Hey everybody,
Ive been all over the internet trying to figure out what road to take and Ive learned something very valuable, I'm a musician, not an electrician, nor a pro audio guy. That being said, I am a bit of a woodworker, and I like to build things from the ground up myself.
This is what I'm trying to figure out.
I want to build a pull wagon, which is set up with two speakers and a sub, on some deep cycle batteries. ideally I would like to build the cabinets myself so as to make a nice woodgrain/carved design that speaks to my musical style. the goal sonically here is to pull it around, both on the street and at festivals, with a looper and some supplemental produced electronic music to serve as a platform for a beatbox booth. That being said, I don't need something that is gona blow anyones head off, but I don't want something dainty either, cuz sometimes I wana put some loud bass heavy music through the thing too. Mostly it will be for outdoor use, but in the off season it will probably serve as a sound system for my indoor training space.
I am able to throw up to a g into speaker components, not including the wood for the cabinets or cart n all that stuff.
So heres my question, I don't understand all the pro audio jargon, so I would be ever so grateful if someone could recommend a relatively simple kit, or set of detailed plans that I could follow which would best suit my needs for this projects speakers and sub.
Many thanks!
-J
Ive been all over the internet trying to figure out what road to take and Ive learned something very valuable, I'm a musician, not an electrician, nor a pro audio guy. That being said, I am a bit of a woodworker, and I like to build things from the ground up myself.
This is what I'm trying to figure out.
I want to build a pull wagon, which is set up with two speakers and a sub, on some deep cycle batteries. ideally I would like to build the cabinets myself so as to make a nice woodgrain/carved design that speaks to my musical style. the goal sonically here is to pull it around, both on the street and at festivals, with a looper and some supplemental produced electronic music to serve as a platform for a beatbox booth. That being said, I don't need something that is gona blow anyones head off, but I don't want something dainty either, cuz sometimes I wana put some loud bass heavy music through the thing too. Mostly it will be for outdoor use, but in the off season it will probably serve as a sound system for my indoor training space.
I am able to throw up to a g into speaker components, not including the wood for the cabinets or cart n all that stuff.
So heres my question, I don't understand all the pro audio jargon, so I would be ever so grateful if someone could recommend a relatively simple kit, or set of detailed plans that I could follow which would best suit my needs for this projects speakers and sub.
Many thanks!
-J
Hi J
For outdoor use, there are many considerations for electronics
ensuring amplifiers are away from rain, and vibration when transporting.
The power source you say is deep cycle batteries. Amplifiers
designed for PA use are available running from 12volts,Toa is
a brand I recall, but another approach is to use inverters and use
conventional hi fi amplifiers. 12 volts being converted to mains voltage
Such a design might also require a mixer and to use balanced audio
rather than unbalanced, Looking forward to how this develops.
Another way to get out there is to volunteer with your local community
radio station doing a program slot, all the infrastructure has been
then set up, including hopefully a comfortable chair to sit in.
Cheers / Chris
For outdoor use, there are many considerations for electronics
ensuring amplifiers are away from rain, and vibration when transporting.
The power source you say is deep cycle batteries. Amplifiers
designed for PA use are available running from 12volts,Toa is
a brand I recall, but another approach is to use inverters and use
conventional hi fi amplifiers. 12 volts being converted to mains voltage
Such a design might also require a mixer and to use balanced audio
rather than unbalanced, Looking forward to how this develops.
Another way to get out there is to volunteer with your local community
radio station doing a program slot, all the infrastructure has been
then set up, including hopefully a comfortable chair to sit in.
Cheers / Chris
hey, also e-bikes changed to a much higher voltage, it's far more efficient.
48 V -like 4x 12 V battery units- or 3.7 V Li-Po cells to make around 50 V
would suffice ( @15-20 Ah ) to supply a 300 W class D amp.
This,for example, has a max Vs at 36 (38...surges...) V
Sure Electronics' webstore 1 x 300Watt Class-D Audio Amplifier Board - TAS5613
Because Pro audio has more power demands than other sectors; if not, commonly available Car audio products designed for Vs= 16 V max
can produce something like 4X 40 W in a single chip which still requires 10-15 A....Oh, yes, the Heavy Metal Car guys have G-normous amplifiers 🙄😕
The speaker sector would be covered when the basis to supply them will be adeguately solved 😎
Probably they make use of auto-transformers in the push-pull ( class B )
24 V supply is more acceptable.
for compact high spl subwoofers look into cubo designs.
i run two cubo12 for an outdoor party machinery.
great results so far, even with much smaller amps.
above the two 12" subs i run a single 10" midwoofer and 1" tweeter horn.
this together with sla batteries and amping stuff is easily transported on a hand truck.
not the smallest system, but still great size/spl ratio.
i have fullrange drivers for outdoor use, too, .... added a sub, added piezos, but the 'real' tweeter horn is big improvement.
...or better say, making it a real 3-way-system was a big step forward.
i would look into something like minidsp for crossovers and eq'ing (there are other products available, i just advice you to not go the long hard route of building your own analog crossovers if you want satisfying results anytime soon (assuming you are a noob like me with those things)).
i run two cubo12 for an outdoor party machinery.
great results so far, even with much smaller amps.
above the two 12" subs i run a single 10" midwoofer and 1" tweeter horn.
this together with sla batteries and amping stuff is easily transported on a hand truck.
not the smallest system, but still great size/spl ratio.
i have fullrange drivers for outdoor use, too, .... added a sub, added piezos, but the 'real' tweeter horn is big improvement.
...or better say, making it a real 3-way-system was a big step forward.
i would look into something like minidsp for crossovers and eq'ing (there are other products available, i just advice you to not go the long hard route of building your own analog crossovers if you want satisfying results anytime soon (assuming you are a noob like me with those things)).
for outdoor use running off batteries I would suggest that all drivers be horn loaded and that you forget about bass.
An upper Bass/Mid horn and a Treble horn that gets you above 100dB/W at 1m would be reasonable, but you will lose some upper bass when outdoors.
An upper Bass/Mid horn and a Treble horn that gets you above 100dB/W at 1m would be reasonable, but you will lose some upper bass when outdoors.
Something you "pull' by hand, with a car, or with a small tractor? Can't expect any bass out of batteries if the speakers are tiny and compact and weighing less than 50 pounds, so pulling by hand will have its limitations. But something like an SS15 (or two) will give you 50 Hz bass and can be pulled around with a lawn tractor. 250 watts ar 4R is about all you can expect with a 24V supply and a bridged T-amp, regardless of 500+ watt claims. You need more voltage to get those higher wattages they claim in the specs. Plenty of power, actually, if you use 10+ cubic foot horn subs. You can't go spectacularly deep, but most inexpensive off-the-shelf bass bins don't go below 50 Hz either.
If I were building something like this, I'd build a fairly big horn sub, 4x4x2 ft, and build it as the base of the pull wagon. Front loaded with a 15", and tuned to give every dB possible down to about 50 Hz and nothing below. It would give about 104dB/W, able to cross high, and about 2X the power efficiency of a tapped horn. It wouldn't be the last word in power handling, but with only 250 watts available that's not an issue. Everything else (amps, batteries, 2x10" top cabs) would mount up top.
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