Review on 🔊 Gikfun Upgraded Transparent Electronic Amplifier by Jim Plump

This product is an updated version of the EK1831 kit from the same company. I haven't built this kit and don't know how it's different, but this one only uses blue and red LEDs (your choice of 4 blue + 1 red or 5 blue LEDs per speaker) while this one is green, yellow and red LEDs. I didn't find this kit particularly appealing to a beginner in electronics. The "how-to" consists of a schematic (if you can read it), three tips, and enlarged diagrams of the circuit boards you will be soldering. What confused me is that they tell you to solder the power amplifier IC first, but then they don't tell you which one (8002A). It's a surface mount chip, so you'll need to use a more sophisticated soldering technique right away. The rest is a little easier. Collect the crate the first time too. The parts of the box are unlabeled so you'll have to figure it out - the front is pretty obvious and the back (with the big cable opening) is recognizable, but the other sides require trial and error (Gikfun: some labels would be nice). Since the cable between the speaker and the circuit board is fairly short, you'll need to plan out how you're going to assemble everything before you start assembly, otherwise it becomes an incredibly tight space to work with. The speaker with the USB cable is the *right* speaker. I don't know why it says "For Arduino" because it has nothing to do with Arduino.