Anyone upgraded boombox speakers??

Tonto Yoder · « **on:** 27 Jul 2004, 11:47 am »

I have a 10 CD boombox that I'd like to sound better. Any thoughts on upgrading drivers or other tweaks??? There's a 4" woofer and 2" tweeter. The speakers are "attached" (but detachable), where each speaker slides into a groove and locks in place. I use the boombox as a portable, so I want to keep these speakers rather than upgrading to totally different speakers (even though that might SOUND better)..

Since the boombox doesn't put out much power (12 watts claimed, but that's probably "Music power" or some similar rating)., I'd undoubtedly need some pretty efficient drivers. I've thought of Tangband 4" full-range drivers
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=264-828 either by themselves or supplemented by the existing or new tweeter.
The speaker boxes themselves are of the usual molded plastic variety; the woofer area is molded to LOOK like a larger driver, so it's possible a bigger driver could be used with just minor surgery.?? The tweeter needs to be ROUND--without the common rectangular flange of home audio drivers.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Carlman · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 01:16 pm »

One thing that will likely help is adding damping material to the inside of the enclosures... Not necessarily Black Hole 5, but maybe adhesive vinyl tiles or Dynamat... etc...

My boombox has excellent drivers so I won't upgrade them until their demise... so, I have no advice for drivers..

-C

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 01:18 pm »

Hmmm....you could dunk the boombox in liquid nitrogen & then add some Bybees!

Or maybe you were looking for something constructive.

How portable must it be? Small speakers wouldn't clip on but would still be moveable. I could see some cheapo bookshelves greatly upgrading the sound. I too have wondered what you could do with a decent boombox with a little work.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 01:47 pm »

Quote from: Rob Babcock

How portable must it be? Small speakers wouldn't clip on but would still be moveable. I could see some cheapo bookshelves greatly upgrading the sound. I too have wondered what you could do with a decent boombox with a little work.

Its main purpose is portability---I use it at work (construction), loading 10 CD's, programming random continuous play and I'm set for the day. I'm trying to keep the existing attached speaker boxes (actually,I have TWO of this same boombox: I'm thinking of tweaking one set while using the other on the still-functioning CD changer).

Carlman,
this boombox sounds pretty good already: I probably wouldn't play around with the drivers if I didn't have back-up speakers from the nearly-defunct second boombox. I just thought it might be fun to play around with, and hopefully I'll end up witha great-sounding box.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:01 pm »

Car audio gear might be the way to go, since the tweeters for those can be mounted in any number of ways, and tend to be 0.75 in size.

I just ceiling mounted a set of JL Audio components (separate tweeter, 5.25 woofer, and crossover) as my rears for a recent HT upgrade.

Cost effective on eBay, and they do come in 4 inch kits also. I would recommend JL, and MB Quart car goodies, I have used both, and both are quality.

Good luck,

Mark

Lost81 · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:07 pm »

I made the mistake of adding on 15,000 uF of capacitance to a computer boombox's stock 3,200 uF.

I have to be careful to make sure there is no sound input going into the unit when I turn it on now, or else the sound will be VERY distorted for 3 seconds while the poor bridge rectifiers struggle to fill the caps. (Have been keeping my fingers crossed that they don't blow

I never turn the unit off now because of that.
I just mute the input.

-Lost81

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:09 pm »

Is car gear fairly efficient??? I keep seeing these huge wattage amps for cars, so I wondered if my boombox had enough muscle for them.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 04:18 pm »

Tonto,

If you can get to the woofer cones themselves, they are possibly (probably

) made of paper. It's the cheapest, usually, and what is usually used.

If you can get to the speaker cones to see what they are made of, you might be able to coat them in 'doping' compound that you can find around. I used this on some cheap factory speakers a while back and saved a bundle on the process, didn't have to change anything out and it upgraded things nicely.

I think the product I used was called 'Speaker Coat'...don't know if it still exists, but it was less then $10 about a dozen years ago.

mcgsxr · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 06:07 pm »

The specs on the JL I installed were

Tweeter - 91 db
Woofer - 89 db

The enormous power rating that you see for car amps, often has to to with driving LARGE, very inefficient subs to mind crushing volumes - my Rockford 12 inch, ate 500w of clean, class D power in the car, and was something like 84 db efficient - it had bags of travel, and a stiff doped paper cone, and was loud, but NOWHERE near the "I hear you two blocks away" insanity I hear pumping on the streets.

My Totem Rokk are rated at about 86 db efficiency, and with the JL and them sharing a 4 channel stereo signal from my system, the JL are slightly softer than the Totems - then again, the JL are free air mounted in a baffle, and mounted on the ceiling, so it is hardly a scientific comparison.

I would give car audio gear a shot, if you find the correct size, affordably.

Mark

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #9 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 07:00 pm »

Quote from: TheChairGuy

Tonto, .....
If you can get to the speaker cones to see what they are made of, you might be able to coat them in 'doping' compound that you can find around. ...

Funny you mention that since I had been thinking about some ultra cheap Pioneer drivers from Parts Express that are being sold for 89cents (retail$10).
Check out tips/tweak #3--
http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/nsb/nsb.html

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #10 on:** 27 Jul 2004, 08:12 pm »

Cool stuff Tonto..good to remember.

I can vouch for Tweak #1 also....learned that from Frank van Alstine. It totally works in achieving better sound.

Plast-i-Clay modelling compund is available from AllArtSupplies.com for the best price I've found on the net. I think it was less then $2 per lb. and I bought 22 lbs to clay my cheapie Optimus LX-8's a while back. The differences were HUGE once applied to the baskets and inside the cabinet. I even clayed the outside, too, the cheap and tweeky dipshit that I am.

It just takes a little painstaking (not hard at all, just tedious) time to do it and you fingers are a little raw afterwards (tacky clay on hands)