# Sound System



## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

For the past three years I have been using large cd players and boom boxes to play music throughout my haunt. The large cd players were used to play music outside like in the cemetery and in the outdoor haunt. The boom boxes were used inside the garage (I used about four of them).
What I'm looking to do for next year is build my own sound center using car stereos. Just like Terror Syndicate did:
http://www.terrorsyndicate.com/catalog/product_info.php?pName=haunt-sound-system&cName=the-attic

However, I have little to no knowledge of working with electrics and all that jazz so I was wondering if any of you would know what I would all need. Any help will be a lot of help!
.


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

hey FYF I was looking to do the same thing I even have a post on the Halloween forum about this right now!!!! I have built some big car systems and I can get almost all the stuff needed to build this on the cheap but there are some things I wasn't sure of....Have you sent then any e-mails asking them how they did it??? I was going to but was looking to see what kind of answer's I could get on the forms but I would love to do this so all keep ya updated in what I find...The only thing is I was looking to add music to my graveyard set-up as well....


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## Abunai (Oct 28, 2007)

Front Yard Fright said:


> For the past three years I have been using large cd players and boom boxes to play music throughout my haunt. The large cd players were used to play music outside like in the cemetery and in the outdoor haunt. The boom boxes were used inside the garage (I used about four of them).
> What I'm looking to do for next year is build my own sound center using car stereos. Just like Terror Syndicate did:
> http://www.terrorsyndicate.com/catalog/product_info.php?pName=haunt-sound-system&cName=the-attic
> 
> ...


FYF. I'm in the same boat as you. I purchased a few boom boxes from goodwill stores for my haunt last year. My haunt is out in my field, and all but one of the boom boxes died during the haunt (three weeks) because of dirt and grass mucking up the moving parts.

I followed the link that you posted, and it looks like a great idea. All you would have to do is build the cabinet to house the stereos (saw several for < $10 on ebay), find a 12V power supply with enough amps (10 amps should do it...depends on the number of stereos) to drive the stereos. Buy some speaker jacks to mount in the cabinet.

Wire up the power supply to the stereos. Wire the stereo speaker outputs to the speaker jacks. Then buy some speakers (check the impedance needed in the stereo's specs....8 ohms is pretty standard) and some speaker wire. Very long speaker wire runs will probably lose some power and sound quality.

I think I will look around tomorrow to price the necessary parts. I will post back here if I decide to take this on.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

What you said about long speaker cable runs is true - you'll lose some power due to the increased resistance of the long wires. More importantly, you can wind up with some impedance mismatches due to this. The way to avoid this is to use a 70-volt system to keep the signal clean. The problem is the cost. The amps are expensive and the cables and connectors are outrageous. Wolfstone touches on this subject on his site. I sometimes wish I had some of the PA equipment from my days playing in rock bands - a 1,000 watt system would sure make my soundscape volume problems go away.


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## Gory Corey (Nov 17, 2006)

Buy used mixing boards with multi in/outs off of craigslist.
Most can have multiple in/out (usually about 1 in for each 4 out).
I have 3, each 16 channels bought for 50-100 each.
This gives me 12 channels of separate audio, 48 total channels.

Then buy all the practice amps you can get.
Usually can be had for 15-35 bucks per, 10-25 watts.

Then is source, a bunch of cheap mp3 players that have repeat are perfect and can often be had for 10 bucks. 

All you need after that is cables from the sound boards to the amps to play the different local sound.

You can skip the sound boards and go direct from the mp3 player outputs to the amps, of course you will need adapters (heck either way you will need them), but you loose the finer volume control and the ability to mix sounds on the fly for transitioning from scene to scene. 

But you could easily make a patch bay to give you a central hookup for control of everything from a single location.


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

I have been wanting to do this for awhile now but I was never sure where to start and with all these new ides flowing out here it started to get the ball rolling in my mind finally lol.... So I was wondering if this would work use 4 car stereos powered by 12v power supply with a high enough amp output to power the 4. Then use Audio patch cords to run for each of the 4 car stereos to a 4 channel mixer then out to your speakers or how ever you want... Should that not work??? to control a whole graveyard Scene with for different sound playing also you could probably use the main out on the mixer to run to an FM Transmitter...I don't know for sure if this would work but would sure love the feedback on this one....


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## Gory Corey (Nov 17, 2006)

It should work, just depends on the mixer you use.
I think the only thing you really need to worry about is the power supply.
If I remember right, if it isnt beefy enough, your bass will drop out.

Why are you married to the car stereos? You have em already?

Heck I just got 3 more 1 gig mp3 players for 35 bucks delivered yesterday. Compact, low power, easy to alter what is played on them....


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

i already have 3 of them they only cost me $25 each brand new I am the asst. manager at XS-Cargo and I am able to get everything at cost so lol works for me and the car stereos have a usb port and sd card slots so it kind of gives me more options then just using mp3s, I get them at $5/$15 each anyways but I guess my thoughts are open to any new ideas....


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

Hey Gory Cory I have 1 question for ya...You said it would depend on the type of mixer I use why is that? Here are 2 I found for cheap at The Source a friend of mine works there and can give me a great deal for the both of them because there on clearance...So would these do the trick?
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/P...og=Online&category=PA+Systems&product=3213008
or
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/P...og=Online&category=PA+Systems&product=3211218


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

Car stereos provide source device, tone control and amplification in one rugged package. A typical car stereo provides four channels of reasonable output power (~20 watts) designed for 4-ohm impedance. On top of driving four full-range car speakers, most car stereos also provide at least one set of preamp outputs to drive additional amps for even more speakers. Control can be tricky if the radio does not have a wired remote to hack, but for background stuff it is hard to beat. I love the rack idea!


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

cool sool I have been waiting for a few days foe someone to respond....Do you think I should just cut the mixer out of the car stereo build? and just use mixer with my mp3 set-up? any ideas would be great and greatly needed!!!! lol


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

If you need individual level control over multiple pairs of speakers, the mixer is the way to go. If you just need a bunch of speakers playing at the same relative volume, the car stereo build without the mixer should work.
Quick questions -How many speakers do you need to drive from each source? What impedance are your speakers (car speakers are normally 4 ohm, home speakers normally 8 ohm)? What is the longest run of speaker wire that you anticipate?


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

I am going to use all car speakers for the set up....I was thinking 5 1/2 or 6s for all the speakers...Now I have a few runs of speaker wire that would be 50/75 feet then some 25 foot runs and some shorter ones of 8/15 feet...now i want to run 3 to 4 speakers off each car stereo, I have 3 car stereo but still need to find a 12volt power supply...I decided that the mixer/mp3 set-up was going to going the cue line and in the facade so that is solve and I'm using pa speakers for that so I'm good to go that will be a 1000 watt set up on it's own which works because it's a good 75 feet from the graveyard.....


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

here are the specs for he car stereo I have hope this helps....and for my 12volt power supply how many amps will it need??? before I go and buy one I wasn't really think on that part before dame lol there's a lot to do and little things to remember on this one...thankz for all the help....


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

The rated maximum draw of 15 amps per radio is measured at maximum volume driven at full frequency range right before the radio blows up- something you won't be doing. Figure half that current (or less) as a realistic draw; around 5 -8 amps each. So we need 10 - 15 amps of power for each radio pair. A typical PC power supply should handle one pair of radios effectively.
It would be ideal to reduce that 50-75 foot run. Have you considered building two racks of two radios each so that you could locate them centrally and reduce the speaker runs? It would mean two power supplies, but would also provide redundancy.


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

i did think of that....but the $$$$$ for the power supplies is getting to me now you said I could use a comp. power supply but that is only good to power the 1 car stereo???right? I just need to know what I should do for power supplies and all be good then all just buy 3 more deck fo the $65 the I spent on the 1st one...I bought the smaller mixer today and already started to make a rack to hose the 3 mp3 and mixer plus the FM transmitter that I am ordering later today..., I'm going to do 2 mixes 1 for the FM transmitter for the graveyard then that will be moved on Halloween to the Facade which will be pre wired and speakered. any thoughts are going to help on this one....


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

You should be okay with two radios per power supply if it is rated for at least 10 amp output. Check around local computer repair shops for used PC power supplies (meaning old PCs). I've never actually had to pay for one, though you may end up removing it yourself.
Clearly you will want to test your rig playing both radios at high volume with all speakers connected to make sure the power is sufficient.


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

ok I get it but I was planing to use 3 car stereos because I want at least 3 different sounds playing at the same time...would i have to use 2 PC power supplies? I know the guyz at terror syndicate used a 3 car stereo set-up but not sure what the power supply is that they used....


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## Abunai (Oct 28, 2007)

The Terror Syndicated guys said that their power supply was 10 amps. I don't know what type of stereos they had though. The power draw may have been less than what you have. 
I think that the suggestion to build two cabinets and centrally locate them was a good one. Long cable runs will really reduce the quality and power of the sound. If you do build two, a PC power supply in each cabinet (with 2 stereos each) should work. PC power supplies should be cheap or free if you find the right place. (Flea-market, goodwill, used electronics store.)
I'm really liking this idea. Anything would be a step up from the boom-boxes I used last year. I just need to find some good prices on the stereos.


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

No doubt a 10 amp PS would drive three radios. I like a little extra capacity so I can hook up an amp (or other accessory) in a pinch. Plus, radios under low current will seem to operate fine, but will clip and distort before reaching their true output potential.


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

Are there PC power supplies that are 15 amps and that should be good for the 3 car stereos that I have or I can build one with 4 car stereos and 2 PC power supplies that should give me enough power for my whole set-up and I can add a few more speakers to the mix and would be great for the graveyard giving me 4 different sounds.... then all build a 2 stack with just 2 car stereos for 2 room in the rear off the haunt and the mixer set-up will be the 2 in 1 for the grave yard but over the FM transmitter at night for the weeks leading up to the Oct.30th/31th big day....Then I will be set-up for the facade and in the que line...


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## Phil (Sep 2, 2007)

There are definitely power supplies with 15 amp output. If you build the four radio rack, it would be a good idea to leave a couple inches between each radio and plenty of ventilation in the back of the box. Those babies will produce some heat after a few hours.


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

for sure already thought about all the heat issues and stuff...planed for plenty of ventilation.....


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

hey NT how about builing your own power supplies --i think radio shack has a kit, or a ham radio/cb shop should have what you need


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## Northern Touch (Nov 8, 2006)

I have actually looked at that kit but it will be much cheaper to go with the PC Power Supplies....


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