First attempt at making a boombox

[johnsharpe]

Hi,

Im just starting to make my first boombox, I am a motorsport engineer and university dj so know a moderate amount about this field but still have some questions. I have been studying the threads about other members boomboxs and they have really helped but im still stuck in a few places and if you could help me that would be great.

I am unsure on which speakers would be best to use, either pa speakers such as these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/LTC-Passive-...0418172&sr=8-4

or hifi speakers such as these:http://www.wharfedale.co.uk/Products...B/Default.aspx

From threads like saturnus' boominator thread i have decided to go with the amp6basic kit as it seems tried and tested and similar batteries to the ones he has used however i am slightly confused to whether these will allow me to be able to run the boombox when plugged into the ac mains when at home as well as used outside as a portable speaker?

Thank you for your help,

John

[mr. doom]

Originally Posted by johnsharpe

Hi,

Im just starting to make my first boombox, I am a motorsport engineer and university dj so know a moderate amount about this field but still have some questions. I have been studying the threads about other members boomboxs and they have really helped but im still stuck in a few places and if you could help me that would be great.

I am unsure on which speakers would be best to use, either pa speakers such as these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/LTC-Passive-...0418172&sr=8-4

or hifi speakers such as these:http://www.wharfedale.co.uk/Products...B/Default.aspx

From threads like saturnus' boominator thread i have decided to go with the amp6basic kit as it seems tried and tested and similar batteries to the ones he has used however i am slightly confused to whether these will allow me to be able to run the boombox when plugged into the ac mains when at home as well as used outside as a portable speaker?

Thank you for your help,

John

You will need a AC-DC power supply and way to switch from battery to the wall wart.
Pa speakers should be louder at the expense of lower bass notes, most DIY boom boxes use raw drivers rather than the prefab boxes in your links.

[johnsharpe]

thanks for the help, taking your advice i started looking at raw drivers and found some options, looking particularly for high sensitivity. I found these to be some of the best option but do you think they are the right think to go for?

Hi-Fi Speaker Driver SP-302E Stage Line Hi-Fi Speaker Driver SP-302E 12" 4 Ohm 100w RMS 104000 - Stagebeat - 12" 4 Ohm 100w RMS Woofer SP-302E 104000

Replacement Speaker Driver SP-302PA Stage Line Replacement Speaker Driver SP-302PA 12" 150w RMS 8 Ohm 103310 - Stagebeat - 12" 150w RMS 8 Ohm Woofer SP-302PA 103310

Bass-Midrange Speaker Driver SP-250PA Stage Line Bass-Midrange Speaker Driver SP-250PA 10" 8Ohm 125w RMS 102970 - Stagebeat - 10" 8Ohm 125w RMS 125w RMS 8 Ohm PA-Woofer SP-250PA 102970

[tinitus]

have not followed your thread, but those woofers are all with none of the specs needed to calculate a box

[johnsharpe]

yh i noticed this but struggling to find any where to buy raw drivers from in the UK as almost everything is sold prefabbed, if you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by johnsharpe

... if you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated

my 'boombox' would have ONE woofer, two midrange and tweetes

[Saturnus]

Why do you need to buy them from the UK? Just buy them from European resellers instead. Usually is roughly the same shipping cost anyways, and since the UK is on paper at least if not in spirit part of the EU you have exactly the same costumer protection as if you bought it from a domestic reseller.

[fraction]

You can easily get monacor speakers in the uk, from blue aran or DFB warehouse. About half of them have the specs required to build the box.

Or you can buy a couple of drivers and experiment.

[lost eden]

As mentioned already, Blue Aran are a good source of PA drivers in the UK. I bought the Fane drivers for my new boombox from them. They also sell lots of other 'cabinet building' supplies that might be useful for your boombox, like reinforced corners, feet, etc.

Often when a website selling a driver doesn't tell you the values you need to calculate an enclosure, you just need to go to the website of the manufacturer of the driver (eg. Fane or whoever) where they will have the numbers you need.