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To make the walls of the box I shaved 1/8” strips off the side of a 2X4 with a table saw. If you don’t have a table saw or don’t want to generate copious amounts of saw dust, you can buy 1.5” X 1/8” strips of balsa wood at a good hobby shop. As it turned out, I only needed about sixteen inches. However, if you choose to make your own speaker enclosures, you will probably need more than that.

After making the walls, I cut a 9¾ X 11¾ piece out of the 1/8” laminated plywood to form the base. To accommodate the tabs used for opening the binder rings, I cut notches into the top corners. Holes were then drilled for the rings and the speaker wires.

Next, the box walls were glued to the base and allowed to cure overnight. The next day, holes were drilled into the box walls for two RCA jacks and a coat of flat black paint was applied. Contact cement was used to apply a layer of felt to the top of each speaker (they were a little ugly). And the speakers were then glued to the front corners of the base with silicone adhesive. These were held in place with C-clamps and left to cure overnight.

The next day, assembly was completed. The lid was attached via two small brass hinges. Then the circuit board was placed inside the box and attached with the #4 screws and ¼” spacers. The RCA jacks were added and routed to the circuit board along with the speaker wires. The battery was connected and dropped into place behind the circuit board and the lid was closed.

The assembly was then placed inside the three-ring binder and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player was attached to the audio inputs. Power was applied and the Play button was pushed. Music was heard and life was good.