Post your "Ghetto Mod" pics

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My original 1980's Hitachi TRK-8080E ghetto blaster was becoming a bit of a nuisance with the 8x D-cell batteries & the broken line input forcing me to carry an FM transmitter (with its own batteries) so I built a new one :)

Case is a flight case I bought secondhand off eBay, speakers are automotive speakers (these particular ones chosen for their efficiency of 93dB), amplifier is the Tripath TA2024 board from Sure Electronics (15W per channel at 10% THD but it can do 20W per channel without anything blowing up) & a 7Ah lead-acid battery. From my calculations it should run at least 2 hours at full volume, but I doubt I'll be playing it that loud very often, as it's surprisingly loud!

Still need to mount a power switch (after I find some spade connectors for the battery terminals) & either mount a 3.5mm jack or a retractable 3.5mm cable so it doesn't have to be opened to attached the iPod & change tracks. Bought a shoulder strap for it as well, but haven't decided how to attach it yet (it's rather heavy to carry anywhere by the current handle.

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damn that speaker cabinet makes it look like a retro stereo you used to see in the oldskool rap vids.
you say yours only lasts 2 hours at 20W with that chunky battery???

my T03 style, tri-rail, 100W-8ohm, 200W-4ohm speaker lasts a whopping 5 hours running on nothing but 48V worth of AA batteries in a configuration of: +24v 0v -24v.
and here's a link of a video clip of the speaker going into 3Hz:

youtube link (can be removed by moderator if they see reason)

YES! 3Hz.

sorry i just had to show off.
 
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damn that speaker cabinet makes it look like a retro stereo you used to see in the oldskool rap vids.
you say yours only lasts 2 hours at 20W with that chunky battery???
Well, 20W per channel is 40W total. Rated efficiency of the amplifier at 15W per channel is >88% but we'll assume 88% for the calculation. That's a drain of 44.8W total when outputting 40W, which is 3.74A from a 12V battery. The battery is rated at 7Ah & 7/3.74 = 1.87 hours.

Of course, this is presuming that it's playing absolutely flat out & is playing a constant tone rather than music which will vary all the time. I suspect real-world usage at sensible volumes will probably be anywhere in the 3-7 hours range, but as it isn't finished yet I haven't had a chance to field test it.

my T03 style, tri-rail, 100W-8ohm, 200W-4ohm speaker lasts a whopping 5 hours running on nothing but 48V worth of AA batteries in a configuration of: +24v 0v -24v.
Somehow I sincerely doubt you're actually outputting 100W/200W for 5 hours straight off AAs... Sure at lower volumes, but not at it's full rated 100W/200W.
 
ok not the full 200w for 5 hours more like:
1st hour 200w for 1 hour
+/-150w for 3 hours
100w for 2 hours
change batteries or...
50w for 1 hour
10 w for 15 mins
headphone safe wattage quiet for 5 mins

also being that this 100w module is old, it causes crossover distortion, so i enhanced the effect to produce ear peircing treble whilst using the big woofer for to enhance the effect to cause a higher sensation of sound frequency range.
i had pictures fall off walls in my old carehome (with help of samsung p3's bass reproduction), people asking 'is that 1KW?', etc...
for a mere 200w amp, it certainly recreates the sound quite well.

i'll take a picture of it's innards and post them if you want to see it
and if you live near milton keynes, in england, then you can meet up in a field away from public or houses to witness the level of sound yourself (only if you want). (and i live in my own flat now so i dont want noise complaints here).

also i'll upload a vid of it powering a 95W laptop charger.

i personally would of expected a few days of use from yours at high volumes with that battery. that's one of the things companies do (and some have done for a long time) is have the end-user spend unnessery money for to run a product (and other similar things they do to end-users).
take for example... i listened to my mates new creative zen-xfi the other day and it just sounded awful compared to my sound blaster live card. so a lesson is that old technology can sometimes be better than new.

due to this post being off topic/too long, i'll delete/over-write this post and put something revelant here by tomorow afternoon.

edit: this post just feels a bit bashful like, but feel free to coment or post to me comments or oppinions.
 
MiniFolder, if I still lived with my parents in Rugby I would take you up on your offer of a demo, but now I'm up in Scotland it's an 800 mile round trip!

I wouldn't mind pictures of the inside though, always like looking at strange & wonderful audio gear :)
 
I'm posting this for my friend, who helped get me into computers, and also doesn't feel like registering an account right now XD

It's an old toggle switch my dad had laying around. I didn't like how loud the 92mm fans were on the +12 rail when just idling, and I'm too cheap to spend $20 on a fan controller, so I used this toggle switch to switch between the +5 and +12 volt rails on the power supply. Nothing fancy, but it works for my needs (and it's simpler and more dependable).
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here's the pictures (just uploaded) of my amp, starting with a semi-full view of the innards:

the innards showing batteries, amp mobo, heatsink, crosover.

the heatsink where the TO3 transistors are mounted to

controls part 1, labels describe all.

controls part 2, vol and input.


this next picture is my mid range speaker (covered by a grill for reasons seen) which came from an 'emulated' 100W sub, it took in 20W bass but the cmputer used caused the thing to sound 100W hence why the cone is so light:
i'm glad i didnt kill this speaker as it fits just right in the audio frequency range for my cabinet
and i'm glad that it was in repairable condition, so i repaired the cone and sealed the back before attaching to the crosover.
 
Done a bit more work on the ghettoblaster;

- fixed the amp PCB into its final position using zip ties & a staple gun
- shortened the wires & stapled them down now the layout is finalised
- drilled a hole for the input cable (mounting a socket would be more complicated, cost money to buy the socket & would break if the thing falls onto it whilst a plug is in) (I also can't forget to take the cable with me this way!)

Just waiting on a bag of spade connectors to arrive in the post then I can make proper battery connections & a power switch.

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best [486];1034601203 said:
Make sure that lead acid battery is rated to be tipped up, if it isn't it might leak, and it is the bad stuff that'll come out, sulfuric acid, not no wussy potassium hydroxide like what comes outta alkaline batteries.
Yep that was one of the purchasing requirements - this one is rated for operation in any orientation except inverted.
 
Added another fan and gaudy blue zip ties! The tail end one there swooshes out for effect. :D

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Slightly on Topic Ghetto mod, a LM386 guitar practice amp! Complete with distortion :p

Outside
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Innards
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Here's my semi-ghetto waterproofing for my camera. Plastic grocery bag+rubber bands+lens hood. To make it more ghetto, it's an old school 35mm film camera(got the body for $35) and the strap's a piece of rope I found on the beach. By the way I can't change film with the thing on.

 
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Painted, cleared and waxed MDF. Easy Button is power and tin can for wifi ant.

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Those are both sick. That easy button idea is a great one! Oh and I love how you used a pci slot cover to hold the card. Well thats what it looks like its doing.
 
Before when I got this Lian Li A77B full tower case, there was this tacky useless fan monitor on the front. It wasn't even a standard 5.25" bay, it measured slightly less than one and half inch. Bought a Lian Li standard cover and used a jigsaw on it.

BEFORE:
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Taped up with 2 kinds of tape and used a sharpie to cover up the silver spots where I messed up.

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Finished product, pretty ghetto behind it though, don't push it, it'll fall right into the case :p

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besides the cardboard box, i'm not seeing the ghetto to this... Missing something am I?
 
besides the cardboard box, i'm not seeing the ghetto to this... Missing something am I?
I'm w/ you here. What's up w/ spamming of pictures and no explanation. I have no idea what the ghetto is there. You have to explain things like that to me. :p
 
Thanks....not even a lil ghetto? :D

Zipties securing your rad... Hmm.. Lil ghetto maybe... You get a 1/4 of a food stamp for that one... But as a poster here said before Zipties FTW!!!

Icewind, you've got some powerful cooling there. I'd rock a rig like that fo sho... hahaha... :D
 
Zipties securing your rad... Hmm.. Lil ghetto maybe... You get a 1/4 of a food stamp for that one... But as a poster here said before Zipties FTW!!!

Icewind, you've got some powerful cooling there. I'd rock a rig like that fo sho... hahaha... :D

Well guess I don't get that 1/4 food stamp...My rads are screwed down, no zip ties anywhere :D ...Really need to paint those screws black tho :p

Cardboard box is kinda ghetto. Wouldn't want my cat to jump on it :eek:
 
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