Suitcase stereo?

I have a Creepy Van that I use to haul bikes in occasionally. It has an aftermarket stereo that gets basically one channel. Luckily, it's a good Oldies station and sorta suits the van.
However, I can hear the RH speaker or the LH speaker....there is no fade or balance here. And the old Chevy's have molded grills in the dash. You damn near have to take the van apart to get to the speakers.

There's plenty of room between the front seats. I want to take an old suitcase (or cooler) and make a boom-box.

I'm thinking a couple of speakers should be fine, some type of amp, and an input for my phone, Sirius radio or Kindle as the music source.
Here's where it gets a little tricky: I'd also like to be able to take the case out of the can and plug it into a 12V outlet....for hotels, campsites, etc.
While it's in the van, I'd like to use the cigarette lighter to power it.

So....would I need some type of inverter to do that or ?????

Hell yeah. That sounds like a cool idea

Power wise the majority of amps run on 12-36V DC power.
Your van puts out about 14V to the cigarette lighter so you would be good there. You might need to make an adapter to plug it in although there is probably a commercial version as well.

Powering it in the house you will just need the "wall wart" that comes with the amp. It will convert your home 120V ac into whatever voltage DC your amp requires.

go to partsexpress.com to get your parts, best prices and their Dayton Audio line is great stuff.

Speaker building is a complex science its not just toss some speakers in a box and it sounds good. Plan to spend a lot of time learning/experimenting/replacing/rewiring/etc

If you want a simple system thats pretty fool proof, grab this amp:
http://www.parts-express.com/lepai-21-2x40w-mini-amplifier-1x68w-sub-output--310-308

and then you'll need:
2 Full range speakers of your choice
1 subwoofer of your choice.
Both should be rated to the RMS output of the amplifier.
You will also need a low pass filter for the subwoofer, as the one on the amp is garbage. 100-200 hz should do.

Ideally you would put high pass filters on the speakers as well, but if you get full range speakers this isnt strictly necessary.



You can also skip the sub all together and just use the full ranges.

If you have questions I'm happy to help, just post up here or PM me.
(I am designing a line of bluetooth speakers currently so I'm pretty well versed on small independent speaker systems at the moment)

I built a cooler radio for floating a couple summers ago. It was super easy and there are bunch of how-to sites out there. Your plan would be easier since you don't need to include the battery.

I was chatting with a friend last night who's built similar things. He also recommended the Lepai amp, although a smaller one.

http://www.parts-express.com/lepai-lp-2020a-tripath-class-t-hi-fi-audio-mini-amplifier-without-power-supply--310-301?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla

Heck, for the price, I'll go with the bigger one!

Would a set of 6X9's or any other decent car stereo speakers work?

I have a ton of the 2020 amps. THey sound great below 1/2 volume but above that they sound like utter shit and clip like crazy. I am not a fan.
If they would have just had the volume knob stop at half it would be a good 10w/channel amp. But advertizing it as a 20w/channel that clips horribly above 10w is just dumb.

Yep a set of 6x9 full range would do nicely. The extra size will give you a little extra bass if you aren't going with a subwoofer as well.

If you're comfortable with wiring and controlling the volume with your input device, I would go with one of these:
http://www.parts-express.com/2x25w-at-4-ohm-tda7492-class-d-audio-amplifier-board-only--320-332

It should run off your car battery at 14V

You will also need a power supply for in the house usage, which you probably already have, an old laptop power supply should do the job here.

Run your speakers at the lowest OHM rating of the amp to get the most volume/power from the amp.
So for that one you'd want 4 ohm speakers.

I have seen some portable guitar amps built into suitcases, and they look cool. 8)
I would assume that they need some support structure inside.

You can buy one already made, if you're so inclined. http://theboomcase.com
Makezine came out with an article last year that shows how to do it, too. http://makezine.com/2013/05/13/build-a-boomcase-and-upcycle-that-old-suitcase/...
... and the van, I love it. My first vehicle after high school was a 78 with exactly the same window and body style. It had the full custom interior that my parents had done when they bought it new.