Esky (icebox, cooler) park system. Advice please :-) |
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alexxxor
Registered User Joined: 19 March 2013 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 13 |
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Posted: 19 March 2013 at 6:50am |
Hi Guys!
First of all, fantastic forum! So so much good advice!! So... I saw a picture a while ago of someone that had built a small system inside a retro esky (one of these) and it got me thinking... i've done some basic maths on the dimensions given and worked it out to be roughly 1.3-1.5 cubic feet inside. the construction is a metal outer, with about 1.5cms of polystyrene with a plastic inner shell. My plan is to make a self contained system with aesthetics as the priority, i like the idea of having something that looks unassuming (and a little bit dorky) but can pump out moderate dB's. in terms of hardware, i'm thinking eminence 10" (either basslites or beta-10a. links below) a eminence apt50 horn, running through a 2 way crossover probably eminence pxb2 (2.5k asymmetrical), a bridged 150w-200w car amplifier (4ohm driving 8ohm speakers probably) with inputs summed to mono running off either a sla or lifepo4 battery, most likely in the 7ah-10ah range. links: driver http://www.eminence.com/pdf/beta-10a.pdf - http://www.eminence.com/pdf/beta-10a.pdf horn http://www.eminence.com/pdf/apt80.pdf - http://www.eminence.com/pdf/apt80.pdf x-over http://www.essentialaudio.com.au/s/en-us/p1009_eminence_pxb2_2k5cx_2-Way_crossover. - http://www.essentialaudio.com.au/contents/en-us/p1009_eminence_pxb2_2k5cx_2-Way_crossover.html now, because i want to apply the KISS philosophy to this as much as possible, i'd like to avoid porting the box. this is due mostly to the fact that with the amp and the battery sitting inside the box, it will be hard to accurately gauge the internal volume. once again, this is an aesthetic decision, so tell me if i'm being stupid! here is my preliminary sketchup of how it will go... I will need to re-do this once i have the correct measurements for the box, but this is a start. I just wanted to run it by you guys before i start buying stuff, just to make sure i'm not being over ambitious here! basically, i want to build a system that will be loud enough for me to dj with if i feel the urge. i'm not looking for massive LFE subbass or anything, just something that will make a kick drum punchy and have enough oomph to be used for a bit of a boogie at a barbecue in the park. I'd also like to be able to get about 4 hours out of it at a decent volume (not maxed out, but still listenable). I've built 12v systems before, but doing it all by trial and error (cooked speakers, cooked amps, police visits and many hours of blood sweat and tears). So this time I want to do it right! thanks so much for your help! PS. here's our last 12v weapon. she was fun for a good while!! |
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alexxxor
Registered User Joined: 19 March 2013 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 13 |
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as another thought, to keep the aesthetics, i could just gut the box and build a mdf box to fit inside the metal shell. it might get me a bit more structural integrity.
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Saturnus
Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2010 Location: Copenhagen Status: Offline Points: 2025 |
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Change that to plywood and you're golden. In essence you strip out the metal shell that you want to keep and make a plywood box that fits snuggly. If the internal dimensions given above are accurate the internal volume is basically identical to that of each speaker half a Boominator with a bit of room to spare to for example for battery and amp. That means you can make it really easy on yourself and basically build half a Boominator LITE into it. That means 2x Basslite S2010 + 2x p.audio PHT-407N. One of each fitted on either side. You can keep the filter suggested for a bi-amp'ed system where tweeters and woofers both paralleled, the amp fed with a mono signal and one channel for woofers and one for tweeters. And you want to go the whole hog you can make a electronic crossover such as the kit described elsewhere on this forum but a passive filter will work fine. |
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Saturnus
Old Croc Joined: 13 July 2010 Location: Copenhagen Status: Offline Points: 2025 |
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If you're a masochist and really into keeping the aesthetics, you can use the metal shell as speaker grill by drilling hundreds of small holes in it where the speakers go and use a speaker cloth of similar color behind it. Done right it would be difficult to spot at first glance that it was a speaker at all. I'd use a LiFePO4 battery if at all possible, and I'd start with a TA2020 amp. It will pump out pretty amazing volumes, and certainly go deep enough to satisfy the requirements and save you the trouble having to make extra holes and fans to cool a car amp. With a TA2020 amp battery life will be over 20 hours at maximum volume on a 7Ah battery. With a 100W car amp battery life will be 2½ hours on the same battery. Edited by Saturnus - 19 March 2013 at 8:31am |
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Phil B
Old Croc Joined: 21 November 2004 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 2328 |
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Hobo Hi-Fi.... I remember that teamed up with Richies wheely bin last year at the 12v festy! Quality name !
.p. |
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bitSmasher
Old Croc Joined: 23 June 2012 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 2295 |
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Love the look of the trolley, brilliant stuff.
Don't forget the P.Audio HP10W is available from Cannon Sound, to save quite a few dollars. |
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alexxxor
Registered User Joined: 19 March 2013 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 13 |
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Saturnus!!
thanks so much for your advice. I'm going to do as you suggested and build half a boominator. due to budgetary concerns, i'm going to start off with 1/4 boominator and then add the other half when I can afford it... I've had a scout on ebay for ta2020's and they appear to be pretty reasonable, for 23 bucks i'm willing to give it a shot. The specs point to pretty low THD, how does this translate to actual distortion if I crank them up? I dare say that will be the main temptation once I get a few beers in to me. I'l probably go for a pre-built ta2020 in stereo, (link below) and use one channel for the woofer and the other for the tweeter. will i need to add a crossover or will the speakers handle this themselves? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tripath-TA2020-PCB-25Watt-Class-T-Audio-Amplifier-Board-/230608706091?pt=AU_Electronics_Audio_Amplifiers&hash=item35b1599a2b&_uhb=1#ht_3755wt_908 bitSmasher, you have made my day! those speakers are a quarter the price of the basslites. i'll order a tweeter from them too. hopefully postage isn't too much. they don't do the pht-407n that saturnus suggested, but i should be able to find something to do the job... saturnus, do you have a sketchup file of the boominator? i had a bit of a look, but couldn't seem to find one once again thanks for the advice! legendary!
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alexxxor
Registered User Joined: 19 March 2013 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 13 |
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Phil B. My friend terry has assumed responsibility for the hobo, so i haven't had anything to do with it for a while, but if you see it out and about, feel free to have a chat. he's are always up for it! the leopard skin speakers were in my loungeroom for years. it was nice to see them get a new lease of life! i just wish they two $600 noise fines hadn't come with it!
epic.
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bitSmasher
Old Croc Joined: 23 June 2012 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 2295 |
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Noise fines from a trolley system, woah. As painful as that'd be, I'd laminate them and stick them to the boxes. Something to be proud of!
If you're looking at amps... something Saturnus posted about in another thread, which I'll probably get for a small boombox build, is a Tripath amp with Bluetooth built in. Makes sense for small light boxes, keep your phone in your pocket/bag. Find them on ebay, Helder HiFi sell them for cheap - just search for Tripath and Bluetooth |
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Hemisphere
Old Croc Joined: 21 April 2008 Status: Offline Points: 2272 |
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If there's anything that's going to encourage the authorities to give you another, bigger noise fine (or worse!) it's laminating the original and sticking it to the rig..
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bitSmasher
Old Croc Joined: 23 June 2012 Location: Melbourne Status: Offline Points: 2295 |
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What's all this noise about, partying outdoors?
What party? I'm just waiting for a mate |
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mr. doom
Registered User Joined: 08 September 2010 Status: Offline Points: 266 |
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You guys are are making me glad to live in murica where a 140db Harley Davidson is considered a thing to be proud of.
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