Any experts know about modding the Makita DAB site radio ?

[stevewestern]

The Makita site radio is wonderful in many ways, but sound quality is not one of them - all boomy and flabby bass.

YouTube shows a few hacks to upgrade it, but I have no skills in that area so want to find someone who knows a bit about sound quality, and also who might be interested in doing this for me - obviously I am not looking for a freebie. I guess what is needed is to upgrade the speakers, maybe add some tweeters and if needed an amp, though not for added volume, but speaker control.
So, who do I approach - a car stereo installer maybe, or a local electrical repair shop or ...?
Any ideas ?

[steviejoiner74]

I'm mainly a dewalt person,I have the dewalt radio and a plumber beside us had the makita one going for a few days and I liked the bass on it,way better than the dewalt IMO in sound quality,reception and I love the big bass sound!

[stevewestern]

We may share a name, but we all have different ears Steve !
I used to be a big HiFi nut and got to like a tight lean bass rather than a big boomy one - reminds me too much of the wife..!

[kellys_eye]

Got a link to the upgrade(s)?

Not sure making such changes would be worthwhile for the environment it's to be used in though

[Someone-Else]

Not wishing to state the obvious but just because its on YT does not mean its 100% true.
As for who to ask to do the job, I have to say how much do you suppose it will cost? It will require a new case? or neat modifications, + new speakers + time to do the job. I am trying to say it will probably cheaper for you to buy a different radio. (You can get a Makita one for £110) Or, you could watch the YT clips again and YOU do the job, and ask here if you get into difficulty.

[stevewestern]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lculYJrMGAU

http://forums.finehomebuilding.com/brea ... site-radio

https://hackaday.io/project/5762-makita ... dification

A few links here, I can't find the others I looked at..
However, they did make me start to think about the sound quality of the Makita, and the idea of a pair of better quality speaker units and maybe some tweeters sound interested - as for cost - I've got no real idea, but if it resulted in a decent sound improvement then I would be happy to listen to suggestions - after all, it is on for 10-12 hours a day when I am working so has to be worth splashing out on. A new one is about £110 so adding that to the cost of my current one isn't too much I guess..

As for doing it myself - I have never used a soldering iron and never fiddled with anything like this so would feel unhappy without a guiding hand.
My working environment is usually fairly quiet a lot of the time and it would make painting a lot more fun !

[kellys_eye]

Increasing the output power will necessarily reduce the time it can operate on batteries. If that's not an issue, due to keeping it powered via the mains supply, then the sky's your limit!

Without much in the way of experience you can take a car radio/stereo (with USB, MP3, Bluetooth, graphic equalizer, GPS if you want it!) and stick it in any old box that will take the speakers that come with it. Pop in a suitable 12V mains power pack and Robert's your mother's brother. Make the box with the universal car-stereo casing/socket and you can change out the units to your hearts content.

No soldering required (chocbloc all the way), quite possibly a lot cheaper than £110- specially if you get one second hand - and more functionality than you can shake a stick at. There are oodles of plastic and/or steel cases (toolboxes) out there ripe for modding i.e. cut a few holes in it - and there you have it. Case on wheels? Room for a car battery? Disco lights? Cocktail cabinet? Binoculars?

You'll probably have difficulty getting a system with LOW enough output, never mind high enough

[Someone-Else]

Now there is a brilliant idea.
You could sell the makita radio, and make a sound system to your choice all without soldering. (Although I would go down the make a wooden box route, no wheels as more to go wrong in the long run) Not sure about disco lights etc.

[stevewestern]

Increasing the output power will necessarily reduce the time it can operate on batteries. If that's not an issue, due to keeping it powered via the mains supply, then the sky's your limit!

Without much in the way of experience you can take a car radio/stereo (with USB, MP3, Bluetooth, graphic equalizer, GPS if you want it!) and stick it in any old box that will take the speakers that come with it. Pop in a suitable 12V mains power pack and Robert's your mother's brother. Make the box with the universal car-stereo casing/socket and you can change out the units to your hearts content.

No soldering required (chocbloc all the way), quite possibly a lot cheaper than £110- specially if you get one second hand - and more functionality than you can shake a stick at. There are oodles of plastic and/or steel cases (toolboxes) out there ripe for modding i.e. cut a few holes in it - and there you have it. Case on wheels? Room for a car battery? Disco lights? Cocktail cabinet? Binoculars?

You'll probably have difficulty getting a system with LOW enough output, never mind high enough

Blimey - sometimes the obvious answer is just so hard to find...
Thats so obvious but I hadn't thought of it.
Thank you !
So, any suggestions as to a decent set-up ?

[fin]

theres a few different makita models and some are the head boxing bass and some arent apparently. a sparky i know has the annoying makita one. it is seriously head doing. its annoying after a short while. even at low volumes its annoying.

[stevewestern]

theres a few different makita models and some are the head boxing bass and some arent apparently. a sparky i know has the annoying makita one. it is seriously head doing. its annoying after a short while. even at low volumes its annoying.

I have the DAB model, and from your description, it sounds like one of the annoying sort..

This is it -

http://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dmr104 ... 240v/4923f

What little I know about siting speakers prone to booming is that they sound better when not close to the floor or in a corner - I imagine that is where most get placed !
I have tried putting mine on top of my dust extractor which is far from ideal and it helps to some extent.

[fin]

the sparky last time he ws on for us banged it in the middle of the room. it had everyones head done in by dinner time apart from his like.

a tiler i know has the same one and his does it too.

[ayjay]

Here's the best mod for any radio on site.

sledgehammer.jpg (250.01 KiB) Viewed 18311 times

[fin]

actually... was on the verge of thumping one of the labourers today..

Paul.... i need my radio

paul.... when can i have my radio

paul...... i cant work without my radio

paul......... im borred....

paul

paul

paul

paul

paul

f*ck sake... done my head right in coz the sparky was 2nd fixing...

[Job and Knock]

I'm "happy" to say that I work where radios (and headphones) are banned. Imagine that!