Better sound through research
Back in my undergraduate days, engineering better sound for our lousy Walkmans or for our cheap car stereos was one of hostel’s most popular hack. With pockets near empty at the end of each month after spending over movie tickets, cigarettes, drawing sheets, an occasional nice dinner at a decent restaurant, there would be just enough money left to buy a cheap worn out secondhand radio amplifier, a pair of speaker cords and a couple of nice round well seasoned terracotta pots from the weekend market.
We’d put them together, place those Walkman speakers or those demagnetized used car speakers in those pots. (Terracotta pot selection tip: We’d try them drumming to see if they’d give out a clear ringing sound.) The resulting sound was exceptionally good, satisfying and of a quality we could dance through the night waking up the drowsy crowd.
Today when I see iPod speakers being sold at an arm and a leg, I snicker, and remember those good old hostel hacks. They work, of course, even today—whether you had a Walkman then or have an iPod now.