Thread: small self powered audio players?

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So after 2011's yard haunt, I realized that what I needed to do was to have small audio players setup throughout the cemetery, rather than running yards upon yards of speaker wire, etc.

Does anyone know of anything like this? I'm thinking it's just a small, self powered, mp3 based audio "circuit" with a built in amplifier that I can place at various locations in my graveyard.

Also, it'd be nice if it were Mac OS compatible.

Cheap compact disk player or mp3 player powered with an adapter, not batteries. I learned that one the hard way last year. Powered computer speakers. You can get rca extension cable to give your speakers more distance to set them up wherever. Set the track on repeat- all set.

Dan

Don't know about the Mac OS compatibility, but these look good for the price:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...-READER/1.html

Originally Posted by Otaku

Don't know about the Mac OS compatibility, but these look good for the price:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...-READER/1.html

Have you tried hacking the play button on one of these?

I have tried both mp3 players and various speaked options. To me the cheapest easiest best sound comes from small am/fm/cd players. They have built in speakers usually run of batteries or a cord and can be bought very cheap new or used. Just burn a disc hit repeat and stick them any where you need sound or hide inside a fake rock or behind a tombstone.

Yeah, the one thing I'm trying to get away from is having to have these players plugged in. I'd like to be able to run them off batteries if possible.

My setup last year was a handful of mp3 players running through motorcycle radio amplifiers, then long lengths of stereo cable run into the graveyard connected to small speakers. The issue I ran into was that the cables act like antennas and so the audio quality wasn't that great.

I usually use a cheap iPod Nano knockoff from ebay for area sound FX, most of which use a micro sd card.





They are easily hackable. In fact, I'm using one in my obelisk project for ambient sounds.









^pardon my monster mud

For amplification, I use either a decent quality set of 2.1 computer speakers (very cheap to acquire at yard sales or thrift stores). Or if I need a little more power, I have a few Dayton Audio 15 wpc class T barebones amp kits. I'd say that asking for a battery powered amp to carry playback duty over several hours at high volume is a little too ambitious. Unless one is using motorcycle or car batteries for the power source.

Originally Posted by Halstaff

Have you tried hacking the play button on one of these?

Not yet. The info in the AE reviews say something about "press and hold" to start playback, like those $5 MP3 players that used to be available. That's a problem, because it's difficult to simulate electronically. Not impossible, just tedious. These players would probably be best used for looping ambient sound. Someone found a link that shows the teardown of this player so you can get a look at the guts.

http://anythingbutipod.com/2008/10/s...player-review/

If you are wanting the whole yard to sound the same then try wireless speakers. It is what I used last year. I connected something similar to these http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ITEC-WIR...item2ebb606fff to my radio and had about 4 speakers thru the yard and the speakers can be powered by batteries or power cord.

Yeah, the one thing I'm trying to get away from is having to have these players plugged in. I'd like to be able to run them off batteries if possible.

My opinion, big mistake. I tried running my cd players on batteries last year. They ran dead on me and got finiky in repeat mode. Never again. I'll never trust any audio to batteries. Whatever the player, plug it in. This is assuming that your audio is an important part of your haunt. If it's not a huge priority or you don't mind possible battery swaps, go for it. For me, I've worked to get to a point where bare minimum is battery operated. I want my haunt to power up and not have to babysit the mechanics of it. The only thing I do is keep an eye on the foggers for juice and that's only one top off half way through. Other than that, I'm free to relax and do some scaring, have a bite to eat, mingle, hand out candy, maybe a costume change- whatever I want. The haunt is power by electricity and on auto pilot. And this year, that will include the cd players as well. Good luck.

Dan