i preferred over the google one with the echo dot from amazon.. they have a built in audio output jack

[@DubiousEngineering]

That’s really good to know! ... hmmm... maybe I should have bought an echo dot!

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@gamerschuck4391]

I was searching a guy like you ..great job buddy

[@DubiousEngineering]

Massive hugs back at you !

[@nickrog6759]

Automatically Subscribed ! Exactly what the Fixer or amateur D.i.Y engineer ordered ! Will need more specs on how much wattage this google unit can drive and the impedance range it is compatible with speaker wise .

[@DubiousEngineering]

It'll do 8ohms or 4ohms and runs about 5 watts max - :-) Thanks for your nice thoughts!!

[@Zodliness]

Great!.... A home Hi-fi speaker that cops an attitude! ♥

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahaha... this one sure does... it’s a big improvement over the original... am thinking of putting the batteries and the mini inside the speaker enclosure... make everything portable!

[@darrenmars]

NICE! I was given a pair of blown PA speakers; the horns are cooked, the crossovers were totally obliterated, but it looks like the big 15" drivers are OK from a quick continuity/resistance test. Bring on the Google Home SUPERMAX!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Holy poop Batman! , that would be funny …. 5 watts of PWM driving a 15” speaker!

[@Prod.HezInc]

bro ihave a google home mini and when u said "' Hey google do you love me?'' mins went off haha

[@DubiousEngineering]

Awww man!!! That’s funny 😄

[@Prod.HezInc]

@@DubiousEngineering Yea man its went off

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahahah 😂

[@blueheron83]

Just did this and it worked great! Thanks for the idea. I had been wanting to put some older but very nice speakers to some use

[@DubiousEngineering]

excellent... I believe you can stereo pair them... I may have a go at that too!

[@MasonBillabong]

How did you go with stereo pairing these?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Doh... I’m really sorry 😐 I haven’t done it yet... I have tooooo many Sonos in the house!!

[@MasonBillabong]

@@DubiousEngineering all good mate! Just curious how it would work!

[@DubiousEngineering]

... I made this instead!! A big fat hairy Sonos sub bass system!! It really rocks!!

[@matt_bomber]

I'd be tempted to put an amp between the nest and the speaker! I think the Google nest only streams at 96khz?, so the sound quality would be pretty shit at louder volume? Am I right in say it's only 96khz? Is there a way to stream at a higher bitrate? Since I have spotify premium if like to hear music at high bitrate 👍

[@DubiousEngineering]

I'm not sure of the bit-rate, but i must admit, through a good speaker with BASS and TWEATER it sounds pretty good in my humble opinion.

[@coolelectronics1759]

old center speakers from home-theater-in-a-box sets from goodwill are perfect for this kind of mod. You could of as well just transplanted everything into the new case and done away with the old shell although I could see you running into issues with the touch sensors and row of status leds, and you would need to figure out where to put the reset and mic switches and rout the new location for the usb port. .

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes, great idea to contain it, but you also now understand the dilemma of the touch and reset controls etc

[@user-vp8wf6ox2j]

can you wire it with a AUX cable? thanks

[@DubiousEngineering]

Almost certainly!

[@bbnCRLB]

Best way to deal with the discontinuation of the Chromecast Audio devices. Just add an amp to boost the audio.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Great 👍 idea 💡

[@JamesNormanYT]

Impressed it didn't need an amplifier inbetween!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes!! How cool is that!! 2 years on and it’s all still upstairs working well!!!

[@MrMinaroo]

Great Hack .. does this work with all google home mini versions?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Almost definitely!

[@kordcuts7330]

Completely wrecked two of these trying to accomplish this. The tiny white plug would not go back in for the life of me. Ended up tossing it.

[@DubiousEngineering]

I'm so sorry... perhaps they changed the design a little since I made this video...

[@jamesarherbig]

Could I connect these to coax cables and use it as a preamp

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes, but suggest you use some resistors to reduce the drive into the phono jacks... otherwise 10% volume will be like 300%. :-)

[@jamesarherbig]

Dubious Engineering how would I go about deciding what resistance I should use

[@DubiousEngineering]

Her Big Nips use a potentiometer or variable resistor... then you can adjust it ... remember the output is mono

[@LoganT547]

DIY Google Home Max! Amazing!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Awww thanks 🙏. ... it was all just for fun!!

[@LoganT547]

Great job! The only thing I'd suggest is to put the Google Home Mini speaker body in the place of the tweeter instead of it being on top.

[@DubiousEngineering]

That’s actually a really good idea... the problem is there is a reset switch on the body of the google unit which means you’d need to unscrew the speaker each time you wanted to access it... that said, I have never had to access it apart from once when I first setup the google unit!!

[@LoganT547]

You could extend the wires to the button so it could sit near the exhaust of the speaker. Thanks for the great video!

[@rockiek9054]

I love my mini an the sound quality isn’t 1/2 bad as is actually no need for all this it’s great as is

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yeah - I have both, the souund isn't bad, but it's definitley missing some bass :-)

[@Fizzio4U2]

Great retrofit, have completed it very successfully so many thanks. Brilliant sound but very very bassy and as in a terraced hose will disturb the neighbours. Put a scarf behind the front push on panel and the sound is much better. Question is will I damage my base speaker by restricting the movement. Anyway thanks again

[@DubiousEngineering]

Gareth Thomas I noticed you subbed a few days ago... thanks 🙏 for your engagement and I’m actually happy that you’re system is bassy as mine seems to offer more treble... the scarf shouldn’t cause too many issues... just ask google to drop the volume to 30% ... hey google volume 30% or lower... hope it helps a little

[@Xerora]

I know this is old but the Google app does allow you to turn the bass down and the treble up from your smartphone. Hope this helps!

[@AMatillas]

Hi, seen your video 3 years later... Its amazing. I want transform the old "yamaha pdx 31" with google home as you. I can read that you use 5 wats and google is 4 ohm... But... Did you use 4ohm speaker or 8 ohm? I am fear to broke this.. And if my speakers works with 12 v i need to put and transforn 5v to 12v between google home and speakers? Thank you!!

[@DubiousEngineering]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say your speaker is 12v? ... unless it's an active speaker?

[@AMatillas]

@@DubiousEngineering sorry was my fault I used an old radio 12v but it's true is not 12v speaker. I try with Google home and works nice

[@ZimaUltifera]

I am working on a project similar to this, exept I aim to make sure the bass doesnt go down when volume goes up. That defeats the point of using those massive oldschool hifi speakers imho.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yeah a separate amplifier and larger power supply makes sense!! :-)

[@ZimaUltifera]

@Dubious Engineering, thanks for the like mate, if you want to know my setup and or the end result let me know. I expect the parts I need now coming in tommorow so I can then finish fase 3, and if all goes well there is no real fase 4 other than making a nice casing for the hacked mini and other added components :D

[@DubiousEngineering]

I’d be tempted to keep the 5v PSU and use a “step-up” converter to charge a lithium ion battery to offer more power to a small digital amp!

[@ZimaUltifera]

@@DubiousEngineering I am just working on this since last monday, my first test was with an echo, but it started to pop above 40%. Today tested the nest mini and its allready better. I can now either chose to steal the audio signal before the mini amp grabs it and send it to a different amp, or just go the car audio way of using a high-> low converter and then the amp. Going with the high->low first before maybe botching the pcb inside the nest to try and steal the preamp signal :)

[@ZimaUltifera]

@@DubiousEngineering My end goal is being able to keep using my speakers without the big amps I need for them now, AND be able to add them to speaker groups in my home setup. I googled for about a month, no real solution that doesnt require a lot of money or parts. Then I just tried adding the speaker last monday, and today found your video haha!

[@insocal6713]

Ya good luck getting that pin connector back in. Already destroyed two of these.

[@DubiousEngineering]

I'm so sorry... perhaps they changed the design a little since I made this video...

[@kingkckc]

when you decided to do this wiring to that new speaker, how did you verify if there would be an issue matching ohms. I was thinking of buying a full range driver that is 8 ohms. Would there be any issue directly wiring that to the mini output?

[@DubiousEngineering]

most standard speakers are 4, 8 or 16 ohms... some headphones are 32ohms... most amplifiers can handle most of these speakers... you’ll be just fine :-)

[@kingkckc]

@@DubiousEngineering just for clarity, did you use an amp between your google mini and the speaker? looks like you just wired them together without one unless I am missing something? If i got an 8 ohm speaker, i would need to connect it as output of an amp, and connect the google mini as input of the amp?

[@DubiousEngineering]

kingkckc no amp ... just wire in in place of the existing speaker

[@edreagan8786]

@@DubiousEngineering the Google Home Mini uses a Texas Instruments TAS5720LRSMT IC amplifier with a maximum output of 20W x 1 channel @ 4 ohm.

[@lmrls1187]

Hello, do you need to weld resistors?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Solder

[@HenryGriffiths-so6ck]

Hey guys if you have a Bluetooth speaker you can put it in pairing mode and in the Google home app you can set it as the speaker wirelessly 😊

[@DubiousEngineering]

Great tip!

[@jeffphilippe7178]

awsome hack of the google mini. Is the speaker you use to connect to the mini is powered or not??

[@DubiousEngineering]

Not powered Jeff

[@ashleypinter3312]

I am attempting to add a google mini to a backyard system, only two wire speakers. I don't know if the amp in the mini will power two 300 watt speakers. Should I add an amp in the middle to protect the mini, and if I do that do I need any resistors? If I add resistors what size and where do I put them?

[@DubiousEngineering]

You can drive 4 or 8 ohm speakers directly with the mini irrespective of how many watts they claim to be, but your max power will be about 5 watts, addig an amp makes sense!

[@travischeung8122]

this is so cool! what kind of speaker is this? what kind of speakers can i do this for?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Almost anything that’s 4 or 8 ohm... so car speakers, old radios, house speakers etc...

[@thejoshuabrowne5701]

Hey mate, great video. Do you think it's possible to rewire a manual volume knob into a google home or home mini? Cheers

[@DubiousEngineering]

Definitely... you can tap into the speaker cable between the PCB and the speaker...

[@thejoshuabrowne5701]

@@DubiousEngineering definitely doing this! Cheers dude

[@bikemike20]

Sending my Google insane 😂

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahahah... Hey Google!! Yeah, sorry!!!

[@bikemike20]

@@DubiousEngineering I have them absolutely everywhere in my house. Including the bathroom

[@Ally-ud9ip]

hey i was thinking about adding my google to my sound bar , since it’s not wifi compatible but it’s good for listening to music. i’ve replaced my car speakers for some after market ones that’s the only type of wiring i’ve done. but my question is how would i wire them together ?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Crikey mate... that’s an open question... how do I answer?!? :-). So you want to connect your old car speakers to a sound bar and connect that to google mini?

[@mattw1730]

Nice work.......this looks do-able.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Matt W ... you just need that spline (torx) screwdriver... dead easy...

[@maxitab7090]

Nice work, it looks cool! But, how do you manage the standby mode of your speakers? Do you always leave them plugged in and turned on? Or do you have to turn on the speaker every time you want to use it? If you can tell me how you manage this, I'm interested;)

[@DubiousEngineering]

The speaker is connected directly to the google mini. So no need to play about turning things off / on... perhaps watch the video and you may understand it a little better!

[@maxitab7090]

@@DubiousEngineering I'm sorry, I'm French and I don't understand English well. Long live Google :) Apparently your pregnant does not need food. Just the google mini. But can you do that too on a more powerful speaker? There will not be a need for a connected amplifier? I would like to plug it into 2x60 watt, is it possible without other electricity than the Google mini? Isn't that going to be too much for the Google mini? And to damage it?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Ahhh... the google is maximum 5 watts RMS ... suggest you will need a big amplifier for 60 watts!!

[@verizonmoose]

@@DubiousEngineering I was wondering if I could plug this into the speaker input of a powered subwoofer just to give the sub the signal input and let the sub drive itself and the bookshelf speakers. Is there any reason you could see this not working?

[@DubiousEngineering]

@@verizonmoose yup pretty sure that will work just fine! Note the max output power of the unit is about 5 watts.

[@AdamKayePyro]

While you had the original speaker removed, did you measure the impedance?

[@DubiousEngineering]

I think so... This is a two year old video ... I believe the original speaker (now a tweeter) was 4 Ohms

[@camd1552]

Do you have to solder?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Most definitely - sorry!

[@gavindundee1317]

Did the speaker resistance of the speaker match the resistance of the Google home speaker? Make sure the resistance isn't higher on the new speaker than on the Google Home or the amplifier will burn up! Awesome hack though! I did this with my PSP Go a long time ago 😂 This is a great idea for the Google Homes though.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes everything was 8 ohms! .... still going strong after 2 years... love it!

[@gavindundee1317]

@@DubiousEngineering Heck yes. I'm definitely going to do this to all my Google minis. Thanks for the idea and how to 😊

[@luisguzman5929]

Viendolo en 2023 desde Guayaquil - Ecuador

[@lloydkeays7035]

This is cool. Question (I'm sadly not versed in electronics) - can I plug it to any speakers or it needs an amplifier in the middle (was your speaker powered?) I'd like to re-purpose a vintage radio and was hoping to simply re-wire the speaker to the google home. Thanks

[@DubiousEngineering]

It will drive a speaker directly... no extras required

[@lloydkeays7035]

@@DubiousEngineering Hi again, I'm a week further and managed to do it (using a google home speaker - not mini) and it works... but cranking up the volume crashes google. I made a short video explanation: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJu9inSjmphpm7c . Any hints of knowledge would be welcome ! (2 hrs later:) Actually, checking further - I adjusted the bass to the lowest setting in the app and I can now go to max volume except on some specific songs with lots of bass - still crashes the Google Home. Interesting problem...

[@MagnusKemp]

@@lloydkeays7035 wouldnt this work ? www.amazon.co.uk/Nobsound-TPA3116D2-Amplifier-Frequency-Channel/dp/B07H3S6Y43/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=nobsound+mono+amplifier+-subwoofer&qid=1561982246&s=gateway&sr=8-2

[@cybermaxpower]

Very cool hardware hack. Did you need extra power to drive the speaker?

[@DubiousEngineering]

No power required... admittedly it can only drive about 4 watts into the big speaker, but that’s still more than good enough... perhaps I could add a headphone jack so I can plug it into the big stereo at home... but the output is mono. Hmmmmm....

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@edreagan8786]

@@DubiousEngineering FYI the Texas Instruments TAS5720LRSMT IC amplifier is rated at 20W x 1channel @ 4 ohm.

[@DubiousEngineering]

@@edreagan8786 ... Hi Ed, 5 volts and 2 amps ... thats a maximum of 10 wats from the power supply... and with efficiency in the equasion, I'd guess a max of about 8 watts RMS actual output. Thanks for the tip though!!!

[@LordGryllwotth]

It is a wonder it could power the bass speaker. I would add a amplifier that can handle the output from the google mini, a lot of cheap car amplifiers can handle high inputs.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Im planning on making another in the future... with a big hairy amp commected to it!!

[@julianbell9586]

So can I add this to my amplifier as a line in and then it powers the speakers? Really prefer Google over Alexa so tempted by this but really want stereo. I wonder if Alexa output is stereo or just mono in both channels

[@LucianoButera]

sorry, how many watts can you drive without an additional amplifier? Thank you

[@DubiousEngineering]

5 watts

[@moldo.cel.barbos]

hey what size is the jst connector that you are using here to pach into the mini? i manged to order the wrong size ones on my first try

[@DubiousEngineering]

:-) 😀 I'd have to re-watch my own video!! ... hahaha... can't be bothered with that :-) ... from memory, the only connectors involved were 3.5mm Jack's and phono connectors... 😀

[@moldo.cel.barbos]

@@DubiousEngineering neah the small one u used inside the nest mini

[@moldo.cel.barbos]

white little thing that you added to the wire

[@stinky9023]

Do you think I could hook up an amplifier to it or will it just not work with the alredy built in amp

[@DubiousEngineering]

You can plug it into another amp... but suggest you use some resistors to drop the output power a little first :-)

[@Tarrabyte]

btw your mic wasn't grounded in this. There's a lot of buzzing. Also, this is what I'm doing too, but I'm plugging it into my computer's mic instead

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes my mic was noisy ... mains hum... I’ve got it sorted now!

[@sallymookmook9002]

Hey that is awesome , I am going to try that on my wife's mini first, you know just in case I screw it up, is that a powered speaker Thanks.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Correct, a standard 8 or 4 Ohm speaker is all you need to make this thing sound so much better... We now have a music system in the kitchen that is worth listening to!

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@J-W4S]

Hey mate love your work! Just wanted to ask a question because I've attempted to do the same thing with a Bluetooth receiver and connecting to an active sub through rca then bluetoothing to my Google home as my mini doesn't want to work with it but I encounter terrible latency lag even with a group delay correction. My question is, my subwoofer inouts are an rca not wire so with connecting the speaker wire from the mini to rca cable be sufficient or not work ? And will the mini work with the sub given it has an amplifier or am I out of luck? Just hoping and wondering as I've spent countless $$ on incorporating a subwoofer to my multiple Google's for a true deep bass and effect of surround. Cheers mate!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Thats strange... its fine using the speaker outputs to drive RCA just as long as you keep the volume low. There will be no delay if you pull the sub output directly from one of the minis ... hope that helps - Sorry its troublesome...

[@J-W4S]

@@DubiousEngineering no no that's awesome awsome so I can give it a crack! So just to clarify, are u saying to keep the volume down on the subwoofer volume knob or my mini? And finally my subwoofer input is a white and a red rca and if the Google mini only has a red and black wire yet I need two wires for each rca? Do I add both negatives of rca to the one black wire and vise versa with the red or do I just use a single rca to connect to the mini? Was just worried I may loose sound level if I only utilised one rca or it would work but if one will work also great? Thanks mate for getting back to me quickly!!!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yup, just modify the cable so both the center pins of the rca cable connect together and the two inner pins connect together... effectively turn the cable from stereo to mono..

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

Hey Google, give this video a big thumbs up! I just hope the Mini doesn't report you to Google HQ for voiding the warranty... :D

[@DubiousEngineering]

Awwww....! Thanks for the big thumbs up Beefcake! ... I didn’t see any little micro switches to report “case open”... :). This was a fun little project!

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@tashadfowler3465]

Hommie.. FYI if you want people to watch your tutorials and videos mute the word Google. Its annoying having to tell my Google to shut up

[@DubiousEngineering]

Thanks for the advice

[@felinoaaron846]

It’s possible to get 2 channels from this google home mini ? Thanks

[@DubiousEngineering]

No it’s mono... but you can link two google minis to get stereo!!!

[@marcusadornetto4658]

Can you adjust the volume by touching the google home or has that been disabled?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes you can adjust by touching

[@zenosyx49]

Atlast,a person do this✨👌🏻

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes... it makes so much sense!! :-) Better quality and clear, loud audio!

[@DesmondsDonders]

LOL can't beat a fuzzy algorithm. Never understood the purpose of these :-)

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@comicsansgreenkirby]

Oh crap I left my phone in my bedroom Ok Google, play my video playlist on the living room TV

[@DubiousEngineering]

Boom chick a wow wow... porn on the living room telly :-)

[@comicsansgreenkirby]

@@DubiousEngineering MOM DONT COME IN IM UHHHH GETTING DRESSED

[@keithcroshaw]

How does it drive that monster!!! Good job! It's 2020, anything pop yet on it?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Nope!! All happy days here... if you turn the volume up over 70% it dials the bass back, it has some internal protection :-)

[@keithcroshaw]

@@DubiousEngineering Fantastic. I'm blown away there's still no 3.5mm output option... I'm thinking about cutting one of my little babies apart for a backyard speaker I really don't want to replace... Then I start to think about wife acceptance factor...

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahah... yeah... she’ll love your inginuity... enginuity ... ... surely she will be appreciative!

[@keithcroshaw]

@@DubiousEngineering Then you get oh well a nice one is only $120? Why didn't we get that? My frugality and desire for perfect solutions usually ends up driving most of my bodgy hack jobs. Thanks for the video! Lots of content to inspire me. Cheers!

[@DubiousEngineering]

You’re very kind Keith!!! ... I made a kitchen roll holder out of some old wood from the shed today, the wife didn’t complain... she did suggest I round off the corners... I suggested she could do that!!!

[@MadScienceWorkshoppe]

I lamented the demise of the Chromecast Audio, but I can pick up a mini for the same price and use a similar hack for the same effect, plus still have the "smarts."

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yup! You nailed it! ... you look like I should subscribe to you (if I haven’t already!)

[@MadScienceWorkshoppe]

@@DubiousEngineering Thanks! I wish I had the energy to post as prodigiously. I will be doing a series of tests on a bunch of smart bulbs soon, if that sort of thing is of interest. Plus a few projects I've had tucked behind the back burner for a while.

[@DubiousEngineering]

It all sounds like fun and worth a watch! ... must admit, I have so many little useless projects to make for fun... but I’m getting stuck into wiring up the camper van at the moment... look forward to seeing your next release!

[@MadScienceWorkshoppe]

@@DubiousEngineering Currently recycling some old PCBs from an abandoned project to use in fitting out the Infinity Saber... Hoping to get it done by Thursday night!

[@MinimalLiving24]

brilliant hack

[@DubiousEngineering]

Thank you!

[@tahoeplanet2947]

Nah. Didnt work for me. Couldn't get the tiny pin connector to plug back in. Just tossed my unit.

[@DubiousEngineering]

I'm so sorry... perhaps they changed the design a little since I made this video...

[@aw1lt]

U just did that for no reason... they added a bluetooth output feature... U know what after watching the vid u looked like u had soo much fun doing that

[@DubiousEngineering]

Exactly... you hit the nail on the head... I was just having fun :-). A year later, it still exists upstairs in the attic laboratory and gets used every day :-)

[@aw1lt]

Dubious Engineering im glad to know that a year later you still reply to comments :)

[@aw1lt]

It would be cool if you mounted it in the speaker

[@julianbell9586]

I have set mine up with Bluetooth but it keeps dropping out so interested in hard writing... But needs stereo... Hmmm...

[@TheNapalmFTW]

Judging by the comment section, school doesn't teach electronic theory any more.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahah... yeah... it’s not rocket science is it! ;-)

[@UserCommenter]

omg you are too adorable!!!!!

[@DubiousEngineering]

You are toooo encouraging!!! Thank you 🙏... people like you motivate me to continue to make silly videos :-)

[@rockstopsthetraffic]

Its amp has enough power to drive that thing? Damn. Don't burn anything out, lol.

[@DubiousEngineering]

amazingly it’s still working! ... have a great week!

[@ScudoCamper]

Great idea matey. Lol blasting

[@DubiousEngineering]

Teehee... Thanks Austin! ... if anyone hasn’t visited Scudo campers channel, please pop over and take a look!

[@ubacow7109]

Can you hook it up in stereo?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes, do this twice!! :-) Google now allow you to pair their speakers!

[@julianbell9586]

There's the link for seeing L/R speakers

[@TeamDeane]

If only there was a hack to connect it to google home

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahah

[@shinestar2912]

genius!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Why thank you kind sir!

[@aurum5074]

He beat the system

[@DubiousEngineering]

Totally!! Hey google!! :-)

[@babs_III]

My google was triggerd in this video

[@DubiousEngineering]

Same!! Every time I watch this video my google goes off!! :-)

[@djcymatic]

That's an active speaker right?

[@DubiousEngineering]

No totally passive...

[@RetroRecollections]

Awesome mod! :)

[@DubiousEngineering]

Was so much fun!!

[@RetroRecollections]

@@DubiousEngineering I wonder if you could hide the Home entirely in the speak somehow? :)

[@DubiousEngineering]

Actually a great idea... I may stuff it and batteries inside the wooden enclosure... mobile speaker!

[@corsebear8643]

I mean this is a genius idea, however, for someone with not as much knowledge as you like myself, one could easily use a Bluetooth speaker connected to the google speaker

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes indeed!! You are totally correct!! - But... a good quality bluetooth speaker is expensive... so if you have an old hifi speaker laying around... :-) I guess for me, it was just the challenge of doing it! :-)

[@Ribro]

Bluetooth connectivity sucks for old google mini devices

[@smolscale]

You connected the polarity of the speaker in reverse dude. Red to red, black to black.

[@DubiousEngineering]

You have a keen eye!!! ... the great news is that this only affects a stereo pair... the phase of the sound is important in stereo, but not in mono... phew :-). Got away with it!! :-)

[@lukapravivlogovi1287]

If - is + then the bass speaker will move down, and if it’s + and - the bass speaker will move up lol.

[@horaciohermosillo3417]

Doing google assistant videos you may want to lower the volume when saying "hey google"

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahaha! ... so sorry if everything in your house started talking to you! :)

[@tonyquezada_]

3:24 My google home mini got triggered and said the same thin

[@DubiousEngineering]

Haha.... that’s funny!! I should dub the voice so it doesn’t activate everyone’s google!! :-)

[@guitarsandweightbars9537]

Same here!

[@SimplisticVR]

same haha

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hilarious!!! Merry Christmas 🎄 all!!

[@insevanhouts]

Same here!

[@mario2jz]

Wait, so does the google home mini power the speaker?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes

[@mario2jz]

Dubious Engineering that’s pretty cool, thanks

[@DubiousEngineering]

Absolute pleasure Bario :-)

[@robertbelieverinjesuschris8793]

Why didn't you just pair a great playing Bluetooth speaker to the Google home mini. Would have been a lot less work and you could have put the speaker anywhere in the room. You can even adjust the bass and treble from the Google home app. Just saying! 😕

[@DubiousEngineering]

Robert Smoot so many people ask this in the comments below... I did this for fun, and because I had a speaker left over. A Bluetooth system would cost me more money and may not have independent tweeter, driver and crossover. But yup, you sure can do what you’re suggesting!

[@WilliamJSisti]

Just did my second hack. Have you noticed that at full volume the bass dropped off?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes... sadly the DSP profiles the response of the original little speaker... quite distressing... 50% is quite loud for a kitchen:)

[@WilliamJSisti]

@@DubiousEngineering yeah figured as much. Just rebuilt the cross overs on my old speakers and wanted to make sure nothing was borked.

[@WilliamJSisti]

@@DubiousEngineering also now with two units Google let's you pair the Minis as a stereo pair. 👍👍👍

[@DubiousEngineering]

That is epic news!!! Thankyou!! ... I have a lot of sonos now and will be making a sonos sub bass for cheap ... that said, I have two minis and will definitely get those paired up and hacked with bigger speakers... Thankyou again for the tip!!

[@JonathanMichienzi]

Have you had a chance to try this on the "new" Google mini (or Nest mini, or whatever it's called)? Looking at doing this hack to drive some ceiling speakers, and wondering if drop off you're seeing in base response is present in the 2nd gen mini as well.

[@purr-auralbeats6080]

Can you please bleep you "ok googles". You keep triggering mine

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hahahah... sorry 😞

[@guiguigodro]

What's the resistance on the Home Mini speaker ? 4,6 or 8 Ohms?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Hi there... yes, im pretty sure it was 4 ohms...

[@R_T_Ralph]

My alexa is now for the chopping block. upgrade needed.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Good news Ralph, I think Alexa has an aux socket!

[@R_T_Ralph]

@@DubiousEngineering Ive just noticed that. No need to strip her down then. Ill just plug in the PC speakers and let her go.

[@DubiousEngineering]

A 10 minute message for my regular viewers... kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnK5kpd_jsx_mM0

[@EdwinNoorlander]

You can play with your Google all night long??? Wha....

[@DubiousEngineering]

Wow... you watched all the way to end! Well done!

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Sure, I don’t watch tv. This is better. On KZbin you find nice lines like this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qV7Iamdmp6ahn5o I need a new solder sucker, this one sucks. 😂😂👍🏻 And yours, I can play with my google all night long. 😂😂🍻

[@DubiousEngineering]

I’m with you... TV doesn’t cater for a lot of intelligent people... it’s nice relaxing mind numbing stuff but rarely explains tech and rarely teaches you stuff... aside from how to have an argument down the pub ... aka east Enders and corry soaps etc...

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Dubious Engineering next time when I’m in the UK, I’ll buy you a beer 🍻

[@DubiousEngineering]

And I’ll buy you one right back... and we’ll get drunk and fix the worlds problems!!

[@soundria25]

Watch the polarity dude

[@DubiousEngineering]

Peter Berenyi [home] ... oh no... did I get it wrong ? It still sounds ok... I hope the tweeter and bass are in phase!

[@willdwyer6782]

You know it's possible to pair your Google home mini with Bluetooth speakers. Just saying.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Yes indeed!! ... then I would have to buy some Bluetooth speakers!!!!

[@willdwyer6782]

You should change the name of your KZbin channel to cheapskate engineer.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Will Dwyer absolutely!!! :-)

[@YCorey]

@@willdwyer6782 It's being resourceful.

[@DubiousEngineering]

I love you zero!!!

[@comicsansgreenkirby]

I’ll stick to the external Bluetooth Speaker...

[@DubiousEngineering]

Don’t blame you... I did this for fun and because I didn’t want to buy a Bluetooth speaker 🔊

[@comicsansgreenkirby]

@@DubiousEngineering I mean, AptX may make it sound a bit worse, but...

[@epicgames6859]

4min 7 sec like fortnite

[@DubiousEngineering]

:-)

[@stein3d]

This is not hack is a modifications

[@DubiousEngineering]

It’s a hardware hack as opposed to a software hack...! Sorry if the title misled you... it’s still quite a cool hack!!

[@loulapidez8999]

Just connect it to a larger bluetooth speaker

[@DubiousEngineering]

A lot of people suggest that... but then you need to buy a larger bluetooth speaker :-)

[@europeanlegend9347]

a bluetooth dongle works too. if you've got a hifi speaker, chances are you have a receiver/amplifier. So you can connect it to that. most newer ones come with bluetooth anyways.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Maybe then the output will be A2DP stereo Bluetooth sound... that would be nice!! :-)

[@lukegraham7561]

What exactly is the point in this you could have just used an alexa which frankly is better or just used a bluetooth speaker

[@DubiousEngineering]

I agree... Alexa is better as it has an output jack... in this case, for me, I have the convenience of a system that doesn’t require Bluetooth connections or charging and the extra quality of a decent sized two way crossover and high quality audiophile speaker... thanks kindly for you’re poke in the eye mr Graham !! ... we had fun

[@lukegraham7561]

@@DubiousEngineering okay but not all bluetooth speakers need recharging and those "audiophile" speakers would sound a thousand percent better on an amplifier made for it not a 2.5 watt amplifier in that google speaker and my third point is that by doing what you have done you have effectively void your warranty on the product

[@DubiousEngineering]

Luke Graham I can’t disagree with you!! ... also, I’m sure they already make a larger version of the google home mini, so, this is indeed completely pointless!! That said, It sits in my kitchen and gets used regularly, and it sounds loads better than the original! ... whatever you do, please don’t watch any of my other videos, as you’ll soon be suggesting I should go to bed and not wake up!! :-)

[@zilla531]

Nice mine doesn’t turn on now

[@DubiousEngineering]

ooops... sorry to hear

[@LAUGHINGMANWILL]

4:11 factry

[@DubiousEngineering]

LAUGHINGMANWILL ...?? I’ve watch that bit a couple of times... sorry don’t understand your comment!! :-)

[@LAUGHINGMANWILL]

​@@DubiousEngineering Just a joke meaning factory fit sometimes oem

[@DubiousEngineering]

Ah!! Understood now!! A perfect fit!! 👌 👍 all the best and thanks for sharing!!

[@davidbanksAu]

Hmmm .. ever heard of bluetooth?

[@DubiousEngineering]

Great comment and well presented!! ... Bluetooth is epic ... I just did this for fun :-)

[@lunchie80]

Google minis are extremely cheap. Single speakers are also extremely cheap. Why not do it? Plus bluetooth speakers will also require charging or separate power on top of what the mini uses. There are dozens of centre speakers around that would be perfect for this.

[@DubiousEngineering]

Thanks Maxiumus!! - You totally understand where I'm at!! :-)

[@lunchie80]

@@DubiousEngineering I just did this with a big yamaha centre speaker. Removed the tweeter and used the Google Mini speaker in its place with some black silicone. Added a custom crossover(simple cap on the mini and a coil on the 2 bass drivers). Much louder than original especially in the low end. Made this for my garage speaker where I work on my cars amd have some gym gear. As loud as anyone would ever need for a garage. Centre speaker was free with blown tweeter, mini was $30au (£17?) Runs off a single usb. Winning!

[@DubiousEngineering]

Lunchos El Maximus ... excellent to hear that this has helped!! ... I’m thinking of taking this to the next level... putting some lithium ion batteries in a speaker and the google mini... then you can take it outside or into the bathroom :-)