Calling this a boom box is at least slightly ironic. Instead of high explosives it now carries high decibels in its new life as a self-contained sound system.
Despite the conspicuous power cord a peek inside reveals a big enough battery to keep the tunes playing for hours on end. [King Rootintootin] kept the cost on the build down since he was given the used speakers and amp by his girlfriend’s dad. The amp kicks out about 25 Watts with the battery rated at 7.2 Ah. He added a charger and routed the controls to the side of the ammo box so that it can be charged without removal. The only external component is the audio jack which connects it to the music source.
One of the suggested improvements from the Reddit thread is to add baffles inside of the enclosure so that sound from the two stereo channels doesn’t interfere with each other.
Better be very careful or the bomb squad will freak out and mistake it for a IED and blow you portable amp to bits.
No, I walk around with these things whenever I go to a range. And Mike Szczys is wrong, it never was intended to contain high explosive, it just contained either 100 rounds of 50 BMG or 800 rounds of 5.56 NATO.
inb4 Mk211 Raufoss
my suggestion would be a bluetooth reciever, that way the box can be left anywhere and your valuable phone stays in your pocket, and also the phone doubles as a “remote controll”. you can get wee bluetooth recievers that would normally connect to headphones on ebay for a small fee.
and some silicone over the exposed mains connections wouldnt hurt. wonder if you can get boxes like that in the uk
The downside is that if it is sealed like that, the can might make some noise. I know I can hear the side walls of my ammo cans pop in and out when the air pressure changes enough, because it is air tight.
Try ammo tin on ebay. I had a look the last time an ammo tin hack came up. There were quite a few. Also if you have an army surplus shop they might have some (the one near me used to stock them. Final one is a guess, but a sporting goods store may have them too.
Did he leave the spade connectors on the AC plug uncovered? The pictures look like it, but it gets obscured after this pic:http://i.imgur.com/Ljvgajph.jpg
On a related note, I can honestly say that reading Hackaday got me my current job here: http://www.curiousprovisions.com I spend all day making boomboxes in vintage suitcases.
Very nice build! Here’s a conversion that I did a while back: http://www.flickr.com/photos/garydion/sets/72157634813154793/
No longer waterproof. Heavy.
Eek! Naked speakers, my eyes are offended. What the sun don’t damage careless handling will on the timed life rims of the external mounted speakers. Dirt will get into the voice coil gap and bring on a grinding sound. Coaxial speakers have this unsealed problem that single drivers don’t have, plus the shadowing of the midrange of the main speaker by the tweeter.
I have a 50 cal case, I will keep it as a waterproof case.
2 Main issues.
1: Sound quality – You can improve it greatly by dividing the chambers of the speakers. Other wise you get phase canceling, among other problems.
2: Cooling – This is a 2 fold win on this. First off, you need not worry about weather sealing in the can, with all the holes you put in it. So, lets add some ports for the speakers! It’ll improve audio response, and provide air movement to cool the components!
I make these and ship them in the UK. https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CustomBoombox?ref=si_shop
Kinda sorta like i made back when i was in the National Guard, but mine was an old car stereo+ 2 speakers+ magnetic mount antenna ( flexible PR77 antenna adapted to it ) and a PR77 battery (14v but drops to 12v when it gets old) and it all fit inside nice and snug.
plus those batteries i used to run an old VCR (from a camcorder) a portable tv, red lense lights (an old window mount break light) as you can’t have white light at night time in the field (messes up your night vision)
and also a cheep car vac as an exhaust fan (a lot of smoking going on :)
Also a good detailed writeup here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ammo-Box-Speakers-1/
whats the point of using a waterproof box, when you cut holes in it? the gansta look? Built something similar some years ago, i placed the speakers and all connectors under the lid. Just slide the lid to the side, and you can take it off.
I’ve built something like that a few years ago:
http://electronic-idea.de/gallery3/index.php/Unterwegs/Graal-M-ritz-2012/100_8232
Lead battery, included charger (supplied by a 16V/7.5A IBM power supply).
Unfortunately I have no inner pictures, but there’s a lid on the electronics with a compartment for your player/phone and the volume potentiometer and the power switch.
Works for years, but I’ve always wanted to build a second version with undervoltage protection,…
I like the ammo box.
U can improve it if you replace the amp with a ta2024 amp
check out this topic http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/1516964 it’s in dutch but it has so mutch information.
Great Project! We are selling kits for dirt cheap for people to build their own – we even give them the instructions, videos and all. We use recycled lithium-ion computer batteries (Last about 30 hours), so no problems with over-charge and dis-charge. You can check out our link here:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/amplfy-speakers-with-impact/x/12588683#/