Old School Boombox - Car Audio Gear - Rockford Fosgate Audiophile Speakers 1080p

Now, here's a project I've thought about putting together for around 20 years...a portable stereo (aka "Boombox") made from car stereo gear. In this instance, I'm using all Rockford Fosgate gear from 1995 or earlier. A single Punch 45 amplifier will power the entire system, including 4" AUDIOphile component speakers with a 1" silk-dome tweeter and bass notes will be handled by an 8" AUDIOphile subwoofer. This subwoofer should work quite nice as it is designed for a very small 0.33cu/ft sealed enclosure. The "brain" of the system will be another Rockford piece, the PA-1 pre-amp. This unit will control 2 different inputs and provide overall volume, bass, mid and treble controls.

I also show off the power source(s), dual 8Ah sealed lead-acid batteries. These batteries are around 4lbs each and should give us 2-3 hours of very loud playback. I'll test the playback time in an upcoming video.

Stay tuned for upcoming updates, the build process and the final result of my "OldSchool Boombox"

See an extended article on OldSchoolStereo:




Keep it OLD SCHOOL!!!

[manchvegasuruguayguy]

This video was from the 7 years ago, did this ever get finished ? I’d be interested in watching the build videos and curious to see what it would sound like

[koolBOY]

love to see this revisited and completed.

[wal]

The project was put off for a while, I used the 4" mids and tweets to make bookshelf speakers (in another video). I'll finish this when I get a chance. This is not a pelican case, but a generic military style case

[wal]

Thanks for commenting. I need to finish this project, it's been put off for too long.

[rodneyjohnson]

Crazy I never ran into this video always been following you forever man this is a treat

[papapetad]

What a cool little project. Would blow those kicker sound dock things to bits, not mentioning the mega novelty factor. Can't wait to see the end result and the sound test!

[Apollos.]

Dang I had a PA1 in the 90s, loved that thing. Watching the build!

[wal]

@SamuraiClinton I have thought about this, the only problem would be finding replacement parts. It took me YEARS to find the 4" audiophile component system! I have some ideas making these to sell using new car audio gear, but they wouldn't be cheap!

[craigr]

Nice! I've still got a bunch of RF Power Series stuff, 2x10"s, 2x6.5"s, 2x5"s, power series neodymium 3" tweeters With the Audiophile crossovers, Power 500 & 250 amps. still in good shape.

[wal]

@gogojjt Those original PA-1s have gone for as much as two fifty on feebay! This one is MINT as you can tell by the video. I thought quite a bit about using it then said why not! I may have to make some changes based on the very limited available space in the case, but I'll keep you updated...

[TheDentonB]

Ive actually made a portable speaker box close to this. It has 1 6" mid speaker 1 tweeter and 1 10" subwoofer powered by a 400w car amp running of a 12v battery. Its pretty badass and loud as hell.

[wal]

@txluke The output voltage of most newer car audio preamps is going to be high, between 4-8V, maybe higher. This should give you all of the clean signal you need to feed your amp a clean signal. The Clarion EQS746 seems to get good reviews if you are looking at a new unit

[wal]

Sorry, build has been delayed. I'll hopefully have some time in the near future to continue and complete the build

[wal]

@txluke It gives easier control of volume, plus adds some other tone controls. You just set your iPod to max volume, then use the preamp to adjust it. I've also found most iPods don't put out enough voltage through the headphone jack to drive amps to their max volume. Next time I get a chance, I'll measure the max voltage output from my iPod and iPhone

[SamuraiClinton]

I think its time we build more systems like these and sell more portable boomboxes using secondhand car audio equipment.

[imawesomeyourenot]

Have you ever checked out "The Boom Case" vids here on you tube? There are a ton of awesome suitcase, lunchbox, hatbox ect. ect. ideas. Really cool stuff. I'm sure this will be awesome as well, your toolbox boombox was pretty sweet. Cant wait to see this build, and final product!

[normalicy]

I don't know why, but I'm not getting e-mail reminders about your videos anymore (even though I'm showing subscribed & instant notification).

Cool project you have going here. I've considered doing something similar myself. If I didn't have so many other projects going on, I probably would.

[PlatinumEagleStudios]

wow, thats bigger then i do you like Rockford subs now??? With their Power T2, their new updated Punch line, the Punch P3 sub. My fave is the 12 inch Power T2 sub. Huge flex, 3 inches worth.

[wal]

@moofushu I think TDK and Altec make some decent boomboxes, but for the price of the nice ones, I can build one myself with high-end car audio speakers. A PC power supply should work great, if I had more room, I would add one of those as well. I'm interested to see how your project turns out also. Thanks for the comment!

[charlesamaral]

i think you should use that pac tri mode crossover when you did the video on tri mode crossovers, it was shown.its the smallest and i just bought one for 99 cents new from ebay the shipping costs were 8 times the cost of the cross over.no one bidded on it.downloaded the wiring diagram for it but would like to see it done first.so ill stay tuned.