I have to admit that I’m a fan of good-sounding audio equipment. Through the right amplifier and speakers, I can almost see the music (pharmaceuticals not needed). That being said, when I see things like the following videos describing how to make a speaker on the cheap it really makes me smile.

As long as you have some regular household items and don’t mind cutting up a mini-jack cable, the total cost of this DIY speaker is actually 1 cent.

How to make a speaker (he claims “high definition speaker”) for less than one dollar.

OK, you caught us. That one is fake. If you have a little bit of time (say about 10 minutes), you can make a real good sounding speaker with a plastic cup, business card, Lego blocks, a magnet and some wire if you follow the simple instructions.

Better yet, you can make a DIY speaker that actually competes with commercial speakers for about the same cost of materials and about 10 more minutes. Check it out.

The above video was made by a guy called Jose Pino. You can view the detailed photos of the speaker assembly mentioned above, and all sorts of other interesting DIY devices on his site.

If you want to get a bit more serious about building speakers, “Designing, Building, and Testing Your Own Speaker System with Projects” is an awesome book on the subject.