[ShamsB]

Hey Guys,

I am about to start building a bunch of boomboxes for an event. The basic idea is a concert broadcast over FM and a bunch of boomboxes playing the show together. I would like to make about 50 of these so I would like them to be in the $75 range. They would need to be battery powered so I assume I would need to use a sealed lead acid battery to save on cost. I have found a few cheap parts on parts-express.com that I hope will work but I wanted to run it by a few people with a lot more experience than me. I do have a good setup for building the BoomBox cases but need to know what parts and sizes will make the most efficient sound.

Here is what I have found at PE (No links because its my first post):

Amp/FM Receiver
Kinter MA-600 2-Channel Mini Amplifier with Remote USB MP3 Media Card FM 2x18W
Part # 310-376

Battery
Power-Sonic PS-1270F2 Sealed Lead Acid Battery 12V 7Ah
Part # 140-366

Tweeter (2x)
1/2" Mylar Dome Shielded Tweeter 8 Ohm
Part # 279-002

Midrange (2x)
Fountek FE83 3" Full Range Driver 8 Ohm
Part # 299-020

MidBass (2x)
6-1/2" Poly Cone Midbass Woofer 4 Ohm
Part # 299-609

I am not going for the best sound. It needs to be good, loud and cheap. I'm not sure if a crossover is a must have because it didn't fit in the budget. Please let me know your thoughts on parts and overall direction. Thanks

 

[rlj5242]

.....I'm not sure if a crossover is a must have because it didn't fit in the budget......

It's a must. Go for a 2-way design with efficient speakers or even use coaxial car speakers to save money. Ebay has some band name (Pioneer/Kenwood/Sony) speakers for about $25/pair.

 

[chrisslone]

It's a must. Go for a 2-way design with efficient speakers or even use coaxial car speakers to save money. Ebay has some band name (Pioneer/Kenwood/Sony) speakers for about $25/pair.

Coaxial auto speaker is a good idea- can you sum your broadcast signal to mono, there's not much need for stereo output in this type of scenario anyway? If so you can use one 6.5" coaxial per boombox and save half of speaker components.

 

[More is Better]

As high of a sensitivity rating on speakers as possible will help with battery life/volume.

 

[Manic1!]

Is there a reason why you just don't go with a standard P.A. system?

 

[ShamsB]

rlj5242 - Sounds like coaxial auto speakers are a good way to save money.

chrisslone - I am able to broadcast in mono. This shouldn't make much of a difference because all of the boomboxes will be independent.

Manic1! - The idea for the event is that there are hundreds of speakers small to big and everyone can have their own. A standard PA system would be far less interesting and fun.

Any more ideas about what speakers or crossovers are cheap and effective?

I found these on Amazon:

Pyle PLG6C 6.5-Inch 400-Watt 2-Way Custom Component System with a crossover

or Pyle PL63BL 6.5-Inch 360-Watt 3-Way Speakers (Pair)

Also is the Amp/FM receiver powerful enough? (Kinter MA-600 2-Channel Mini Amplifier with Remote USB MP3 Media Card FM 2x18W Part # 310-376)

Should I just use something built for a car like:

XO Vision XD103 FM and MP3 Stereo Receiver with USB Port and SD Card Slot

Sorry I can't post links yet. Still too new to the forum.

 

[Samps]

You could just buy a bunch of battery powered radios. I don't see the appeal of DIY in this case. Unless you're just looking for something to build.

For $75 you could get each person a battery powered device that has iPod connection, maybe a CD player, maybe even a rechargeable battery. All of things most patrons would appreciate. And it would be much less likely to be DOA.

I'm not trying to hate on this project. Just offering my point of view.

 

[Manic1!]

http://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-Rechar...UTF8&qid=1428618847&sr=8-26&keywords=fm+radio

 

[chrisslone]

rlj5242 - Sounds like coaxial auto speakers are a good way to save money.

chrisslone - I am able to broadcast in mono. This shouldn't make much of a difference because all of the boomboxes will be independent.

Manic1! - The idea for the event is that there are hundreds of speakers small to big and everyone can have their own. A standard PA system would be far less interesting and fun.

Any more ideas about what speakers or crossovers are cheap and effective?

I found these on Amazon:

Pyle PLG6C 6.5-Inch 400-Watt 2-Way Custom Component System with a crossover

or Pyle PL63BL 6.5-Inch 360-Watt 3-Way Speakers (Pair)

Also is the Amp/FM receiver powerful enough? (Kinter MA-600 2-Channel Mini Amplifier with Remote USB MP3 Media Card FM 2x18W Part # 310-376)

Should I just use something built for a car like:

XO Vision XD103 FM and MP3 Stereo Receiver with USB Port and SD Card Slot

Sorry I can't post links yet. Still too new to the forum.

The ability to broadcast in mono allows you flexibility in the sense that you don't have to sum the L/R signals (speaker level outputs of the amplifier) to run one speaker. The techniques used for summing stereo speaker level outputs will require more components and electrical work- it's a discussion that's beyond the scope of this thread, but essentially- broadcasting a mono signal to the amp and running only one amp channel to one coaxial speaker per "box" is how I would go about this if you are still thinking of a DIY scenario- though many alternatives exist and have been mentioned.


via Tapatalk

 

[Clarence]

You could just buy a bunch of battery powered radios. I don't see the appeal of DIY in this case. Unless you're just looking for something to build.

For $75 you could get each person a battery powered device that has iPod connection, maybe a CD player, maybe even a rechargeable battery. All of things most patrons would appreciate. And it would be much less likely to be DOA.

I'm not trying to hate on this project. Just offering my point of view.

That was my first thought too.

Something like this... http://www.amazon.com/iHome-iBT4BC-Bluetooth-Rechargeable-Boombox/dp/B00KJGYDDA
$49, free shipping, good reviews, built-in rechargeable lithium, Bluetooth.

$1250.00 below your DIY budget.

 

[ShamsB]

Clarence - After the suggestion I looked around a bit and found the same iHome product. My worry is that it wont be loud enough. We are planning on having over 100 boomboxes in a large group of people. At some point a small boombox won't even be audible in the group and won't be any fun to carry.