Talk about a mouthful, haha. Apologies for the ensuing grammatical and paragraphical mess as sentence and paragraph structure were never a strong suit of mine.
But anyways I'm looking to build a (large) boombox powered by a couple truck batteries with a couple subs, like 4 mids, and a few tweeters to fit across a truck bed and be able to be brought into a garage or taken to a tailgate for a sporting event or a field fire. I'm starting completely from scratch with this project and just looking for advice, insight, and recommendations on the build. If it matters my budget is $1k or less. But mostly I just want this to be balls-to-the-wall and awesome and crazy. The type of thing that'll catch peoples eyes and ears. Make 'em hark back to when they saw their first ghetto blaster way back when. A movin', groovin', big 'ol f'in boombox.
Starting off with the actual box enclosure materials, I could use a fiberboard or other wood type material or I can buy or get scrap sheet steel/ aluminum and have some of my rigwelder buddies stop by on their way to the fields. Biggest problems with that are: Not too timely (not entirely concerned with time) due to welders being pretty much on call and itching for tests and jobs around with the whole COVID-19 situation, and I'm not entirely sure how a metal frame and enclosure would affect the sound. Perhaps a combination of materials? But then again I just don't have a clue about speaker box/ boombox-making.
Onto the components.
Stereo Receiver: I'm planning on using just a basic bluetooth-capable car radio that you can find for around $50 or less. Might end up going with a marine radio for the splash and water rating for peace of mind on my end (but not my wallet's 😀)
Subs: I figured two 10-inch subs should be enough to make the typical bass-heavy music for such atmospheres as tailgates and parties really pop, but if 8's would work great then that would help make for a smaller box footprint and/or more real estate on the boombox for whatever.
Mid-Range speakers: Those oval/ oblong speakers look pretty slick and would help in giving the box a certain look, but I don't know if they'd be able to really crank up there for a loud music scenario. I'd like for the box to be able to get pretty loud without any sort of audio distortion and grainy-ness if that makes sense.
Tweeters: Figured a couple tweeters dotting the outside would help out with reaching the higher trebles of EDM music along with making some vocals and guitar solos and such really pop.
Power Supply: This is where I'm really scratching my head. Two big 12v diesel truck batteries should be able to power this thing, but for how long? A couple hours, max? I mean I plan on splicing in a 120v AC to 12v DC converter so I can just plug it in and go, but I still have to dig deeper on that. It'd be cool to figure out how to set up the power system so that I can charge the batteries and use the box at the same time without having to plug in to two outlets, but that also comes with having to fit a 12v car charger into the body of the boombox.
Amp for the System: ???? I have absolutely no clue about what sort of amp to use for a project like this.
If it's clear to you that I have only very basic surface knowledge then this post has proven one of it's points. Cuz I'm clueless out here and really in need of some solid advice. I appreciate those who have made it this far in reading. I can only imagine how hard it's been on the eyes.
Also: I had absolutely no clue as to which forum to post this in so if you could clue me in to the appropriate forum for this that'd be great!
But anyways I'm looking to build a (large) boombox powered by a couple truck batteries with a couple subs, like 4 mids, and a few tweeters to fit across a truck bed and be able to be brought into a garage or taken to a tailgate for a sporting event or a field fire. I'm starting completely from scratch with this project and just looking for advice, insight, and recommendations on the build. If it matters my budget is $1k or less. But mostly I just want this to be balls-to-the-wall and awesome and crazy. The type of thing that'll catch peoples eyes and ears. Make 'em hark back to when they saw their first ghetto blaster way back when. A movin', groovin', big 'ol f'in boombox.
Starting off with the actual box enclosure materials, I could use a fiberboard or other wood type material or I can buy or get scrap sheet steel/ aluminum and have some of my rigwelder buddies stop by on their way to the fields. Biggest problems with that are: Not too timely (not entirely concerned with time) due to welders being pretty much on call and itching for tests and jobs around with the whole COVID-19 situation, and I'm not entirely sure how a metal frame and enclosure would affect the sound. Perhaps a combination of materials? But then again I just don't have a clue about speaker box/ boombox-making.
Onto the components.
Stereo Receiver: I'm planning on using just a basic bluetooth-capable car radio that you can find for around $50 or less. Might end up going with a marine radio for the splash and water rating for peace of mind on my end (but not my wallet's 😀)
Subs: I figured two 10-inch subs should be enough to make the typical bass-heavy music for such atmospheres as tailgates and parties really pop, but if 8's would work great then that would help make for a smaller box footprint and/or more real estate on the boombox for whatever.
Mid-Range speakers: Those oval/ oblong speakers look pretty slick and would help in giving the box a certain look, but I don't know if they'd be able to really crank up there for a loud music scenario. I'd like for the box to be able to get pretty loud without any sort of audio distortion and grainy-ness if that makes sense.
Tweeters: Figured a couple tweeters dotting the outside would help out with reaching the higher trebles of EDM music along with making some vocals and guitar solos and such really pop.
Power Supply: This is where I'm really scratching my head. Two big 12v diesel truck batteries should be able to power this thing, but for how long? A couple hours, max? I mean I plan on splicing in a 120v AC to 12v DC converter so I can just plug it in and go, but I still have to dig deeper on that. It'd be cool to figure out how to set up the power system so that I can charge the batteries and use the box at the same time without having to plug in to two outlets, but that also comes with having to fit a 12v car charger into the body of the boombox.
Amp for the System: ???? I have absolutely no clue about what sort of amp to use for a project like this.
If it's clear to you that I have only very basic surface knowledge then this post has proven one of it's points. Cuz I'm clueless out here and really in need of some solid advice. I appreciate those who have made it this far in reading. I can only imagine how hard it's been on the eyes.
Also: I had absolutely no clue as to which forum to post this in so if you could clue me in to the appropriate forum for this that'd be great!
You need to learn a little bit about car audio. Unsure how you'd go about it during these rightfully forced social distancing times. I'm imagining a swap meet, where you could talk with people selling all kinds of speakers, sub-cabinets, amplifiers and heads - but that's not going to happen any time soon.
Best I can imagine is a dual sub enclosure with another enclosure containing the mids and tweets tacked on. Separate amp channels for each speaker, electronic crossover and head. If it were me, I'd probably use a standard box for the batteries and leave them outside the boom-box enclosure. Hope this helps!
Best I can imagine is a dual sub enclosure with another enclosure containing the mids and tweets tacked on. Separate amp channels for each speaker, electronic crossover and head. If it were me, I'd probably use a standard box for the batteries and leave them outside the boom-box enclosure. Hope this helps!
Hi, sorry I know this is a little late, so I don't know if you've started already. A few years ago, I did something similar except maybe less extreme XD. I had a simple 2.1 "boombox" with two tweeters, mids, and a 10 inch subwoofer. It's still kicking and sounds decent for what it is. Is this the first time you're building a sound system? First of all, I'd suggest against using a metal enclosure. Use mdf or plywood, 3/4" thick and since your using two subwoofers, you need internal bracing, which can be just an extra beam of wood at each corner to make the enclosure vibrate less so it won't kill your bass. Also, make sure the enclosure is sealed and airtight at all corners. Through some polyfil in the enclosures too to help further reduce any resonances.
You need to have the subwoofers separated from the mids and the tweets. A drawing with what your thinking your driver placement (where the mids, tweets, subs, and amps would be located) would definitely help, but basically the subwoofers need to have a separate airspace from the rest of the speakers. If you use two tens instead of two eights you'll be able to go lower and play them louder but it will take up extra space. Keep that in mind. Also, you mentioned EDM so I'm thinking you might prefer a ported sub box rather than a sealed one.
For the midrange speakers, I think in your case those 6x9 oval speakers would work pretty well because most of them are very efficient and can play loud as hell. And also, yeah they look pretty cool 🙂. I don't know that you would need four of them to be honest, are you trying to go for omnidirectional sound or something? If you want them to go loud without distorting, make sure you use a crossover or even a simple bass blocker to keep them from distorting. I suggest a proper crossover though. Cross them over at maybe 120 hertz so that you don't push the speakers beyond their limits if you plan to play them loud.
Uhh two 12 volt truck batteries would power them for a really long time. Of course, it depends on the wattage of the amps you use, but in general that's going to power them for a long time. It might even be overkill, but batteries are not something I have much experience with, so maybe someone else can help you with that. I used a 5s2p 18650 battery for my latest build.
You have two main options for amps. There are chip amps which I personally use, and then car audio amplifiers. Car audio amplifiers tend to be a lot more expensive, but better durability wise I think and run on 12v. Chip amps generally run at higher voltages, so depending on the power source you use, you would probably need a device to step up the voltage for those. I see you're planning on using a car audio headunit. Don't use the built in amps on those, they are absolute crap and give you no power. Instead, use a 4 channel amp if your going with four mains (four midranges, four tweeters) or a 2 channel amp if you're going with two mains. For your subwoofers, buy a monoblock amplifier and wire them in parallel. Make sure whatever amplifier you end up with can support the load of the subwoofers in parallel. I'm going to guess that the subs you're going to use are 4 ohms because that seems most common for these projects, but do make sure your amp can support the load when they are in parallel if you go that route, or else it can be a costly mistake. And don't forget to use crossovers with the midranges, or atleast some form of bass blocker.
Also, I'm new here so I'm not entirely sure, but I think the multi-way loudspeaker forum would give you more responses... it seems more viewed. But anyways, good luck with your project, show us pictures when you're done!
You need to have the subwoofers separated from the mids and the tweets. A drawing with what your thinking your driver placement (where the mids, tweets, subs, and amps would be located) would definitely help, but basically the subwoofers need to have a separate airspace from the rest of the speakers. If you use two tens instead of two eights you'll be able to go lower and play them louder but it will take up extra space. Keep that in mind. Also, you mentioned EDM so I'm thinking you might prefer a ported sub box rather than a sealed one.
For the midrange speakers, I think in your case those 6x9 oval speakers would work pretty well because most of them are very efficient and can play loud as hell. And also, yeah they look pretty cool 🙂. I don't know that you would need four of them to be honest, are you trying to go for omnidirectional sound or something? If you want them to go loud without distorting, make sure you use a crossover or even a simple bass blocker to keep them from distorting. I suggest a proper crossover though. Cross them over at maybe 120 hertz so that you don't push the speakers beyond their limits if you plan to play them loud.
Uhh two 12 volt truck batteries would power them for a really long time. Of course, it depends on the wattage of the amps you use, but in general that's going to power them for a long time. It might even be overkill, but batteries are not something I have much experience with, so maybe someone else can help you with that. I used a 5s2p 18650 battery for my latest build.
You have two main options for amps. There are chip amps which I personally use, and then car audio amplifiers. Car audio amplifiers tend to be a lot more expensive, but better durability wise I think and run on 12v. Chip amps generally run at higher voltages, so depending on the power source you use, you would probably need a device to step up the voltage for those. I see you're planning on using a car audio headunit. Don't use the built in amps on those, they are absolute crap and give you no power. Instead, use a 4 channel amp if your going with four mains (four midranges, four tweeters) or a 2 channel amp if you're going with two mains. For your subwoofers, buy a monoblock amplifier and wire them in parallel. Make sure whatever amplifier you end up with can support the load of the subwoofers in parallel. I'm going to guess that the subs you're going to use are 4 ohms because that seems most common for these projects, but do make sure your amp can support the load when they are in parallel if you go that route, or else it can be a costly mistake. And don't forget to use crossovers with the midranges, or atleast some form of bass blocker.
Also, I'm new here so I'm not entirely sure, but I think the multi-way loudspeaker forum would give you more responses... it seems more viewed. But anyways, good luck with your project, show us pictures when you're done!
All you want to know and WAY more, in:
The Boominator - another stab at the ultimate party machine
Don´t waste time searching for answers which are already there.
The Boominator - another stab at the ultimate party machine
Don´t waste time searching for answers which are already there.