Whats the smallest speaker and cabinet for a 'reasonable' sound ?

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I mentioned the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 3 before, now I add pictures.
Let us be honest, most teenage girls will prefer something sculpted like this that sounds okay and that esp wirelessly connects to their phone to a box that their dads glued together.

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You can even setup a pair for stereo.
 
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I mentioned the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 3 before, now I add pictures.
Let us be honest, most teenage girls will prefer something sculpted like this that sounds okay and that esp wirelessly connects to their phone to a box that their dads glued together.

I hear what you are saying, but this daughter disagrees - her dad is cool, makes fab stuff and has the best glue in the world.

True.
 
Haha, Nice!,

I had the same situation on hand, A dauchter moving out to study elsewhere.

Initially I had already made here a pair of small 2,6 liters powered speakers. They were really cheap (Visaton FR 10-4ohm) but they did sound already quite good. There was a TA2024 amplfier build in. Ported design did bring the lows to about 65Hz. That was years before she moved out though but she did take them with her when she went out.

When she moved out I made her a small bluetooth boombox with two hivi B3S which was rechargable battery operated. This was really small so bass was limited but they did sound good.

A few months before christmass I asked here if she would like something better. First question was "how big"? so I described a good monitor size (17 cm wide, 25 cm deep and 29 cm high) made from solid beech. She liked the idea. I've matched it with a YJ TPA 3116 BT 2.1amp. When they where ready she was delighted.

Even worse: she took my small 8"subwoofer with it. Not all girls are the same.

If it has to be small than the earlier suggested Bantam might be a very nice one. I was already thinking about something like that for myself as new desk speakers for a larger room.
There is an alternative design here on diyaudio with the same Dayton ND91-4 midwoof and a tiny Dayton ND16A tweeter that seems to be really good sounding. That design is ported design and not with a passive radiator so cost should be lower. Fits in 1,5 liters or slightly more and goes down to about 60 Hz or so
 
All of the suggestions above are very good - even the powered Bluetooth HK speaker which I've heard and was impressed with. The speaker I built for my son is far from beautiful but it pumps out bass for his dormroom. He loves it. I am going to try refining the design (which we cooled together using parts I had on hand in the garage, including the cabinet, except for the very nice Eminence 8" woofer).
 

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While this project may take a while to get started the first bit of news is that I've found a dealer in Holland who can ship Dayton Audio to the UK - no idea what delivery costs will be like, but given that we don't have Parts Express here its as good as it gets.
Why do you Americans get all the breaks ?

https://loudspeakerfreaks.com/intro.asp

I have often wished I could live in America - not just since I became a father..
 
The Dayton Audio site here:

Dayton Audio Dayton Audio - Where to Buy

Led to this source in Europe:

https://www.intertechnik.com/Shop/Loudspeakers/Dayton/Dayton-Fullrange/1768,en,7055

They seem to have Fountek also.

No idea about the quality of customer service though.

Edit: Parts-Express does international shipments - have you checked the rates?
Again, many thanks !
Parts Express do international shipping, but they don't include the UK on their list of places - I will contact them to ask when things get serious, and will do the same for intertechnik too.
 
I envy our U.S. colleagues and their huge driver selection, and cheap. Monacor and Faital are the easiest drivers to source in the U.K.
I am presently making a speaker using Faital Pro 3FE25 full range drivers in ikea Variera 24x17cm bamboo boxes. With damping panels on the walls the volume is about right for a ported box tuned to 63 Hz. The prototype sounded amazingly good, but obviously will not go loud. Sourcing tubing of approx 25 mm internal diameter for the port has been the only difficult bit.
 
Oh Dear.
It'll take me a while to wade through that thread, but the amount of pages is maybe enough warning.
Maybe I should move to America !

What a shame - might need to think again...

Thanks very much for the warning though zman.

I would say it's a case of expectation management. I think most people get/got their stuff eventually. I ordered tweeters and they arrived quite promptly and I could track their progress.

Not sure I could live with the stress if I tried ordering £xxx's worth from them and it all went dark on me though.

J.
 
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