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| Homebrew boombox for XM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First I want to say thank you to BestTimesNow @ XMFan for the inspiration for this project. I'm not trying to steal his work, he just gave me the idea for it. Same concept, different parts. To see his homemade boombox, visit his website here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The boombox story (short and sweet) I currently have a boombox for the Delphi SkyFi series of XM tuners. My gripe about them is A) battery life sucks B) doesn't sound too good and C) doesn't get loud enough for me. I like to listen while at work and the ones Delphi make you can't hear on the construction job site. So I decided to fix all of this... by making my own. Click on a picture to enlarge it. |
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| Start with an empty shell. (duh) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I cut a hole in the back side (the side without latches) to mount the head unit into it. Here you can see the bracket that holds it in place and a switch that cuts the accessory power off. I hooked the memory wires directly to the batteries to retain preset memory, so the switch acts like you just turned the car off. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This is the head unit that I will be using. It is a JVC KS-FX11 35W x 4 channel Cassete deck | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Before I start mounting anything I did a prelimenary test run. Hooked up everything I was going to use to see if I had everything I needed and to make sure everything worked.. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Control unit for the Pioneer GEX-FM903XM. This is not what I originally wanted to use. I was going to use the SkyFi 2 for the fact that it has the wireless FM modulator. What made me change my mind was that it was hard to find any SkyFi car kits anywhere. I could have ordered one onlilne but I did not feel like waiting. This actually works better for the fact that the 903 has a hardwired FM modulator meaning it is less prone to outside interference. Plus it was replaced by my SkyFi 2 that I recently installed in my car. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I then cut the holes and mounted the speakers. They are Profie SP62 6.5" 2 way speakers. 120W max input. They are not the best ones in the world but they work for the time being and they look like something Wal-Mart would sell. I got these when I purchased my Sony head unit from Circuit City a few years ago. They were free for any deck above $99 but they are not a 'quality' speaker I would want to put in my car. Eventually I wil get some better ones with decent quality materials. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A picture of the battery charger I use to charge the internal batteries. This also serves as the power supply for the boombox whenever AC power is available. It is a Vector VEC 0080 fully automatic 2 amp charger/ maintainer. I use the 1 amp to charge and 2 amp mode to charge/power the box when it is in operation. This thing works very well. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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