In an attempt to get my V2 to open up a can of whoop ass on V2 Media, I decided to start with an important aspect, Music. Adding the ability to play music and sound through V2 allows you to plug in an Mp3 player, Ipod, Pocket Pc or just about anything that has an audio output.                                    You will require the following:                  Or something close....... Micro speakers Small stereo amplifier 2.5mm stereo socket Hook-up wire Small volume pot (I used a 50k ) Small toggle switch Soldering iron & solder Wire cutters Drill Patience

I began by looking around for just some small speakers with decent sound that didn’t look too bad either. Buying the actual speakers by themselves seemed impossible so I settled on buying a set of ipod speakers (right). This meant that I would have speakers and an amp, it was also handy that the amp can run of anything between 6-12v. With postage to Australia they ended up costing under AU$15, which I was pretty happy with.

First thing to do is pull unit apart to get to the goodies inside, remove the speakers and the amplifier unit from the casing. The picture below shows what the amplifier looks like once it has been removed.

V2 has to come apart now, take the screws out from is back which will allow you to take of the chest plate. Once you have that off you have access to a bunch of screws, make sure you only take the ones out that are connected to V2’s back plate. The pictures below show which screws to remove to get the back off. (Just incase you were worried?).

Once you have the back ready to come off you have to contest with the shoulder springs. Put V2’s arms straight up and slide the spring off it’s tab. The two photos here show how they should look when you put them back on.

Now fire up the soldering iron, and get your stereo volume pot wired as pictured below. Make sure you have enough wire to go down V2’s neck and reach the amp and speakers in V2’s back. The picture is of only one channel repeat for second channel.

While the soldering iron is hot you may aswell wire up the power switch, again making sure you use enough wire to go down V2’s neck and reach the amp. Per diagram to the right.

Now you will need to desolder the speakers from the amplifier circuit, run wires down his neck and solder the wires from the volume control onto the circuit.

Remove the panel from the back of V2’s head and drill holes for the switch and the volume control. the pictures to the right shows where I installed mine, the socket there is for charging of the 9v batteries I use to power my mods, but if you wanted you could put the stereo socket in here instead.

There are a few places where you can get a 9v power source from V2. In the picture to the left I have marked an area on V2’s back where you will find a 9v and ground. You can also take 9v from the power switch circuit and use a common ground. (picture below) Wire the power to the battery tabs on the amplifier circuit. If you do use this power method I would be interested to know whether or not it caused any “noise” through the amp, if it does you could use a power setup similar to what I use, details are in the Roamosapien hack.

Bust out the drill again and mark the area where you will drill the holes to install the speakers. The holes I drilled were just big enough to be able to squeeze the speaker into the hole so it fit nice and snug without falling out. This was necessary as otherwise the screw to remove the chest wouldn’t have been assessable. To drill a hole this large I used my largest drill bit and made circles around the edge with it like a poor mans router until it was the right size.

Then you will need to connect the wires from the volume control to the speakers by running them out of the hole and soldering them on. Once that is done push the speakers into place.

Next remove the black panel from V2’s back and drill a hole big enough to install the 2.5mm stereo socket. Wire the socket to the stereo input on the circuit and install in the back panel.The socket is circled in the far right picture.

Is V2 Ready to rock? If you somehow managed to follow my ramblings you can reassemble V2 and give him a test. Having the socket in the panel would allow you to place an ipod, mp3 player or Pocket PC on the flat part of his back using something like Velcro to fix it. If you need any further information or if there was stuff I left out you needed to know E-mail Me.

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