Hey, first post so here goes.

Been getting progressively more and more interested in boomboxes, probably buy one or 2 to use as I would like a nice sounding boombox for home use and I have some battery operated DJ gear so i'd like to be able to set up and play a set without power, would be sweet if I could connect 2 boomboxes together for double the power. Devices I would be connecting to the boombox would be an ipod, a macbook pro when i'm DJing on the go and a 4 channel DJ mixer when i'm at home DJing

My question is, a lot of boomboxes have line in, the 2 boxes i'm looking at for home home/party use are the lasonic 931 and the crown 5100 (if anyone has either for sale i'm interested), I've seen the crown in a shop window for a clothes store, but the girl said the owner is away for a week and won't let me look at the box to see what connections it has, but what what i've read the crown doesn't have line in.

It does have mic in, and i've seen a video where a guy plugged an ipod in via the mic in, but didn't make a comment on how it sounded, so does anyone who has a crown have any experience with sound quality via mic in? I'm guessing you have to turn the volume way down on the source but can I still get some volume out the unit before it distorts? Also is the mic input mono/stereo, and does the mic signal bypass all the EQ's? Can I make up a cable with an in-line resistor (my dad is an electrician and I have a a background in electronics and engineering) to attenuate the line level signal to mic level?

I've also read that some boxes have a 5 pin din connection which you can make a 3.5mm to din plug to send audio through

I remember from a few years back the FM transmitters to send ipod audio to a car stereo, are these any good?

and i've seen a device to allow ipod audio playback through the tape deck

also, one more question- rechargeable D batteries, a good idea?

is it possible to do this, i'd like the sound quality to be as good as possible as i'll be playing fairly loud- i'm tempted to save up and spend big on the new TDK boombox (i've tested it and it sounds wicked) but i'd prefer an old school box i

Welcome to the forum waypast10, I have used several inexpensive FM modulators with my boomboxes in the past and haven't notice any degradation in sound.

I use these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120716213501

Add a FM audio compandor like Stereo Tool - http://www.stereotool.com (sorry you'll have to search for a Mac equivalent), if you want loudness without saturating the amplifier in the FM transmitter and it becomes very hard to tell if you're a one man outfit or a pro radio station.

thanks for the replies, an FM transmitter sounds perfect, it's like wireless boomboxing, oh man this is going to be so sweet

i've heard that the cassette adaptors give higher quality sound than the FM transmitters, but that was for car audio, and boomboxes aren't really hi-fi so I guess any loss in quality won't matter as i'm listening to MP3's on a boombox in a park, not reference audio in the abbey road studios

plop what exactly does the software do?

the main thing i'm worried about is signal loss/dropout, I don't really mind if i'm just listening at home but if i'm playing a set then the last thing I want is for something to start screwing up and have 10 minutes of dead air

The majority of cheap FM transmitters do not have the most basic of companding circuitry built-in and often you will see people write in reviews that such products are either too quiet or distort easily when the sound is turned up at source. Stereo Tool gets around this problem. The software basically compresses / expands the audio in such a way so that it is optimised for FM broadcast. What this means is that you are able to get loudness without having to increase the amplitude of the sound source going in, which would ordinarily cause distortion. It also has various preset profiles thereby giving your 'radio station' a particular type of sound signature if you so wish. or you can even create your own sound profile if you know how to balance audio.

Along with the above you also get the option for stereo encoding (only really required on mono FM transmitters), pre-emphasis (may be needed depending on the hardware used) and RDS encoding with the full version or as a trial on the free version (not sure if RDS works as I've not tried it). It can be run from Winamp as a plug-in or can also be installed standalone.

I broadcast to enable me to listen wirelessly on my walkmans and when I listen to music through it, sometimes the sound is even better than so called 'professional' stations.

I wouldnt use a crown to go out and about with.   theyre terrible quality, it could easily get smashed to bits.  they look awesome, thats about it. no inputs either as already mentioned.

i would go for a sharp gf9191, they have the inputs in the front (i always thought it was so people could dj off them in the street...) theyre tough, look good and sound decent.   might be easier to get than a crown, and if youre in the UK, which i assume you are, a hell of a lot easier to get than a lasonic.

A Hitachi 3D also makes a good 'bang for your buck' investment for battery powered portable use. Many also have 'proper' aux/line-in...  

It you're at all technically inclined it's simple to add a line-in. Just tap the center teminals on the volume control.

i'm technically inclined, but you're still gonna have to walk me through it a bit.

I was originally going to take a pair of phono sockets to the radio/cassette inputs if that was possible. But how would I do it to the centre terminals, just the same way- i.e. find the -ve and +ve and wire to the phono's?

Yes. Just connect the left + and right + lines to the center taps on the volume control. Ground of course is ground.

Tapping just before the tone control/eq circuit will work as well. Just look for the two (usually) 1.0µF coupling capacitors.

wow!!,

 i wish i knew what you are talking about +3 db. lol

It's not as complicated as it sounds.

thanks for the tips +3dB, if I end up with a crown i'll do that, but since they seem to sell for silly money on the bay I might just wait and spring for the next 9191 that pops up on here

also i've just found out that I will be able to borrow a TDK 3 speaker boomer for our party, so i'm not in such a rush to get a vintage box now, although I am very much still interested, i'm just gonna wait till the right box comes along at the right price. Maybe even wait a bit longer for that m70

although i'm also really liking the 9191 that dogtemple mentioned, not really feeling that hitachi 3d, i'm looking for something taller I think, and don't really like the radio being on top, all of a suden i've gone from wanting just a crown 5100, to wanting an m70 and 9191 aswell, before the end of the year I bet i'll have at least 5 boomboxes, fml

Those are "phono" inputs,

if you want to use them like "line in", you have to modify it.

so if they're 'phono' they're pre-amped? can I just attenuate the input signal or will i get distortion still?

you can bypass phono preamp, and remove a couple of capacitors, I have no schematics on hand, but it's pretty easy.

Phono inputs are amplified more than standard line level and also have R.I.A.A. equalization.

Low end (bass) boost, and high end (treble) cut.

If you're using a decent MP3 player with a real equalizer on it you should be able to reverse the curve and have it sound alright if you keep the volume on the player low.

It's not exactly ideal, but it'll work.

I have a cheap gf666 if youre interested - works and has inputs etc but needs a little tinkering and is a bit ropey.  big and cheap though, good to start out with.

thanks for dropping by on my flickr a/c btw, how did you find it?

thanks, I think i'll keep away from the phono inputs then- although i've heard something like this would do the trick http://www.mcmelectronics.com/...DIO-50-7240-/50-7240

although it's another box to plug in which isn't ideal. Maybe i'll have that for home and use a cassette adapter to go out with?

thanks for the offer, but i'm only really interested in the crown, m70 or 9191

but that being said- how much

I found your flickr through the stereo2go flickr group, which I found after looking at the boomboxery 2012 calender images