Boombox audio input

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:27 pm

for a while now I'd been thinking it would be neat if I could play my mp3 player through my stereo and I didn't want to deal with a cassette adapter since those things have a tendency of going bad on me. So last night I hacked it apart. I removed the cassette player from my Boombox and replaced it with a direct input line to any audio device. Its not quite finished as I plan on cutting some dead-space out of the door so that my mp3 player can fit into the cassette bay and have it close.

here are some low-quality pics of the project:

Kazaryster · Post by **Kazaryster** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:54 pm

real original

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=26088

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:58 pm

Kazaryster wrote:real original

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=26088

gee, I didn't know it had ever been done before *goes and deletes own post in Kazaryster's thread*

seriously, though, it was less about originality and more about functionality. Very simple to do and put together spur-of-the-moment. Been enjoying my new mp3 player dock all day.

oh, and how's the audio quality of your hack? I've found that I need the volume on my mp3 player to be REALLY low and let the stereo's amplifier take care of the volume.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:03 pm

I've been wanting to do this to the tape player in our Explorer, but we're trying to sell it, and it would be just my luck that some old person that listens to cassettes would buy it.

Maybe I'll figure out a way to have the cassette still work.

Kazaryster · Post by **Kazaryster** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:07 pm

grossaffe wrote:
Kazaryster wrote:real original

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=26088
gee, I didn't know it had ever been done before *goes and deletes own post in Kazaryster's thread*

seriously, though, it was less about originality and more about functionality. Very simple to do and put together spur-of-the-moment. Been enjoying my new mp3 player dock all day.

oh, and how's the audio quality of your hack? I've found that I need the volume on my mp3 player to be REALLY low and let the stereo's amplifier take care of the volume.

same here but seeing as its an old boom box that's mono the quality isn't the best but i did it in the old one just for the look im thinkin about getting a rechargeable battery for it as right now it takes 4 D battery's

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:26 pm

vskid wrote:I've been wanting to do this to the tape player in our Explorer, but we're trying to sell it, and it would be just my luck that some old person that listens to cassettes would buy it. Maybe I'll figure out a way to have the cassette still work.

I would assume you could daisy chain (is that the right term?) the audio jack with the cassette player audio cable. I decided to just remove the cassette stuff, although maybe I shouldn't have since my radio actually had a built in mic for recording. oh well, anyways, yeah, I'd look into just attaching an extra set of wires to the existing cassette deck input as I don't see why that wouldn't work.

a problem you may encounter, though, is that in a car cassette player it may have an auto-flip thing where it thinks the tape needs to be flipped or something. don't know how that may affect the project.

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:30 pm

Kazaryster wrote:
grossaffe wrote:
Kazaryster wrote:real original

http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=26088
gee, I didn't know it had ever been done before *goes and deletes own post in Kazaryster's thread*

seriously, though, it was less about originality and more about functionality. Very simple to do and put together spur-of-the-moment. Been enjoying my new mp3 player dock all day.

oh, and how's the audio quality of your hack? I've found that I need the volume on my mp3 player to be REALLY low and let the stereo's amplifier take care of the volume.
same here but seeing as its an old boom box that's mono the quality isn't the best but i did it in the old one just for the look im thinkin about getting a rechargeable battery for it as right now it takes 4 D battery's

ah, I see. mine's actually pretty decent if I don't turn it up too loud. the speakers start to buzz sometimes, though. probably just sign of an old stereo (had this thing since I was 5 or so).

Still working on getting the mp3 player to fit snugly in the cassette deck. doesn't help that I used a female audio jack (I had one laying around) so I need to connect a male-male to get from my mp3 to the stereo. anyways, the cassette deck on my stereo is quite cramped so I'll have to see what I can do to free up room.

Kazaryster · Post by **Kazaryster** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:09 am

you pulled out the motors correct

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 12:33 am

Kazaryster wrote:you pulled out the motors correct

I assume you mean the things that are spun by the motor, but yes, those and the motor itself are gone.

Right now I can fit my mp3 player in the bay door, but it doesn't fit plugged into the audio jack.

Kazaryster · Post by **Kazaryster** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 5:10 pm

oh i see i just used an old cord from a set of sound blaster pc speakers

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:56 pm

Kazaryster wrote:oh i see i just used an old cord from a set of sound blaster pc speakers

Yeah, I would've done something like that, but I happened to have a spare female audio jack that's actually meant for soldering.

Still having trouble "hiding" my mp3 player in the cassette bay. The geometry just isn't working out in my favor.

Kazaryster · Post by **Kazaryster** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:04 pm

grossaffe wrote:
Kazaryster wrote:oh i see i just used an old cord from a set of sound blaster pc speakers
Yeah, I would've done something like that, but I happened to have a spare female audio jack that's actually meant for soldering.

Still having trouble "hiding" my mp3 player in the cassette bay. The geometry just isn't working out in my favor.

take a dremel to the guy i had to do it with mine

grossaffe · Post by **grossaffe** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:48 pm

Kazaryster wrote:
grossaffe wrote:
Kazaryster wrote:oh i see i just used an old cord from a set of sound blaster pc speakers
Yeah, I would've done something like that, but I happened to have a spare female audio jack that's actually meant for soldering.

Still having trouble "hiding" my mp3 player in the cassette bay. The geometry just isn't working out in my favor.
take a dremel to the guy i had to do it with mine

yeah, its looking that way, but I'll have to be careful not to screw up the mechanics of the bay door so it still closes and doesn't fall off. I'll look at it when finals are over.