# quality portable home audio



## ozzynichols (Feb 19, 2010)

Basically I'm talking about a boom box that's not a pile of bling and gimmicks. Although I've been a car audio nut for a long time I've never had much interest in home audio except for the higher standard of SQ. I'm not one to sit on the couch in the sweet spot of stereo imaging for hours and listen to music. When I'm at home i'm cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, or working in the garage. Stereo sound is irrelevant to me when I'm moving around and I'm just looking for some sort of audio device (mono for all I care) that I can move around, plug into an outlet (I never use batteries in my current junk boom box), and plug my ipod into. If there were a unit the had a HiFi iPod interface with a quality DAC that would be nice, but if it has RCA in I can come up with something myself that is better than using my iPod's headphone out. I don't listen to CD's or radio, so what I'm looking for is pretty narrow here. It would have to have a grab handle and be a reasonably light weight, all in 1 unit. Any suggestions are appreciated.


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## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

Since this is a DIY site, are you interested in building your own?


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## jackp311 (Jun 7, 2010)

I have an eclipse 5441 and a pair of mb quart German made coaxes for sale in the classifieds. You could build a nice portable system with that.


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## Old Skewl (May 30, 2011)

I have not seen too many boom boxes lately that have decent sound quality. There are a few I-pod docks that do a good job, probably won't have a handle though. My wife got me a Klipsch i-groove SXT($149) for Christmas. Pretty impressive for its tiny size. I also have a B&W Zeppelin($400 ebay) that is very impressive. It is a bigger unit though! THere are others too. I only have experience with these. Klipsch unit is so smiall it can easily be picked up and moved to another room.


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## ozzynichols (Feb 19, 2010)

I have strongly considered building my own. I have enough experience building sub woofer enclosures but not home speakers. If I can find an amp/preamp that is something along the lines of a small rack mount unit I could build something resembling a small combo guitar amp. I am open to doing a 2 way or 3 way passive setup. Not having any kind of basic EQ controls is a little risky though.


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## ozzynichols (Feb 19, 2010)

I just looked at the B&W Zeppelin and it looks like a nice unit, but I can't really stomach using a dock because I always have a case on my iPod and because I don't want to bend it back every time I tough the controls. I will keep it in mind though, al listen to it if I get the chance.


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## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

If you're not interested in building your own, I could easily design you a portable boombox. I design home theater speakers for a side job so it would be a piece of cake. Send me a PM if you're interested. I can guarantee it would sound better than anything else you can buy in a store.


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## rytekproject (Feb 25, 2011)

XtremeRevolution said:


> If you're not interested in building your own, I could easily design you a portable boombox. I design home theater speakers for a side job so it would be a piece of cake. Send me a PM if you're interested. I can guarantee it would sound better than anything else you can buy in a store.


I was just thinking of PMing you and asking you about this the other day


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## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

rytekproject said:


> I was just thinking of PMing you and asking you about this the other day


So what are you waiting for? :laugh:

By the way, in case anyone is wondering what kind of work I do, here's a recent project I have in progress. These are being finished with a natural stain (very light) to add some depth, and two coats of polyurethane. I only work with hardwood. Much more beautiful, much more attractive, and much more genuinely awesome. Don't ask me to make you something out of MDF or I'll tell you to fly a kite. 

These use 3.5" drivers and 3/4" waveguide tweeters. They're not bass monsters, but they sure do sound amazing. A friend helped me design these crossovers a while back, and even though I design my own crossovers now, I didn't see a need to reinvent the wheel.


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## lurkist (Sep 9, 2011)

@Xtreme - nice work.


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

I know that this isn't DIY and certainly not audiophile, but I run one of these at home for exactly what you're describing.

It's light, portable, sounds great for its size, is cheap, plays files off of my ipod/iphone etc., doesn't look bad. 

SC-HC40 - Micro Systems - Shop and Compare at Panasonic


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## ChiTownSQ (Apr 7, 2008)

This thread got the wheels turning to build a boom box. Thinking..

Plate amplifier from parts express with say, 150 watts. 6.5" JL 6w0 I have laying around in ported enclosure along with a dual 2" and tweeters Ipod connection and a duffle strap.. Hummm..


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## ozzynichols (Feb 19, 2010)

I didn't realize there was a "toolbox boombox" thread on here. Pretty clever. He used all car audio equipment with a motorcycle battery or something. That's not really the way I want to go. I'll look on parts express for those plate amps.


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