harnessing a stereo receiver speaker wire signal to produce light

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I'm playing around building some furniture using epoxy and LEDs and I
got the idea of somehow harnessing my stereo (and hence my music) to
provide the control signal for a bank of LEDs. Unfortunately while I
understand electronics on a very basic level I really have no idea how
to do this.

I have two things that I might want to do.

The first would be simply to select a fairly narrow range of
frequencies (either high or low) and use it to turn the LEDs on or off
in some sort of sequential manner. So first time the frequency is hit
LEDs go on, second time they go off, etc.

The second would be to have different LEDs powered by different
frequency ranges. I imagine that this would be a bit more complicated
in that it would involve seperating out the frequencies and then
passing those results along to some sort of switch. I know that the
crossover unit from a speaker basically does this but it's obviously
working with big chunks of the frequency spectrum.

Any ways to do this that are fairly simple and within the realm of
possibility for a newbie? I'm generally pretty good with soldering and
mechanical tasks and I understand how logical circuits work (or at
least I did at one point in time).

Thanks,

Sahsa

 

[Chris]

I'm playing around building some furniture using epoxy and LEDs and I
got the idea of somehow harnessing my stereo (and hence my music) to
provide the control signal for a bank of LEDs. Unfortunately while I
understand electronics on a very basic level I really have no idea how
to do this.

I have two things that I might want to do.

The first would be simply to select a fairly narrow range of
frequencies (either high or low) and use it to turn the LEDs on or off
in some sort of sequential manner. So first time the frequency is hit
LEDs go on, second time they go off, etc.

The second would be to have different LEDs powered by different
frequency ranges. I imagine that this would be a bit more complicated
in that it would involve seperating out the frequencies and then
passing those results along to some sort of switch. I know that the
crossover unit from a speaker basically does this but it's obviously
working with big chunks of the frequency spectrum.

Any ways to do this that are fairly simple and within the realm of
possibility for a newbie? I'm generally pretty good with soldering and
mechanical tasks and I understand how logical circuits work (or at
least I did at one point in time).

Thanks,

Sahsa

Hi, Sasha. What you're looking for is called a light organ.

You can Google it, or if you'd like, take advantage of any number of
kits. I like the Velleman product, so try looking at their MK110
SIMPLE ONE CHANNEL LIGHT ORGAN, (caution -- uses mains voltage) or
their MK114 LOW VOLTAGE LIGHT ORGAN (operates off car battery).

http://www.vellemanusa.com/engine.php

Good luck
Chris

 

[jasen]

I'm playing around building some furniture using epoxy and LEDs and I
got the idea of somehow harnessing my stereo (and hence my music) to
provide the control signal for a bank of LEDs. Unfortunately while I
understand electronics on a very basic level I really have no idea how
to do this.

I have two things that I might want to do.

The first would be simply to select a fairly narrow range of
frequencies (either high or low) and use it to turn the LEDs on or off
in some sort of sequential manner. So first time the frequency is hit
LEDs go on, second time they go off, etc.

could be tricky to set that up.

The second would be to have different LEDs powered by different
frequency ranges. I imagine that this would be a bit more complicated
in that it would involve seperating out the frequencies and then
passing those results along to some sort of switch. I know that the
crossover unit from a speaker basically does this but it's obviously
working with big chunks of the frequency spectrum.

google for "colour organ schematic"

Any ways to do this that are fairly simple and within the realm of
possibility for a newbie? I'm generally pretty good with soldering and
mechanical tasks and I understand how logical circuits work (or at
least I did at one point in time).

see if you can get a kit.

Bye.
Jasen