Diy "portable" Radio

[Hugo82]

Ok, short story...

The often used cheap portable radio of my parents stopped working after quite a few years of service and my dad was browsing around the internet for a new one yesterday and i said to him jokingly "why don't u make 1 yourself!".... then he said "why don't U make 1".... then i said "OK!"

Now this has all the potential of turning into a "Me and my big mouth" kinda thing but i'm hoping that with a bit of help from u fine people that it won't get to that stage.

I was browsing around the internet this evening thinking there's sure to be someone that has tried something similar but i can't find anything usefull yet, if anyone has some links that would be of use to me then by all means post them!

I don't have the know how to built my own working radio from parts so i'm not going down that road.

Now here's what i was thinking, i'll get a cheap'ish portable radio that has all the options/hardware my dad wants (cd-player, mp3 support, radio... etc..)take all the hardware out and built it into a nice wooden enclosure together with nice small stereo amplifier and 2 decent 3" fullrange speakers.

The main problem with this is going to be i think is powering the beast, running the radio itself and the speakers on the same powersupply.
I had a quick look around for stereo amplifying modules and they come with variying power needs/requirements.
I can do it the "easy" way and just build in 2 seperate power adapters for the radio and amp but if it's possible/feasible i'd like to use one and the same.
I don't know much about these things so any input/thoughts on this is much apreciated

I could also use some input as to what speakers would be good for this, HiVi has some nice 3" fullrange aswell as Peerless and ofc Fostex but those are a bit too expensive for this little project.
I'm not too worried about the soundquality from whatever speaker i end up choosing because i'm quite certain that the soundquality will be better then what u would get from commercial portable radio's.

Budget of this whole project is set at around €100 - €120 (including purchase of radio for parts)

Any thoughts ?

[Iain McNeill]

wall warts are cheap. Crack them open and mount them in your new case - no problem.

If you use some class D (T-amp etc) amp modules, they typically run off 12V. You could just add a regulator for the radio (TO220 regulator + 3 caps) and have a single wall wart - no problem

I haven't tried the 3" HiVi's but the 3" TangBands (e.g. W3-1364) are very nice.

[infinia]

Yea you and your big mouth
Just get him a Grundig yacht boy and build a small powered speaker with at least a 6" midwoof/tweet and put in a vellman amp kit.
http://www.universal-radio.com/CATAL...able/0400.html

You don't really need stereo for radio right. I'd take 1 big/good speaker anyday over two 3 inchers.

[Iain McNeill]

Good grief, $80, that's a sign of the times.

I remember when they were $400.

...and still considered a good deal.

+1

[dangus]

Possibly the easiest and best solution is to get a car radio unit and stuff it in a box with a suitable power supply. A laptop power supply may be enough... some Toshibas use about 15V at 4 amps.

AM/FM/Cassette head units can be picked up for next to nothing. On the other hand, new low-end AM/FM/CD/MP3 decks are pretty cheap now if you catch the right sale. Watch out for auto parts swap meets. They may be associated with a particular marque or club, but generally there's all kinds of goodies on offer, like the $20 Sony CD head unit I got a few years back (I mainly wanted the speakers it came with). There may be good deals on car speakers there too.

Now, it should be possible to insert a two pole switch before the volume control, and switch in an external source like a CD player or MP3 player if you're working with a cassette head unit. For a no-cost basic CD player, use a CDROM drive that has a play button on the front. It'll need 5V and 12V; a power supply out of a small computer or from a external SCSI drive case should work.

[infinia]

2x30Watt amplifier Here is the link vellman nl site http://www.velleman.be/nl/en/product/view/?id=9184
the manual covers PS options

Grundig YB400 radio has FM stereo w/good audio so you can build 2 speakers funds permitting
review link http://www.mwcircle.org/res-receiver-grundigyb400.htm


Since it's a kit you will be soldering and cutting wood for the speaker so you can be sure to have foot removed from mouth without too much effort and w/luck.

[Hugo82]

Originally posted by dangus
Possibly the easiest and best solution is to get a car radio unit ...

Car radio.... genius, why didnt i think of that
Think i'll get a 12v gel battery (gel cell) to power it, plenty of choice there.
How much juice (Ah) should the battery deliver ? would 7.2 do the trick for everything or should it be a bigger one.

Originally posted by infinia
You don't really need stereo for radio right. I'd take 1 big/good speaker anyday over two 3 inchers.

Interesting idea, stereo imaging on portable's is indeed maybe overrated/useless ?
But the radio doesnt have to be very loud, my parents rarely crank up the volume.
Anyone else have thoughts on that ?

Originally posted by infinia
2x30Watt amplifier Here is the link vellman nl site http://www.velleman.be/nl/en/product/view/?id=9184

Yeah i came across that 1 on a few other sites, looks like it would do the trick if i go for stereo 3" fullrange

Thanks for the replies