# DIY Custom Toolbox Boombox built with Car Audio Gear!



## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

_I posted this up on the CA.com forums and thought this may be a better place for feedback on my project...._


I've been wanting to build my own boombox for about 20 years, so I recently decided to hack my trusty Rubbermaid 21" Plastic toolbox into a portable car stereo "boombox".

Here are the components I used:

Source - Alpine CDA-9813 CD/MP3/WMA (with V-Drive high power built-in amplifier)
Sound - MB Quart FKA116 - 6.5" 2-way (not my 1st choice, but had them already)
Power - 12v 11ah sealed lead acid battery (around $30 from eBay)
Extras - 12v lighted switch, analog 12v meter, binding post speaker terminals, 20A fuse with 12ga power/ground wire, dual RCA bulkhead connectors, vinyl sound deadening material, marine wire antenna and more...

The first video I created shows the individual components of the build. The seconds video shows the build process and gives a sound demo of the (semi-completed) unit.

I've also constructed a subwoofer addon, but went a little overboard on my design. I'll post more information soon.... 

Feedback, good, bad or neutral is appreciated!



*Part 1: The Components*

YouTube - Custom Toolbox Boombox V2.0 - Portable Car Stereo Ghettoblaster! - Part 1

*Part 2: The Build*

YouTube - Custom Toolbox Boombox V2.0 - Portable Car Stereo Ghettoblaster! - Part 2

.....


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## metanium (Feb 2, 2007)

Nice job. 2 suggestions for possible additions would be adding an antenna and a solar panel charger. I think a retractable antenna like for an older Civic could be integrated pretty easily, in case you want to catch a ballgame or something. The solar panel charger could be integrated into the lid for days out at the lake, etc.


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

metanium said:


> Nice job. 2 suggestions for possible additions would be adding an antenna and a solar panel charger. I think a retractable antenna like for an older Civic could be integrated pretty easily, in case you want to catch a ballgame or something. The solar panel charger could be integrated into the lid for days out at the lake, etc.


Thanks for the suggestions, those are great ideas! I've already added an internal antenna, which works great. I'll show it in a future video. I'm also on the lookout for a solar charger as well. Right now, I can get 4-6 hours of playback, depending on the volume. It sounds better than any "boombox" I've heard, but does rattle a little at high volume (even after adding the sound deadening material). I guess the lesson learned is a plastic toolbox is not the best "enclosure" for speakers! This was a beta project and I have plans to build better and more elaborate boomboxes in the future....


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## Boston18 (Sep 24, 2008)

Job well done..look forward to seeing what you can do next


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## crucial24 (Jul 27, 2010)

Now that is different good job


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## SVOEO (Nov 2, 2009)

How fun is that! I gotta build one... Where are the RTA graphs, tho


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

I'm finishing off the subwoofer addition to this box today...I'll try to get a video and some pics up very soon. Only problem is it is not quite what I'd call portable....you'll see what I mean. I went a little overboard....what was the old Rockford slogan..."Too much is just right" (or maybe that was another mfg?)

Stay tuned....


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

bigdwiz said:


> I'm finishing off the subwoofer addition to this box today...I'll try to get a video and some pics up very soon. Only problem is it is not quite what I'd call portable....you'll see what I mean. I went a little overboard....what was the old Rockford slogan..."Too much is just right" (or maybe that was another mfg?)
> 
> Stay tuned....


More details to come....can you say "BOOM" Box?


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## dapert (Feb 22, 2006)

Well I can honestly say I've never seen a tool box boom box before. Thumbs up on the creativity for sure.


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

dapert said:


> Well I can honestly say I've never seen a tool box boom box before. Thumbs up on the creativity for sure.


Thanks! It is a fun project and like most projects keeps evolving...:drummer:


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## Cruzer (Jul 16, 2010)

its very nice, but when do u actually plan on using it?


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

Cruzer said:


> its very nice, but when do u actually plan on using it?


Without the subwoofer addon, it is very portable. No doubt, the subwoofer makes this "boombox" not very portable at all. I built it designed to fit on my magnacart, which is a small fold-able hand truck. Only problem is the freaking sub box is too big and heavy (especially when I add the 35ah battery!)

My next design will have a single 8" and 5.24 or 4" separates and I may build the box out of fiberglass to help keep the weight down.


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## [mikamouse] (Aug 2, 2008)

looks like a fun project! great idea!


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## truckerfte (Jul 30, 2010)

back when i was an otr driver, setups like these were very popular in the warehouses. lots of guys would have them on their mules. some with better success than others. this is prolly one of the better ones i have seen. some of the set-ups were not self-powered, but rather used the mules power supply. some of them were quite powerfull, and well thought out.

nice work


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## bigdwiz (Oct 7, 2010)

A quick update...I just posted a battery drain demo of the Toolbox Boombox. 

Test was conducted utilizing the built-in MB Quart 6.5's plus (2) sets of 8-ohm satellite speakers. I set the volume to about 80% of max and put my Panasonic TM700 in time lapse mode. See the result below:


YouTube - Custom Toolbox Boombox V2.0 - Part 3 - Battery Drain Test



Enjoy.., more to come soon 

-BigDWiz


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