I used to build my own boomers when I was a delivery truck driver and the radio sucked. Mostly car tape decks and lots of speakers and an EQ to make it look cool, I'd plug it into the cigarette lighter for juice. I'm kindof digging how nice this turned out, I bet it sounds nice. The handle looks really nice, better than Bumpboxx and the others have come up with. I'd add lights above the switches so they don't look static and better screw heads for visual effect a-la-Marantz. Even with the grill on it almost looks like a professional build, it gives you hope. http://projectgallery.parts-express.com/speaker-projects/another-boombox-part-1/
That immediately made me think of this type of thing https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234618835867 These were made for schools by a company that didn't seem to be much more than a cottage industry. They cost much more than the eBay listing new. Obviously looks are very low on a schools list of priorities, compared to ruggedness, sound quality etc. The speakers are in the back, which thinking about it makes sense if you want to blast a class with a lesson of Jean-Paul and Claudette, or Synchronised swimming music (which is where I saw a similar unit being used).
hell i love that mr x i want one.....the bumpbox is shit tho lad it;s mono poor construction, poor everything really
If you can't get the handle right, how's the rest of the box gonna do? I see a ton of bumpbox's with "branding" popping up everywhere. Longman, yours looks like what I used to make but imagine a cardboard or cheap wood box, sweet!
seriously mr x where can i buy the one you posted, i;m up for being.. a gunnea pig....just look at the hifi tweeters in there
You have to make it yourself Radio, Parts-express.com has most of the parts and ships internationally. He must have gotten the VU's and speakers off of Ebay or had them? The builder should be posting over here, it would be good for PE Business.
AC only? That's strange, considering its intended use. I would also guess its sound quality was crap compared to what Mister X posted
Always dreamed of doing this. Very nice job! Got an Aiwa 880 vibe... It's funny how I remember tape cassettes being played in school, with the most horrible sounding basic mono player/recorder, not even pointed at the class, no frequency adjustment whatsoever, and I being normally seated in the back, I never deciphered a thing that machine spitted... (i doubt people in the front understood better). Anyway, Good job again!
Ones with rechargeable batteries were available Not surprisingly the Synchronised Swimmers used a battery powered unit, especially since they had a second waterproof loudspeaker in the pool water. That immediately made me think of my Mother using her Sanyo M2400FG, with the volume at 10 and the distortion at 11, to provide music for school performances in a 100 seater hall which back in the 1970s didn't seem to have any kind of PA system. As a teenager I usually ended up with the job of making a tape with snippets of various tracks in the required order.
I know this thread is a few years old but I made the boombox shown at the beginning. I also made a similar one but using Boston Acoustics Micro 90s speakers and passive radiator instead of port. Both a wise choice.
Don, I posted another home made model in the very long microcassette player thread, kind of similar, the builder put in a stereo microcassette transport. These builds remind me of the old days when you could walk into an electronics parts store and they had everything on the shelves, as a kid I wanted to just build anything that had knobs and lights. I don't have any of my early science class projects but I do have two home built guitar distortion boxes from the 80's. Don, you'll have to do the Marantz Version with hex nuts holding the face on.
I always liked how Marantz used hex nuts to hold their faceplates on, even on the tiny stereos and car units.
