suitcase soundsystem

[ketoet]

hello
i've been asked by a friend of mine to help him with a new project. he's a street artist who does mime and things like that. now he want do do an act that requires a suitcase with a built in soundsystem. the question is : what's the best way to this. requirements are

-it has to be batteriepowered ( min 2hrs playtime )
- it has to go loud enough so that it can be heard above all the background noise
-the suitcase can't be to heavy ( neo drivers?)
-the soundsource will be a Ipod touch

i've thougt about fitting the batteries in a jacket and feed the powercord through a sleeve to the suitcase. i still am looking for suitable parts : batterie , amplifier, speakers( what would be the way to go here ?)

this has nothing to to with my bfm builds but seemed fun to do at the time i agreed to participate . any ideas or suggestion are very welcome.

greetz ketoet

[Grant Bunter]

Hi there!

This isn't suitcase size, it could be the beginnings of an idea to reach your goal

http://billfitzmaurice.info/forum/viewt ... =7&t=18222

If you followed on from the idea in the above thread, you could perhaps do something like a wedgehorn 6 with a battery pack and small auto amp in a box. If the Wedgehorn was built with 7mm Italian poplar, with, as you say, a neo driver and 6 piezos it would be very light, quite loud for it's size too.
It wouldn't be quite suitcase size though, due to depth.

It would depend on your friends "act".
Could it be a hobos trolley instead?
Or some other prop that would be appropriate?

Other options give you latitude to develop and solution.

I don't know, maybe the tiniest line array you could think of...

[ketoet]

thanks for the hint, i'll see if it is usable
it has to be some form of suitcase because he has to be very mobile and be able to run with it.
someone came with the idea build some sort of small backpack that houses the amplifier and the battery. that would save weight on the suitcase itself.
the wedgehorn maybe to big for this application , i'll have to look at the plans.
the big questions are still :
- what kind of battery to use, something i can fit on some kind of belt ?
- where do i find a suitable ampifier module?
-what drivers would be suitable?

i guess i still have a lot of brainstorming to do

greetz ketoet

[Jon Barnhardt]

at first glance this looks like you could fit a half sla in the suitcase shaped box

[Michael Ewald Hansen]

thanks for the hint, i'll see if it is usable
it has to be some form of suitcase because he has to be very mobile and be able to run with it.
someone came with the idea build some sort of small backpack that houses the amplifier and the battery. that would save weight on the suitcase itself.
the wedgehorn maybe to big for this application , i'll have to look at the plans.
the big questions are still :
- what kind of battery to use, something i can fit on some kind of belt ?
- where do i find a suitable ampifier module?
-what drivers would be suitable?

i guess i still have a lot of brainstorming to do

greetz ketoet

Here are a few suggestions.. Im the guy with the Boombox Grant Bunter linked to

Battery:
A Li-Ion battery pack:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-DC-12V-Port ... 465wt_1396

Amplifier:
A Muse TA2020
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUSE-M20-EX2-TA ... 1c1d3749ce
or similar small tripath amplifier.

Then get a couple of full-range units and put them in the suitcase.. A soft suitcase is a horrible cabinet to get good sound from, but its easy to make affordable and semi-decent

[Grant Bunter]

I think the empahasis is on the suitcase being light, as the guy is going to carry it as part of the act????

[SirNickity]

I'll assume we're not looking for high-quality, full-range reproduction?

As suggested, a T-Amp or other Tripath (or other portable class-D) amp that can run from low DC voltage. A battery pack with equivalent output, or a small sealed lead-acid battery. (There's a battery store nearby me that stocks every size known to man, from small enough to swallow to big enough to power a semi. I would go with 12v, if that's suitable for the amp, since you can charge it with an auto trickle charger or one of those little motorcycle / boat battery maintainers.)

I would go with a simple direct radiator. Find the lightest 5 or 6" speaker with the highest sensitivity that meets your bandwidth needs, reinforce the baffle area with 1/4" plywood, and give it a go. You can get loud "enough" quite easily.

[ketoet]

thanks for the replies, those links really are helpfull . now i know what to look for. i already thought about a mini sla that can be built into both sides of the suitcase. would it work if i split the array , 1 side 3 drivers + tweeters ? or would it be best to just go with fullrange drivers?
i'm planning on making a suitcase myself out of polyester and use the hardware from an old suitcase to make it look like the real thing.
the plan is now to build some kind of belt that houses the batteries and the amplifier and feed a speakerwire to the suitcase . that way it'll be as light as possible i think. in the act he will walk up to people and do al sorts of funny things with sounds.
indeed soundquality is not the priority. it doesn't have to go below 120 hz neither. just be very loud without distortion. and not too heavy so that he can carry it for extended periods.

thanks for all the halp so far
greetz ketoet

[ketoet]

hello again.
another question , would these be suitable for the soundsystem?

http://www.europe-audio.com/Product.asp?Product_ID=8008

i already have 4 of these lying around from another project.

regards ketoet