Portable Ammo Can Speaker System

[gengerald]

Hey everyone, I found out about you guys after being on Notebookreview.com for a while and I now have a project I want to take on. Recently, Thodio has come out with a product called the ABOX and I want to make an attempt to clone it for about $100 or so. So here we go...

To begin, I have a very limited knowledge of the sound realm and just about the same knowledge of electrical components, I am planning on this process to be a learning experience that I then write up and submit to the community for future DIY'ers to take on and improve. The reason I have chosen this project is that I love to be outside but never seem to have speakers to pipe some music when I am climbing, fishing, or running R/C cars.

So far I know I need/need to learn more about the following to help finish the build. One great plus is that I have a wide variety of tools to use, thus making some of the building easier.

The end product I am looking to complete is an ammo can with two speakers and possibly a sub, a 3.5mm male connector on the inside with MP3 player caddy, an on/off switch, a volume knob, some cool LED's, cooling fans/vents, rechargeable batteries to power the setup, a solar panel to help charge the setup, and a female USB port for charging the MP3 player as well. Thankfully I already have a working setup for this last part, as I have made and tweaked the Electroids kit that was featured in PopSci a while back.

My current task is to determine what speakers, amplifier, sub (if any) to use. Then take a look at sound dampening and move onto find/make the battery setup, as needed by my final power requirement, then move and tweak everything to be put into the ammo can.

I will post updates here, and feel free to ask a question or lend some help. I am currently trying to learn about how the setup should work, looking at full range versus satellites with a sub, and how an amp factors into this equation. So far I have found that full range speakers are the easiest to install, but also putting in a tube sub that has the sub+amp in a small package would help improve the quality. I am a bit puzzled as to how I will plug in the 2 speakers and tube sub into a standard amp and then get the 3.5mm.

GenG

[size=small][size=xx-small]Disclaimer: I am not a representative for the above companies, I have merely found them on my random wanderings of the interwebs. I am trying to make a budget clone of the above products with no intent to sell the knowledge, guide, or product itself. This will be used and presented for personal use only. I will fix any issues with my postings as soon as I get the message to ensure the forum guidelines are followed.[/size][/size]

 

[LazyH]

In terms of the speakers, amp, and battery you use, it all depends on your budget. If it were me, I'd use a TDA Amp, 15 watt off of ebay, these usually use a 12 volt input which you can use a lead acid electric fence battery, they're pretty durable and completely sealed unlike a car lead acid battery. The hardest choice is the speaker drivers themselves, I'd recommend a full range of course, I've heard good things of the HiVi B3s but there's quite a few options for a variety of prices and levels of sound quality, but you mainly have to find a speaker whose TS parameters match the size of the ammo can minus electronics and battery. Any time you have an enclosure already made, it's a bit more difficult to find a speaker to match that space, rather than vice versa, however you can do a bit of adjustment with acoustic stuffing, polyester fiber is pretty cheap and commonly used acoustic stuffing. Good luck with your project.