Diminutive full-range on a beer budget needed.

[raypalmer]

My Father. Whom was once a HiFi guy. Now refuses to listen to anything but the speakers in his iMac, philistine I know...

So, for his birthday I want to whip him up a little something.


I'm going to do one of chipamp's LM1875 amps in some cute little aluminum boxes. And then I need:

A very cheap extended range bookshelf/desktop with a small footprint.

Very cheap.

I have searched extensively and noted the following:

#1 desktop TL with 3" driver (with real bass)
#2 My first build! MarkAudio CHR-70 in da house
#3 http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Solo103.html


But I have issues. #1 Is too deep, wouldn't work out on a desk that is up against a wall. #2 drivers are too expensive. #3 drivers are too expensive? I also looked at the micro and pico fonkens but I'm still gonna lay out like 100 for drivers and I'm on reduced hours at work right now so..... rather not.


Is there any obvious little speaker I'm missing? Preferably something that will get me down to 80Hz (or below) using a cheap-as-chips fullrange driver like a Peerless, HiVi or TB.

P.S.
-not have a rear-firing anything as it will be right up against a wall

[jallenbass]

http://www.zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker18.html

[Geek]

Regarding speaker #1, turn the box on it's end and mount the speaker on the thin side. Done!

Alternatively, there's some nice small ones here:
http://www.planet10-hifi.com/boxes.html

Cheers!

[planet10]

picoFonkens -- not been done yet.

uFonkens are quite good. CHR-70 is also good, but yes you are going to drop $70-80 for drivers (and a $100 more than that for the premium FF85KeN)

You want cheap, probably one of the 3" TandBands or the Aura or HiVi 3" (i have some used W3-871 if you are interested -- lots of boxes for those)

dave

[brsanko]

I modeled some nice pipes with the Hivi 3" and tb 1+2"s I still don't know if hornresp gives reliable results for pipes as I haven't tried any of them yet but I'll let you know. Tang band's 2" and 3" "subwoofers actually work quite well in tapped horn designs down to between 40 and 60hz. once again I haven't actually built them, but I've fooled around with hornresp and the published specs. I'm probably goning to buy some soon and start experimenting though.

[kristleifur]

Originally posted by Geek
Regarding speaker #1, turn the box on it's end and mount the speaker on the thin side. Done!

I can very much second this idea. (I've got the Omnes driver in a 6' BIB cabinet and I LOVE it. I can easily believe that this driver will go below 80Hz with ease in that cab.

[raypalmer]

Originally posted by kristleifur


I can very much second this idea. (I've got the Omnes driver in a 6' BIB cabinet and I LOVE it. I can easily believe that this driver will go below 80Hz with ease in that cab.

Well then #1 is the front-runner...

Question: Would option #3 work with a TB driver in lieu of the fostex?

[Michael Bean]

These look promising, but because they aren't magnetically shielded, probably can't be used near a CRT monitor.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=299-280

[loninappleton]

Originally posted by Michael Bean
These look promising, but because they aren't magnetically shielded, probably can't be used near a CRT monitor.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=299-280

I thought of these too since they are getting some play on the forum.

Could not the shielding be transferred to the box?

As someone who used to use near field open back boxes near the computer I have since preferred not having the speakers as close as a hearing aid. I don't use headphones either. This is editorializing but unless there is a need to be at ear height a few inches from the driver, a full room setup using a full range and even a small BIB would be preferred.

Little Onken/Fonkens like the Solo 103 or the Planet 10 things are interesting builds as well. But you can't beat the price of that one from India with a stick.

[raypalmer]

Originally posted by Michael Bean
These look promising, but because they aren't magnetically shielded, probably can't be used near a CRT monitor.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=299-280

So there's some positive feedback regarding these little ones? I may buy 6 of them, at that price why not right!! As for the placement of the speakers. I'm with you, desk-top is far too near field to be ideal. But the reasoning factors are:

-the computer is in the corner of a large room facing a wall
-my father has become a minimalist in his old age and likes small things