The boombox (+build pics)
Printed From: Speakerplans.com
Category: General
Forum Name: 12v Powered Systems
Forum Description: From Mini-rigs to ICE, all your low voltage audio needs here...
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=29102
Printed Date: 27 March 2026 at 11:10am
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Topic: The boombox (+build pics)
Posted By: subbass
Subject: The boombox (+build pics)
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 2:52pm
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Got around to making the thing finally :) Day 1  Cutting them holes. The circle guide for the router was crap so i got me ancient jigsaw out  . Pretty spiffin tweeter holes i think! marking tolerences were <1mm, cutting was <1mm as far as i know.  (cept for the reflex ports cos the jigsaw didnt like turning that tight  ) downpipe nicked off a (mates old) house. CLASSY. is perfect diameter for the ports though   mess?  decided to have them mounted from the outside. made alot more sense.. Gonna have it all covered with a Markie grill to hide them a bit  cutting the rest of the body. took f**king ages  anddddddd done! used the sheet of 4x4 perfectly, got enough left for sealing off the mids inside, bracing and bits hopefully will have the body rounded off, stuck together and lightly finished tomorrow edit: im a spacker at speeling.
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Replies:
Posted By: Tony Wilkes
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 2:59pm
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What are you going to use it for? Tony |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 3:08pm
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well, me and my mates are almost always up on the downs (a giant park) on sunny days .. got uni coming up so will take it there. And to use as a general system at home, gatherings, little parties and stuff. can be mains / battery so that makes it flexible
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Posted By: Tony Wilkes
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 3:46pm
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So you will run it in stereo? Tony |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 4:34pm
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yeah, full stereo. ill post the specs and everything up once ive finished it. for the moment its shaping out to be 20w HF, 40w mid and 60w bass per chan (proper RMS). so should give 200wrms total nicely :)
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Posted By: Jake_Fielder
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 6:06pm
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What are the bass drivers? Nice project Im dying to make a project like that, im just too busy! |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 6:16pm
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thanks they're the 8" skytronic drivers off blue aran. the best compromise i could find between price, size and output really :). i really wanted to keep the boombox form factor, so any bigger than 8" would have been too much (factoring in the increased volume needed)
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Posted By: Killyp
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 6:47pm
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Gimme a shout subbass when you're next gonna take it up there in case I'm in Bristol. I'll bring my Neil Diamond CDs...
------------- <profound statement> |
Posted By: Drimacoustic
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 7:32pm
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What are those mids? They look like Emi Beta 6. ------------- love begins below 40Hz |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 24 July 2009 at 7:56pm
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haha, no problem killyp mids are fane sovereign 100s (6") and before anyone asks, the tweeters are fane FPT80s, (cheaper) clones of the APT80s
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Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 25 July 2009 at 6:35pm
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Day 2 Had to go to work today so didnt get that much done . sorted the wiring harnesses. Each amp is gonna receive 38v, so wiring is able to be relatively small. power is 3 yuasa 12v, 7Ah in series  Heres the crossover if youre interested. its surprising capable and does loads . ignore the EQ settings, i dont normally run that much gain   cleaned up the boards after the jigsaw ripped up the underneaths pretty bad  . theyre all good now though! ^roughly put together made some inner partitions to seal off the mids in their little 5L box. should be able to do fullrange once i vent it as well - so i can run only those + the tweeters if i want to save some power... (can be EQ'd for a bit more bass). And its finally a shape now . size is about 820x270x300question: am I right in thinking its best to round off the edges with the router once its all assembled? corners are a problem otherwise. THANKS
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Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 25 July 2009 at 9:19pm
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Hey mate.. I like your styles! I think I missed the start.. whats the amplifiers again? Looks like you've got yourself a tripath amp there in the background. I guess it's gonna be heavy no matter what.. but i would have thought about using lipos. SLAs are cheaper mind. What the current draw on that crossover module? I always build my own using low current op-amps etc. because anything off the shelf would have high power consumption. The 3A fuse on that thing makes me worry! I'm in bristol too. get in touch if you want a hand or when its done I can come check it out! ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 25 July 2009 at 9:21pm
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Oh and why did you go for 3-way? I would have just used two Sovereign 8-225s in a 35L box tuned to 55hz and ran them up to 3.5khz for the HF. I imagine those skytronic drivers are about 4 or 5db less efficient you see. St andrews park when your done please! ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: cranberry
Date Posted: 25 July 2009 at 9:59pm
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dave - what would you recommend for budget 12v HF? I'm using the 4" wharfedale 3038LB drivers - a pair / side. I've made an active xo to run on an 8v - 18v supply. Will be running 3 way - wharfedale 8" bass (4), 2 pcs 3038LB, + HF?. I've got a home brew 4channel class d amp. (based on a TI chip.)
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Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 1:13am
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aren't they full range drivers? do you really need to run it 3-way? if you really want it then just buy a cheap skytronic tweeter from bluearan or something. or a piezo :) ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 4:25am
yeah, theyre all tripath amps - meant to be 100wrms each at 4R, but do run lower than that with the 8R speakers. still they do sound very nice and are efficient as well. i looked into lipos - and i saw the price .. The same capacity (21Ah essentially) would have cost 4x more - the SLAs were £45 alone.. i dont really have the cash to spend on them, nice as it would have been! i dont actually have anything to measure current with - i only have a cheapo mulimeter :(. I have used it for extended periods of time, EQ on and pretty much full gain on all channels (crappy MP3 player was the input) and no component ever really got warm. So, i guess that the power is going into a good direction at least? the skytronics are less efficient, not gonna go into the specs as they arent anything to boast about . although, i have spend a while in winISD and they should perform better than the (8"?) fanes that i simmed at low ranges. although, i am a beginner at widISD, so i was probably getting it wrong. whatever ps. ill add you to the list, lol
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davey t wrote:Posted By: samson
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 6:56am
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Great project..
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Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 11:21am
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Day 3 The gf gets back today from holiday, and am under strict instructions not to 'play with myself in the garage' and to spend time with her instead. looks like im not going to get any done today  .. i mean , of coursethat and im still under the influence after last night so i dont want to go taking chunks out my hand with the jigsaw
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Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 11:34am
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yea if you're posting at 5am you shouldn't go to work in your garage today! which skytronic drivers number are they? ------------- Minirig portable soundsystem movement |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 12:37pm
mhmm, true. i had to get up at 7 as well  This one:
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Posted By: Jake_Fielder
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 11:24pm
? |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 26 July 2009 at 11:33pm
The batteries provide a little more than 12v each hence the 38v. the batteries are in series, and the amps are connected to this ring in parallel .. ?
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Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 27 July 2009 at 12:51am
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nice looking build mate. id be worried about putting over 36v into the amps. why not just go for the three battries in parallel? or use 2 in series for 24volt, and the third for running your crossover at 12v? what crossover points you planning on using? ------------- REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :) |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 29 July 2009 at 11:00pm
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well, the arrangement of all in series does maximise the use of the batteries - they all die at the same time :) have tested the tripath amps at 38.4V and they are perfectly happy! I think (but ill test this) it began to clip later with the higher voltage rather than the 12.1 from another SLA i have... The wires are also far happier in series, and the chips are more efficient at higher voltages apparantly :) Xover points I'll fiddle with, but they're looking like 200hz and 3.5khz?
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Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 31 July 2009 at 12:16am
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just to let you all know that i havent been a lazy sod - my camera has broked :( with any luck I'll have it done tomorrow though edit: i got one at least, yesterday:  doesnt look very nice here.. but the glamour shots are coming tomorrow
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Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 31 July 2009 at 5:15pm
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2/3 have exploded on me now.. apparantly there is an issue with some of them. GREAT porno is now postponed another few weeks edited to remove profanities
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Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 31 July 2009 at 9:20pm
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damn.
i short circuited the speaker outs on mine for about 5mins the other day. and it still works great. im hoping mine doesnt die too! ------------- REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :) |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 04 August 2009 at 5:59pm
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yeaaaaa boi
FINISHED THE CAB NOW (pretty much)  took me long enough, had to learn how to use all the tools along the way . have done a quick bit of testing with the remaining amplifiers and it all seems to work nicely! obviously the 8"s dont drop heavy, but they dont lag too far behind. but, its a nice full sound. dubstep doesnt seem to work all that well, i simmed the 8"s to work best 70hz plus so at least I would get some decent kick. having said that, i tested some roots on it, and the sound was nice and balanced! when it was cranked up to loud, it all sounded loverly the fane mids are real clear sounding, give a nice sound to the vocals the APT80s are far too loud lol, will sort out the gain in the Xover when i get a new one. not going to run out of headroom there total weight is somewhere round 20 / 22 kg, liftable and movable by one person. far more comfy with two though! the 8"s weigh a bloody ton with their huge magnets the edges are all radiused with a mates router, the grill is superb and is thanks to markie. the handles are blue aran, rack case styleee. just need to get some draw bolts for the back now (oh, + amps and Xover )heres some pictures: ( these pictures arent that great - the grill area is far darker. i think the light ply threw the exposure off a bit) Front. brass screws add a little bit of bling. stop it being too serious  Messy, messy inside, was liberal with the glue. should be enough bracing though (more bracing behind batteries  boombastic!    sneaky battery holding design (they go over the top once its closed so they cant move :)  rear view  . it is actually all flush, dont think it was closed properly for pic the minger that kept me going   so yeah, im happy with how it turned out , learnt a fair bit as i went as well . so long as you treat it as a bit of fun, and not a serious PA piece of kit its great. ie: dont remind me about the missing 20-60hz or the complete non-linearity of the response hope you guys like it, its a little different to the usual cabs on here ps. ill get some proper outdoors photos and stuff when the weather gets better ! pps. these pictures arent that great - the grill area is far darker. i think the light ply threw the exposure off a bit |
Posted By: Jake_Fielder
Date Posted: 04 August 2009 at 7:19pm
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It looks really good, if it were mine i'd put a 12v battery charger in it and an iec socket on the outside, you can always pop in to a pub when you're out and about and charge it!
Now go outside and enjoy it!!!
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Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 04 August 2009 at 7:29pm
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lurvely work mate:) jus wait till those 8" drivers wake up after a few hours of use. have you used it running all drivers together triamped yet? ------------- REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :) |
Posted By: Teunos
Date Posted: 04 August 2009 at 7:33pm
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A mate of me immediatly shouted ''Woow'', but then continued with , ''i guess it won't like beer that much''. Looks like an incredible design and build. Having some fun with it won't be a problem but i recommend applying some foam behing or in front of the grille if possible. Overall, 5 star rating cab  ------------- Best regards, Teun. |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 6:13pm
 and i found a rig whore 
ps that aint me
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Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 7:02pm
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Nice work on that build. im doing something along those lines pics up soon.
is it particularly heavy? ------------- I do a sideline in ply wood wheels. |
Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 7:13pm
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ps where did you get the rto sx-4012 crossover jobby from??
looks mint ------------- I do a sideline in ply wood wheels. |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 7:37pm
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ta total weight is 25kg, the RTO (and all the 12v car crossovers) are on ebay, im now using an audiobahn AX303X as i blew up the RTO
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Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 7:43pm
oh. kool man cheers for that i think mine is going to come in a little lighter than that, but only just  ------------- I do a sideline in ply wood wheels. |
Posted By: markie
Date Posted: 11 April 2010 at 9:09pm
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Remind me by PM of the address and I'll send some black flange head screws, they'll be a lot neater than those brass ones. If you also give me the size I might even have an offcut of foam. ------------- If it's got wheels or tits it's gonna cost a fortune |
Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 19 April 2010 at 10:17pm
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how many ltrs is the chamber that the two 8" drivers are mounted in?? just out of intrest. i have a feeling that my box is to small ------------- I do a sideline in ply wood wheels. |
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 19 April 2010 at 10:55pm
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45L, problem is that the smaller the box then the peakier the tuning / the less bass you get model it in winisd and see what it looks like
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Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 20 April 2010 at 1:14pm
i would but i have such great drivers there are no specs for them, i even emailed the company that made em and they havnt got back to me  . iv got about 35L. im finishing the box tonite so going to suck it and see.------------- I do a sideline in ply wood wheels. |
Posted By: Dr Krepz
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 9:13pm
| that is seriously sexy... i've been wanting to do this for ages. i even have 800w worth of car stereo drivers and ampage but my carpenter mate is out of town nowadays. *jealous* |
Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 02 May 2010 at 12:48pm
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finished my project now cheers for the advice turned out allright in the end pics are up under rave pack (im aware its a w*nk name) ------------- I do a sideline in ply wood wheels. |