"Homemade boombox" of computer speakers + discman?

[kitkat]

Has anyone seen, heard of, etc. a carrying case for standard desktop computer speakers & a discman?

I got some great speakers for $30, and I don't really want to invest in new ones when these work fine. I have an MP3-playing discman, too. Each has its own power cord, and it's just a hassle to carry 3 clunky pieces of equipment with 2 power cords (plus a sound cord) hanging off the back from room to room (or to a friend's house for practice).

Has anyone seen tips for homemaking something that would hold them all together, make the CD player possible to open but skip-free, and, preferably, separate the speakers a little (though that's not a must)?

Has anyone seen some geek market such a setup premade?

These are my speakers...


The CD player's just a simple round clamshell like this:


I was thinking about putting the CD player below the speakers, with the speakers right next to each other, but I'd have to make the thing out of something hard so the player would have lots of room to open (and i could get a hand in to press buttons).

I was thinking about putting the CD player above the speakers, with the speakers right next to each other, but the CD player might vibrate and skip in that position.

I don't know how to make a case for the CD player between the two speakers stable, besides making it out of wood. That seems like...overkill. (Ha! Yes, it most certainly does.)

Other ideas?

[Toon Town Dave]

The studio I was running classes at 2 years ago wanted to charge extra to use the sound system so I brought my old PC speakers and Panasonic CD player. The downside (besides setting everything up) was the speakers weren't very high power so it wouldn't be practical in a large or full room. I only had a few couples in a 500-ish sq ft room with the volume of CD player and speakers cranked as high as they could go without too much distortion.

My other instructor and occasional DJ actually had the basis of that idea before me, he built a carrying case for his computer speakers to use with his laptop. The box contained the woofer in the bottom and a space to pack the satellite speakers for transport. It still needed wall power for the speakers.

I don't think this kind of a set-up would be good for DJing. PC speakers that sound good are rare. The amplifier's inside are not really meant for much power since the listener is normally only a couple of feet away.

If you still wanted to do something, I'd just screw the speakers and a power bar to a flat board, tidy up the cables with some zip ties and just plug in the CD player (or laptop or other audio source) after the fact. A simple wooden or plastic box could be built to go over the speakers and attach to the base. Think of old portable sewing machines.

[kitkat]

Oh, it's not for DJing. I just thought I'd ask the techies on here.

Doesn't have to be loud--it's just for practice sessions in my home, etc.

[jflanger]

If you can get an old briefcase of sorts, I wouldn't be surprised if you could make yourself a portable pop-out box that you could stand upright.

Guitarists often do this to stuff their stompboxes in one place. Attach the components with velcro, and perhaps you could have some sort of spring-loaded mechanism to make the speakers pop up for extra geekiness.

[Cyrano de Maniac]

Katie,

I have an aluminum briefcase type of thing that might be almost perfect for you. Assuming they'll fit, you could pack the speakers in there, along with the discman, maybe even a small laptop. You could then obtain some packing foam and use an X-Acto knife to produce custom cutouts to snugly fit all the equipment in it.

It's similar to this (though not the same): http://www.caseclub.com/ac_416.htm

If you think it would be useful to you, I'll let you have it pretty cheap. I think I paid $10 for it at an electronics junk-swap.

Brent

[Lawrence]

Good computer speakers (especially ones with a subwoofer) sound SOOO much better than most portable stereos, so I have used that set-up myself. We used to it for teaching in our second and third teaching rooms that did not have the pro sound system. They work well in mid-sized rooms.

However, I never got around to designing anything like that, partly because it would take so long, I have too many other miscellaneous projects lingering, and my free time is too precious. Also, part of why they sound better is because the speakers do NOT get limited to a small box, but can spread out farther apart to make the sound more dynamic. Carving into a suitcase and using packing foam is a great idea.

You should remember this idea whenever somebody tells you that all the good ideas for consumer products have already been developed.