No one has to invest anything yet and nothing will be for sale. There will be a lot of limitations to the design that will need to be compromised simply to meet the goal of assembling "off the shelf" parts or modules to minimize the need for engineering, then stuffing the whole thing into a hopefully attractive housing. While fantasy features are great if you can fit the idea into the design in a practical and cost effective manner, otherwise, fantasy needs to stay fantasy unless you guys can find a working module actually available for acquisition. And the only numbers I've seem thrown other there mentions a few hundreds of dollars, so if your one feature costs $500 per, then forget it since heck, this is Boomboxery, home of cheapskates, hehe. Remember, it's easy to romanticize about fantasy features if we were simply creating a drawing or concept of one. But if we are going to make a handful (remember, handful and not 50,000), then cost and practicality needs to be considered unless guys are willing to break the bank one one. Oh and there is mention of buying one. Sorry but none will be for sale.... you are either in it from the beginning, or you get to follow along and make your own using our attempt as a proof of concept attempt. If you didn't want to invest yourself into the project to begin with and like what you see as the project takes place, and you later want to buy one, sorry........... time for gnashing of teeth.
Now, some of the good things about a modular project is, at least if what I have in my mind works out is that the innards are all modular and can be swapped out for upgrades or replacement if something fails. This includes speaker drivers, type of power, adding lighting or other special features, the amp or amps, etc. I have seen them all either on eBay or other vendors. Except the power supply -- that I might need to think about developing a custom one with multiple rails and taps to allow all the modules to take power from. Sort of like an aftermarket car fusebox with aux taps. Blown amp? No problem, rip out the old and just stuff another one in there. Ideally, for costs, minimizing noise, prevent duplication of components and system, the whole design can be put on one board. However, that defeats the stated goal of an off-the-shelf project. If one was going to invest what it takes to develop something like this from the ground up, it won't be done collaboratively, it would be done on a large scale to minimize production costs per unit, and recover RD costs and maximize profits to the investor.
The modules I have in mind are as follows and they form the foundation for the assembly:
Audio Sources:
- Tuner (HD)
- CD-Player
- MP3 (usb and SD card type)
- Bluetooth Aux
- Video (maybe) LCD screen for playback of video files **
- Media Player for audio/video **
- ** These might be wishful thinking due to availability of front panel real estate and maybe complexity that could jeopardize project for many reasons including lack of concensus.
Power Sources:
- Custom internal Power Supply (AC)
- Battery (standard D cells) holders, up to 20 ~ 24 cells.
- External 12V DC input for external DC battery
- ** custom battery or alt power source choices is individual owner's own responsibility to customize.
Circuitry:
- Internal Source switching module (Tuner, CD, MP3, AUX)
- External Source switching module (when in AUX mode, switches froom an array of aux inputs)
- Tone control board (bass, treble, volume, balance, and loudness switch).
- VU/Power Meters or Spectrum Analyzer Display (or both).
- Discolite it? or some other led color organ type of flashy visual feature?
- Amplifier module (tons of options available) 2,4,6 amps. Configuration depends upon speaker setup. Also affects design of PS.
Speakers:
- Proposed, 3-way with 10" woof (or 6.5" subs), 6.5" full range, 2.5" cone tweets (or ribbons if you guys want to splurge $$$).
- ** Because speaker selection directly affects aesthetic as well as functional design elements, there needs to be concensus on this before the cabinet phase even gets off the ground. Lastly, speaker drivers really could go from dirt cheap to exotic huge $$ options.... for the purposes of this project, I suggest we simply get decent cheap drivers first and owner could then customize and swap to their hearts content and wallet since how hard can it be to swap out some speakers. That way we aren't quibbling about whether to employ $15 woofers or $150 (each) ones.
All suggestions are welcome but the voices of those who have pledged to participate will get the greatest consideration (and of course get to vote on final design details).
Now since this is all just in the speculating and thinking stages, I will in the weeks to come, begin to purchase exactly some of the modules above I am speaking about. I will then test them to see if such a project is even feasible or whether these modules will all interface together without major issues. Once that is out of the way, if everything seems positive, then I will broadcast my results and ask for members to pledge whether they want to participate or not. Once we get an idea of how many interested participants, then my plan is to discuss in greater detail with anyone (Joe, Trippy?) about the cabinet design and costs and whether the project is feasible. To some folks, plunking down thousands on a custom project is fine. Just see what car builders/hobbyists are willing to invest in their hobby and you'll know what I'm saying. To others, $300 is too much. Therefore, budgeting is a huge issue. When participants are pledged, then fine financial details and nitty gritty will be discussed in private group discussion to see if a consensus can be reached on all the nitty gritty's of the project.
Maybe this project might not take off. Maybe I might need to do this individually to retain control of the project in case there is too much dissent on the details or other aspects of the project. I dunno, but I do hope to be able to do this jointly with a another or few other interested parties. Time might be running out for me and this is something I really wanted to do for a long time.
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