In this post I finish up assembly of CABB.  First I started with the wiring which is pretty straight forward.

First I made all the speaker wiring connections to the head units harness.  I also found a suitable mounting location for the bluetooth receiver and connected it to the head unit AUX input.  The bluetooth unit requires 5V as well.  I snipped the transformer off its supply cable and wired it to the 5V and ground bundles as described next.

Next I clipped all the leads from the power supply.  I bound all the Yellows (+12v) together, bound all the Reds (+5v) together, and bound all the blacks (ground) together.  I did leave one ground wire free for the power switch.  The bundles are quite large due to the number of wires.  I added the 12V and ground connections from the head unit to the appropriate bundles (Yellow and black).  Since I added a case 5V thermometer, I tied its power to the 5v and ground bundles.  To make sure it doesn’t come apart, I soldered them, then wrapped the bundles tightly with electrical tape – you could also use heat shrink tubing.

Next I wired up the power switch.  For this I took the power supplies Green lead and attached it to one side of the switch.  I tied the other side of the switch to the ground lead I left free from the ground bundle.

If you test it at this point, it may or may not come on.  The power supply wants a load present before it will work.  Since I had the minimal draw of the thermometer it wasn’t an issue.

After validating everything was getting power where needed, I installed the ground for the antenna.  For this I drilled a small hole in the power supply case and use a metal screw to hold it.  Be careful where you drill this hole and the depth of the screw.  Examine the case and look through the vents to determine the best contact-free location.

I then mounted the power supply in the back of CABB’s enclosure.

I then mounted the antenna, the power switch and finally the upper cooling intake vent.

Now it was time to test!  Everything powered up and worked perfectly.  Yes, the thermometer is in Celsius.  I fried the first one on accident, and mistaken ordered this one.  No worries.  I only need to see if the needle crosses midway through the orange band.  At that point it will be getting too hot inside the enclosure.

The nice thing about the bluetooth module I chose is that it does not require the press of any buttons to initiate a device pairing.  Simply select it from the device you want to pair with.  It remembers up to 8.

A shot of the completed unit playing an AUX/bluetooth audio source from my iPhone.

After I played with it for a bit, I put the finishing touch on.  Stick on lettering I found at Hobby Lobby – CABB and 1.0.  The color matches the JBL logos perfectly!

Afterward I moved it to the garage and tested it sound from there.  It sounds very good, although requiring a bit more volume than indoors.  I have used it several times since then and am very happy with the end result.

My only complaint is that the head unit loses some settings when CABB is powered off.  This is due to cutting the power supply off, and not having a 12V battery backup.  I knew this would be the case at inception.  I only have to turn MX (Media Expander) on at power up so its not an issue I’m interested in resolving.

Summary of the parts involved:

Could I have bought a bluetooth speaker system or a shelf stereo system for $143.83.  Possibly.  Would it have been as fun? No!   Would it have sounded as good as CABB turned out?  In all likely hood, No.  Wood > Plastic

It’s been much longer than I originally planned for this update.  Life threw a lot at me over the past few months.  However, this project is complete!  It’s been complete since roughly mid September.  Read on to be brought up to speed.

During July I thought about a new name.  I came up with CABB, for Car Audio Boom Box, which is much better than CSBB or anything else I came up with.  So CABB it is.  Hence the post title change.

Also during July I stewed over the auxiliary input which I decided needed to be Bluetooth rather than iPhone 30 pin.  Many of the Bluetooth to RCA adapters require you to push a button to pair a new device.  I could not have that since the Bluetooth unit would be enclosed inside CABB.  In August I found a Belkin unit (F8Z492TTP) that would pair up to 8 devices, all without having to press any buttons.  It cost $22.18 and from Amazon.

One common complain about the Belkin adapter was its short range.  But a simple solution was to open it and remove the weight.  I did so and the range is roughly 35 ft.  The other thing I had to do was power it.  It has a 110v AC to 5V DC transformer to power it.  I snipped the transformer off and wired it to the PSU 5V leads.

With all the parts ready, I drilled a hole in each internal baffle to pass the speaker wires through, then assembled the back.  I sealed the whole thing with caulk.  I then applied some wood putty to a few external seams that didn’t quite turn out perfect, and sanded the entire exterior so it has a nice smooth finish.  Next it was time for primer.  I used a spray primer, which took several coats.

I test fitted all the parts.

I then applied the truck bed liner.  I found the spray liner did not work very well at all.  It applied much too thin.  I bought a small can of Dupont roll on liner from the auto parts store, which was a non planned $20, but well worth it.  After several coats to build the thickness up to desired level, I had a completed enclosure.  CABB was almost alive!

Now I was ready to install the components.  The first thing I did is wire and mount the crossovers for the JBL GTO 605-C component speakers.  I cut and fed a speaker wire through each of the holes in the internal baffles then sealed the holes with caulk.  I then connected each audio in (speaker) lead, tweeter lead, and woofer lead to the crossover and mounted it about 1/3 of the way from the bottom on the internal baffle.  I filled each speaker compartment about 3/4 full of polyfill. I did all this working from the woofer cutout.  I then ran the tweeter lead through the tweeter hole and the woofer lead through the woofer hole, connected them to the speakers and mounted them (tweeter first so I could get to the screw plate on the back of the tweeter).  Finally I mounted the woofer grills.

That’s enough for this post.  I will post the final entry (part 3), soon.

Next: Car Audio Boom Box, Final Assembly

This project hasn’t had much traction until recently.  I now have all the parts I need ordered and  received, barring one.  I had planned on having L/R RCA audio inputs to allow iPods, etc to connect and feed the system, but the iPod cable I have is too old and does not work with the newer devices.  Since I have to buy a new one, I thought it might be better to get a bluetooth adapter since they are only a few dollars more than a cable.  I haven’t completely figured out the pairing issue since the adapter will be inside the box, but it will likely mean I have to create a remote switch for the adapter, which means that whatever I buy will instantly have its warranty voided due to it being opened and hacked.

I finally got the .5″ MDF and cut all the pieces out.  Yay for experience from years of sub-woofer box building!  I chose .5″ MDF because the speakers don’t need  the added strength like a sub-woofer would, and to help keep the weight down – it’s already going to be pretty heavy.  Then I started the assembly.  The first step was assembling the front, bottom and sides.

Then assembling the top and internal dividers.

At this point I also marked the locations for all the cutouts.  Speakers, head unit, thermometer, vent, and power switch.  The back is being left off until final assembly.  I may make a section of the bottom removable for wiring access.

The box looks rough at this stage, but it will be sanded smooth, primed, and sprayed with truck bed liner once the back is in place.  The should make the finish rather durable.  All joints will be sealed as well.  You can also see I relocated he thermometer readout to above the head unit.  I did this to leave room below the head unit in case I need to add another vent.  The thermometer probe will be mounted as close to the center of the middle chamber as possible.

Why a thermometer?  Well, the Alpine head unit is V-Drive unit.  It generated a lot of heat when it was installed in a vehicle.  The power supply will also generate a fair amount of heat.  The power supply will be mounted to the back drawing air via its fan from inside the box and pushing out the back.  There is a vent on the top for fresh air intake.  This air will ideally flow over the head unit for cooling before passing through the power supply.  I really have no idea how much heat will be generated internally.  I don’t want anything to meltdown or catch fire so the thermometer is so I can see how hot its getting inside.  If temps stay too hot, I’ll add a second intake vent to the front.

Here I have everything cut out.

Now I just need to work out the bluetooth aux input.  Once I do that, I’ll be ready to proceed further.  But thats still a few weeks out.  Stay tuned!