Walking around with your own soundtrack ?

[DR4296]

OK, two years ago, for Halloween, I built my own Robocop costume. Outfitted it with an MP3 player and two small speakers (the non-powered "cans" like you can get for any PC or laptop)... and a single "boosteroo" amplifier. The sound was nice, but you had to be within maybe 6 feet of me to hear it, less if there was a crowd.

So, fast-forward to one year ago: Terminator. I bought a second, more powerful, boostaroo... called the "boostaroo revolution"... and daisy-chained it with the first one. Yes, the sound was louder, but not as loud as I was hoping for.

Was toying with the idea of getting a THIRD boosteroo to daisy-chain for this year's costume. Is there a better way to do this ? Maybe some other device I don't know about ? Is there a "boom box" tiny enough to fit in my War Machine costume ? <grin!>

 

[leet]

i got a pair of laptop speakers from a yard sale.(there 9volt.) i cut the power cord off and use a 9volt battery with my mp3 player while im at the junkyard.(attached them to my backpack. there loud enough to hear 10feet away easy...(i dont go past half volume when wearing the pack) u could also make a altoids tin amp(google it or look at instructables) to make the sound output higher...

 

[DR4296]

i got a pair of laptop speakers from a yard sale.(there 9volt.) i cut the power cord off and use a 9volt battery with my mp3 player while im at the junkyard.(attached them to my backpack. there loud enough to hear 10feet away easy...(i dont go past half volume when wearing the pack) u could also make a altoids tin amp(google it or look at instructables) to make the sound output higher...

Really?? You can swap power from the outlet with just a 9 volt battery and get decent amplification?? (Rats! And I threw out a set of such "cans" -- and with an already busted cord too -- just a few weeks ago!)

And I'll go google that phrase, thanks!

 

[DR4296]

i got a pair of laptop speakers from a yard sale.(there 9volt.) i cut the power cord off and use a 9volt battery with my mp3 player while im at the junkyard.(attached them to my backpack. there loud enough to hear 10feet away easy...(i dont go past half volume when wearing the pack) u could also make a altoids tin amp(google it or look at instructables) to make the sound output higher...

Wait a minute: Did you mean that the laptop speakers were already rigged for a 9 volt battery when you bought them?

 

[leet]

no they had a power cord. i cut the end off the cord to be able to hook it to a 9volt battery for my junkyard backpack(music helps alot) i am a pro ghettorigger... and all speakers are set to 12v or less... look at the power supply for ur speakers now. it will say input 110v output 12v(or close to that)

 

[DR4296]

no they had a power cord. i cut the end off the cord to be able to hook it to a 9volt battery for my junkyard backpack(music helps alot) i am a pro ghettorigger... and all speakers are set to 12v or less... look at the power supply for ur speakers now. it will say input 110v output 12v(or close to that)

OK, I just went to WalMart and bought an $11 set of powered PC speakers. I cut the cord and stripped the wires. Plugged my MP3 player into it. The speakers get ZERO sound... even if I put my MP3 Amplifier in there, in between the MP3 player and the speakers. So I must seriously be misunderstanding what you say you've done.

 

[DR4296]

In case anybody ever stumbles upon this topic again, a co-worker convinced me to look into mini-guitar-amplifiers. I ended up buying a "Danelectro Honeytone N-10". You can find these all over Ebay. Amazon sells them. I bought mine from MusiciansFriend.com for $19.99. Got it within two days (of course, they have a distribution center maybe 10 miles away from me. That may have helped speed shipping).

I'll admit that I am going to have a little bit of trouble hiding this thing inside my costume. It's a LITTLE BIT big. Not bad, though.

But it SERIOUSLY can pump out the volume!! And it runs on just a nine-volt battery. And it weighs only about a pound.

Now, if you buy one, you'll have to get an adapter that converts a large headphone jack into a mini-headphone jack. But I just happened to have one of those lying around. I'm sure Radio Shack sells these.

I also had to go out and get me a longer stereo cable (with mini-headphone adapaters at both ends), as the one that came with my MP3 player was only a foot long... and I'd like to have my MP3 player attached somewhere near my wrist, for easier control.

But really, for $20, this mini-amp really pumps out the sound! (Reviewers on Amazon seem to agree with me.)

I will throw this note in for anybody who buys one: When I first powered mine up, I would get a lot of "popping" and the sound would cut out. I honestly thought I'd gotten a bad one. But then I discovered my problem: I always have my MP3 player's volume maxed out. I like a lot of volume when listening, especially when I'm mowing the lawn. So, I tried cutting my MP3 player's volume down to 50%. And after doing that, this mini-amp functioned beautifully! I was even able to crank the sound way up on the amp without any distortion hitting.

So, this mini-map is an inexpensive solution that I'm recommending!

(And, after Halloween, I can just keep mine in my garage... and just attach my MP3 player and fire it up out there....whenever I'm doing some work out there and get sick of listening to the radio !

)

 

[tmccarty23]

That is a great idea. Show is some pics after you get it installed, so we can see how you did it.

You should also just carry it in a backpack or something year round and pump your own theme song like in Family Guy