Boombox, part 5

Uh, where to begin..? Certainly been lazy with any updates, but quite the opposite with building this ‘thing’ :). Lots of small issues sorted out, plenty of adapting on the fly as well as some amount of re-do, all (finally!) mounting up to a point where the Boombox actually started making noise!

I sure can’t recall the details of even half of all the work I’ve put in, but picking things up from last time, let’s start with the analyzers. I ended up adding a separate 3.3V switch mode DC/DC converter board for them and housing everything inside a small junction box. The analyzer boards used a 10k linear potentiometer for sensitivity adjustment and thus, wiring both to a single stereo potentiometer seemed like a good idea. Too bad I had only a logarithmic potentiometer at hand so as it is for the time being, the adjustment is a bit tricky. Will replace this once I have the proper part.

Boombox, part 4

Status update..

6″ compartments are shaping up neat. Two layers of paint have been applied, so what little remains to be done is mainly the wiring chores. I’ll wait with this until I have the treble compartment ready to be wired up too. As a neat little extra detail for cabling through-holes, I now have some rubber grommets. These were sourced from the Panasonic speaker enclosures, where they were used to attach the decorative fabric in front of the speaker.

Rubber grommets, just loaded with high re-use value!

Boombox, part 3

With the sheet pieces cut, this project is now moving swiftly towards assembly! At the moment, there’s still a bit of CNC pending as I need to wait for some parts to arrive.

The final structural layout on the right side panel, left still has the old one.

Whilst doing the sheets, I also decided to cut a bunch of 9x9mm sticks. Their planned use is to make the top sheet assembly of the upper 6″ speaker compartment stronger. But, should the need arise I can use the extras as assembly supports elsewhere inside the enclosure.

Boombox, part 2

Plenty of movement with this project, namely in the form of enclosure materials and quite a bit of design changes!

Looking for what to make the enclosure with, I soon came across this damaged shelve in the dumpster. Made out of particle board and torn to sheets for the bin, most of the parts were slightly broken from the edges. Then again, with the bad parts cut off you still had plenty of usable material. Biggest downside immediately apparent: With these sheets being 19mm thick, whatever you build with them is not going to be exactly lightweight. But sure, I’ll accept free “raw materials”, at least for testing something. Once installed in the trolley, the weight becomes less of an issue anyway.  For outdoor use, the sheets will also need a layer of paint applied, something I was planning to do anyway.

Boombox, part 1

LL with a bit of BOOM

With my summer vacation now about a week away, I’ve already spent the better part of july planning and gathering some parts for a boombox project. Despite I have no solid design yet, the general idea is to end up with a portable audio system that outperforms the bog-standard crappy plastic speaker replicas. Something I can take with me to cater a decent-quality soundtrack for a sunny summer day outdoors doing absolutely nothing (besides maybe getting some tan on my moobs). The overall plan is (as usual), ” stick with what is available for free” and make it a fun project without stressing about appearance. Basically I’m fine with whatever, just as long as it can handle outdoor use. Shouldn’t prove too difficult with these specs ;)

The Go + Play, here to spice up my babble.

The early stages of this project revolved around yours truly thinking what to do with a 11″ speaker and a 55Ah car battery. Spending a cabin weekend with a bunch of friends early june, we decided to hook up the car battery to a Harman/Kardon Go + Play boombox to save up on battery costs. The HK box uses the eight of the big D-type batteries (8*1V5 = 12V) and according to spec this gives you around 18 hours of playing time. Thus you could easily end up using three sets of batteries over a weekend, adding up to over 40€ plus a neat pile of problematic waste on the landfill. I knew for certain that the car battery should have no issues powering the boombox all weekend despite being drained round the clock.. And quite so it did! All this got me thinking about a boombox project of my own.