help. mounting amp for boombox.

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Hi all,

My 9 year old son and I are building a boombox for him to use at the rink for playing music in the change room etc.

It is 1/2" MDF construction, uses two cheap 6.25" 3way car speakers, and a 12V SLA battery for power. I got a 3116 amp board from ebay to power the speakers. The size of the box is 20"wide x10" high and 11.5" deep (outside dimensions). I have no idea on the particulars of the speakers, and so the design of the enclosure is just winging it.

I need help with suggestions mounting the amp. Most of the DIY pics I see have the amp mounted so that the knobs and inputs are on the outside of the box. I am struggling with a good way to mount my amp board inside the box but with the controls and 3.5mm jack easily assessable.

The amp board I have has the volume knob (also on/off switch) and the jack at the front. Because I am using 1/2" (12mm) MDF for the construction, the knob and jack won't make it through.

I've got decent woodworking skills, I could stop dado a slot about 2" wide and 1/2" tall, leaving about 1/8"-5/32" material on the face edge, and then drill the holes for the jack and knob to poke through. I am hoping that it won't be to weak. I would then glue a small shelf underneath the board to mount the amp to using the 2 holes at the back. I would do the dado on a drill press with a 1/2" forstner bit.

Here's a pic of a board with similar construction to the one I got on ebay. The LED on the one I got is a tiny flush mounted blue one, but to my untrained eye, the rest of the layout is very close.

81WedknG4XL._SL1500_.jpg


Last night, we went to the local Home Depot, and were looking for something maybe to use as a face plate. No one could point me to small sheets of acrylic or plexiglass, so we came up with a utility box cover for $1.50 to bring home. Very similar to this:

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


However, the (2"x4") cover has a slightly raised profile, and as a result, I would need to probably go right through the MDF with the slot for the board. Will this affect the performance of my 'sealed' enclosure?

Another option would be to cut a smaller 3"x1.25" plate from the metal of this cover and glue it down as a faceplate for the amp . I would do most of the cutting with a hacksaw, angle grinder and hand file. My son would like to see the angle grinder in action.

Peter


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I got the 'slot' for the amp board cut out without incident, see pic. I used a 5/8" forster bit. uploadfromtaptalk1428642391531.jpg

Anyone try running an equalizer app on their android or apple device. Would it help make a bad speaker sound better?

There are a bunch free on the Google play store. I may try a few when the speaker is completed.
 
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