How about this? Carrying the Megavox, or any other portable soundset, with an internal battery will always be troublesome due to its weight. Especially long harinams or Ratha Yatras take a toll on the carrier of the sound set. You could put the sound set on a wheeled cart, or in my case on your back to make it more comfortable. I still haven’t decided what is a more convenient; a cart or a back carrier…

But i set out to mount the sound set on the back. I needed a sturdy rucksack or something else to serve as a basis. I decided that a baby carrier (with a metal racking) would be the best for my purposes. I bought a second hand baby carrier (Hema Rugdrager) and took it apart so i was left with only the backside. Sorry for the baby

The Ingredients

• 1 Megavox or any sound set (35 mm hole)
• 1 baby carrier
• 35 mm tubing
• 1 extra 12V lead-gel batterij
• wiring, switch + plugs
• nuts & bolts and metal plates
• two creative hands and lots of tools

Creating the contraption
The Megavox has a standard speaker mount hole of 35 mm, so i needed a tube of 35 mm to mount on the baby carrier. I found this in a local vacuum cleaner shop. They sell tubing of 35 mm width and 500mm long. I bought 2 pieces that fitted together and attached it to the baby carrier. Since the tubing would need to hold the weight of the megavox (6.9 kg incl battery) i made sure it was connected securely. The bottom end rests on the baby carrier and is secured by a bolt. The upper part was fixed with one large bolt and a metal screw. The tube was fixed in a slight angle compared to the baby carrier. In that way the weight will be properly balanced when the sound set is mounted on top. (Something that proved to be very necessary!).

On the bottom of the baby carrier i fixed a metal plate. On top of this “platform” will be the battery compartment mounted. The Megavox has an internal battery, but i decided to take it out to decrease the weight and to stabilize the contraption. I’m adding also a 2nd battery to increase the playing time, and this battery does not fit in the megavox. The weight of both batteries (3+ kg) will be a counterweight to the megavox on top. From some scrap metal i made a metal housing for the batteries and mounted a battery switch. Electric wiring was put inside the tube up to the megavox. Here you can see the wires from the tube and from the megavox. I did not drill a hole in the megavox. When the screws from the metal battery retainer are removed (see our battery replacement article) you can use these holes for the wiring.

I removed the internal battery from the megavox. To keep all the wires original and intact i connected the extra wire to the internal battery wire as you can see from the photos. This extra wire leads outside of the megavox and has a plug to connect to the carrier down to the battery compartment. Since i did not change any of the original wiring i can charge both batteries simply by using the battery switch. When i don’t use the carrier i can reinstall the internal battery and remove the extra wiring easily to restore it. In that way i don’t mess with the 6-year warranty that comes with the megavox.

The first time i put on the carrier i still had the internal battery inside the megavox. It was very unstable and i tended to tumble over with the megavox. Since the megavox is mounted on the tube using only the speaker stand mount hole i was afraid that it might pop out. So i secured the megavox with a big bolt. For this i needed to drill a hole in the base of the megavox. This is the only adjustment i had to make. I don’t think it will void the warranty.

After the first try i decided to take the internal battery out. With the batteries on the bottom of the carrier the contraption was more stable. The carrier needs to be strapped tightly around the waists and upper back to improve the stability. The whole weight will be held by the waists, as it should, so your back will be spared. After tightening it to my back i tried it again. It has quite some weight but i think it will OK. Although it looks quite silly i think it will serve its purpose on queensday. I don’t think this is suited for a smaller harinam! The megavox might also be too loud for that. We don’t want the police to stop us!

Field tests @ Queensday harinam
During Queensday i had the opportunity to test my contraption. As you can see from the photos the contraption worked very well. I discovered a design flaw. The battery switch is mounted on the outside of the casing. So a few smart people pushed the switch to turn the sound off. So next time i will remove the switch or cover it properly. Secondly some drunk guy try to stop me during harinam. He grabbed the contraption by the metal tubing. I must say that he could have easily pulled me down to the street since the contraption is already heavy (around 12 kg). So better not be around angry and drunk people

I walked around with this thing for 3-4 hours and it was a heavy toll on my back. Be sure to share the burden and ask others to also carry it around for some time. The following three days i had some serious back problems.  But then again, i am quite a thin guy.

And also be sure to wear earplugs!!!! The megavox is very close to your poor ears..

I was happy to attend the Ratha Yatra Festival in Dublin last sunday the 13th of Sep. I visited Dublin for a “tourist” tour and was suprised to find out a Ratha Yatra was planned. Amazing mercy from Krishna. The Ratha Yatra Festival in Dublin starts at Parnell Square and ends at the Park @ Stephens Green. The festival was wonderful with Mahavisnu Swami and many others. I made some photos, particulary from the soundsystem they used. The sound was not placed on the festival cart but was placed on a stroller. It was running on a 12V big battery. They used a 12V – 220 V converter to power a powered speaker and probably a wireless system. The singer was using a wireless headset so i presumed it was also mounted on the stroller.

Overall it looked like a nice contraption. The sound was clear but since it was mounted on a cart and very close to the ground the sound did not travel far. The music party moved sometimes quite far from the cart and then you could not hear the chanting anymore. Also people who were pulling the cart were not singing that much because of that. I suggest that the Dublin Rath organization could place the sound system on top of the cart in the future. In that way everybody can hear the chanting and will sing along. The big cart has enough place to store the soundsystem so that is no obstacle. Or they might consider buying the Megavox portable sound system!!!

In 2008 i reviewed the Anchor Audio Megavox Portable Soundset. Because our traditional Queensday Harinam in Amsterdam is about to happen again on april 30th i was pondering how to extend the battery life of this sound set. Although the battery life is already excellent (almost 6 hours, volume 50%) i needed more. The harinam lasts at least 8 hours so i need some extra juice. You can read my coming article about that soon.

If the internal battery is getting older and the capacity has decreased you could change it. The battery inside the megavox has the following specs according to Anchor : 12 V 5.4 Amp (Leoch DJW-12). But when i opened the megavox there was a different battery inside : PowerSonic PSH-1255F2-FR, 12 V 6.0 Amp (www.power-sonic.com). The dimensions are the same with 90x70x102 mm (HxWxD).

Anchor created a nice guide to replace the battery yourself. You can visit their  blog or watch the slideshow.  I have listed the necessary steps below with photos.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 7

Step 7

Step 8

(Copyright Anchor Audio)

Harinam is great. And singing a harinam is very nice, but we need some form of sound amplification otherwise the devotees in the harinam group cannot hear the singer. So we need a portable soundsystem on batteries. I saw many harinam sound systems, either DYI or simple guitar amplifiers, and they all have their strong/weak points. When we needed to buy some sound system for our anual mega harinam party during Queensday in Amsterdam, i compiled a list of systems that caught my attention.

In the end i bought the Megavox Pro, and our harinam party was a great succes. This sound system is LOUD, and it lasted 6.5 hours. Next year i will need a spare because our harinam continued for 2.5 hours more…. . The megavox has a nice handle to hold it steady, but it is heavy… Ouch, my shoulder still hurts.  So here i present the systems that i considered.

What i wanted

• Not too heavy (less then 7 kg)
• Wireless receiver/microphone
• Battery life 3 hours or more (at high volume)

List of system that i considered buying

1. Megavox Pro
2. Monacor TXA-110
3. Mipro MA-101a
4. Chiayo Focus 500

List of systems that did not quite make it…

• Chiayo Smart 300 (too small for big audiences)
• mipro 705 (Heavy and expensive.)
• Monacor TXA-800 (too heavy)
• Monacor TXA-500 (too heavy)
• Pyle Pro PWMA600 (9 Volt batteries. Non standard)
• Crate Taxi TX15 (too heavy. Heard some negative remarks about battery life)
• Roland Cube Street
• Behringer EPA40 (too cheapy plastic)
• Minivox / Minivox Lite

1. Megavox Pro

Read our in-depth review

The Megavox is build with a Horn type speaker. This means that the sound is loud and clear. Good for speach, but less for singing, although it still sounds goods. The megavox is used for example on the New York Ratha Yatra and does a good job there. The Megavox can be used with a wireless microphone option. The battery lasts at least 6 hours (volume half way – and that is loud!!). The battery cannot be changed easily (without unscrewing the backside). You can connect upto 2 (wireless) microphones and other things like CD-players etc.

We bought the megavox after some consideration. It is very expensive in Europe compared to the US (with this weak dollar). Read our review for details.
Anchor Audio website

2. Monacor TXA-110

New nice looking sound set introduced in apr 2008. Only 4.2 kg. Looks nicely build and of easy use, although i dont have experience with this thing. The battery (lead-gel) can be changed easily during harinam. Standard lead gel battery should fit. Monacor sells spare batteries but these are quite expensive. The wireless microphone is optional, but the receiver is built into the machine. You get a nice carrying bag for free with this set. I was seriously considering this system. It will be sufficient for a smaller harinam group. But since i needed a system for a big harinam group of 70+ devotees, i chose for the megavox.
Monacor website

3. Mipro MA-101a

Indeed does look a lot like the TXA-110, or is it the other way around ? Also peavey used to sell a portable PA that looks a lot like the mipro. Probably this thing is produced by some local Taiwanese? manufacturer and gets rebranded. Then why is the mipro so damn expensive ??? (found this online for $450. In the Netherlands this baby is 327 euro, excl mic)

This candidate was hard to get in Holland, and expensive compared to the Monacor TXA-110. so i dropped this in favor of the monacor.
Mipro Website

4. Chiayo Focus 500

I was considering this machine as it looked like it is decent quality and comes in a carryable bag with sound mesh. I dropped this in the end due to unavailability in Holland. The price i could find in Holland was 550 euro incl wireless microphone. This was a reasonable price, but since i couldnt buy it, i let it go. Also the audio controls (like volume) are on the back of this system. A bit clumsy when this system is strapped on your back. The battery is easily replaceable. A nice feature is that you can plug in a USB stick. The MP3 player will read the USB stick and play your music.. Cool..
Chiayo Website

The other systems that did not make it…

* Chiayo Smart 300

It looks nice and small, but i considered it too small. It has only 10  Watt, 4 inch speaker. That might not be enough for outside. Considering the battery type, it might run more then 6 hours depending on how loud you turn it.

* Mipro 705

Looks very sturdy and of a good built quality, but it is also very expensive. Without a microphone this thing costs 570 euro. It is also 10 kg because it has 2 batteries inside. This might be a good solution for inside the temple, or other gatherings. Not a harinam.

* Monacor TXA-800 and TXA-500

Although they have a nice trolley, so taking these systems is easy, they were too heavy to consider. I have some experience with a previous model (302) but i found the battery too limited in time and the volume too low. Also the square model without handle makes it difficult to ‘handle’.

* Pyle Pro PWMA600

Very cheap system ( $200 ) but limited to a handheld wireless microphone. The battery is a (non-standard) 9 V type. This means you cannot easily get a replacement, and the battery time is limited.

* Crate Taxi TX15

I was considering this guitar amp for a while because it runs on a big battery. This amp is heavy with 10 kg. But the local music store here warned of problems with the battery life (being shorter then 3 hours). So i dropped this option. This amp does not have a wireless microphone option.

* Roland Cube Street

A new model that Roland introduced in 2008. It runs on 6 AA batteries. It is rated as a 5W system and it should run for 15 hrs (Probably at low volume). I found this link where devotees have used this system together with a wireless microphone for their harinam.

* Behringer EPA40

I actually had this in my hands and it is what it is. A cheap plastic sound gadget. The battery can be replaced, and it carries a standard lead-gel battery, so finding a replacement/spare is easy. But no wireless option, and overal i wonder if the sound will be any good. I think not. Maybe it is suited for inside, or a very small inside harinam?

* Anchor Audio Minivox / Minivox Lite

Although i knew these systems were around i was focussing on the Megavox as it suited our requirements more. But it might be an option for a smaller harinam. If the sound is like the megavox, then i have good hopes for it. Unfortunately i dont have experience with this machine. Read here the introduction of the Minivox Lite