The sound? - insane, incredibly clear, good timbral reproduction and a sharp, crisp sound. It would be interesting to hear them with a sub - I tried "bassoutlaws" and, not surprising it was a dead loss. The video posted by Euvl showed a peak, dip and peak around 3,000 Hz probably caused by the sound bouncing of the back, 3cm away from the back of the speakers, I could hear this in the original speakers, but the foam and cotton wool have removed that. As original, they sounded very good for their tiny price; now they're in a different league. I might try the amp with bigger speakers to see what it can do.
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Whilst I am very impressed by the sound of these drivers, I do find them a bit "beamy" (they seem so sound best pointing 90deg outwards) so I have decided to make some wide dispersion speakers loosely inspired by some B&O speakers, and partly because I found some cardboard tube to make them from.
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I've been playing around with my cardboard tube speakers, and I'm quite taken aback at how much bass such tiny drivers are capable of. Initially I tried them with just one driver in each tube; I was intending on using a second driver inside, in a bandpass "sub" in the lower 2/3rds of the tube, but I was so impressed by the taught bouncy nature of the bass, I decided to use the second just as a sealed box sub. The wide dispersion deflector works quite well, the sound is very clear, uncoloured and detailed. I tried painting the cardboard tube with cheap PVA glue to harden it, but the cheap PVA glue doesn't seem to have much "glue" to it, so I might try again with anouther PVA.
The do a decent job of Kraftwerk, even a half decent attempt at Bassoutlaws - even if half of it is missing.
I will tinker with them some more and post some more pics.
I'm currently using a TDA 2822 amp to drive them, that's modified from a computer speaker rescued from recycling, so together with the cardboard tube found by bins, and the MDF salvaged from some packing, they haven't cost me much.
The do a decent job of Kraftwerk, even a half decent attempt at Bassoutlaws - even if half of it is missing.
I will tinker with them some more and post some more pics.
I'm currently using a TDA 2822 amp to drive them, that's modified from a computer speaker rescued from recycling, so together with the cardboard tube found by bins, and the MDF salvaged from some packing, they haven't cost me much.
I've been listening to my cardboard tube speakers for a while, using streaming services, today I thought I would plug a CD player in and the sound was improved even more; very crisp, detailed and engaging. It's quite embarrassing just how good such cheap, simple speakers sound. There isn't deep bass, but there is enough for the music. I think the placement on the desk helps the bass a lot, that's the only way I can explain how good the bass is from such tiny drivers.
Fast tight bass from sealed cylinder right? If you want to try for TL deeper clear bass, just "bi-fold" the tube with a vertical strip divider and cut an exit. Tri-fold even better!
I was thinking of using another smaller tube inside, perhaps even a third, but I'm currently using a driver at the top, and a second in the base, an arrangement difficult to use in a transmission line . I'm so happy with how they sound now, I'm not sure I want to risk making them worse by experimenting. I've still got a decent length of cardboard tube left, and just bought a pair of 3 inch paper drivers, and replacement dome dust caps to turn them into edge driven inverted domes to try the principle of the wide dispersion deflector on a slightly larger scale, perhaps I'll try a transmission line with them.
Today I tried the tiny amp that came with the speakers again, with the cardboard tube speakers; it does seem to begin to distort at higher volumes more than the TDA 2822, but it was a lower supply voltage so that's understandable, it also seems curtailed in the bass, I think it has a low value capacitor to reduce the bass, which is sensible considering the speakers it comes with, so not a criticism, more an observation. Having said that, it does sound really good; the TDA sounds perfectly fine, however listening to the supplied amp reveals it has a "fuzzy" quality in comparison, the supplied amp sounds very clear and realistic. I'm considering adding a small chip amp to drive a sub, and using the supplied amp to drive the cardboard tube speakers permanently.
I just bought the speakers, and played around with them just as bit of fun, but in the process, I've had to reappaise a lot of what I thought I knew about HiFi.
I just bought the speakers, and played around with them just as bit of fun, but in the process, I've had to reappaise a lot of what I thought I knew about HiFi.
I was asked about the extrusion case :
https://www.fischerelektronik.de/web_fischer/en_GB/cases/M1.07/Miniature aluminium casing/VA/AKG5524100ME/index.xhtml
Excellent German quality.
Does has its price.
Patrick
https://www.fischerelektronik.de/web_fischer/en_GB/cases/M1.07/Miniature aluminium casing/VA/AKG5524100ME/index.xhtml
Excellent German quality.
Does has its price.
Patrick
With the TDA7266, we know that the drivers are loud enough even with 5V supply.
That means USB power is sufficient.
We do not want to use those cheap amps provided with the speakers.
So we built our own PAM8406 to suit our own needs.
It is housed in a small 3D printed box, with an aluminium plate on top.
A flexible thermal pad helps to transfer heat from the IC to the aluminium cover, acting as heatsink.
The USB power is LC filtered (on the bottom side of the PCB), separately for each channel.
As it is meant to be used with computer / laptop, (digital) volume control is at the source, and not with pots.
Patrick
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That means USB power is sufficient.
We do not want to use those cheap amps provided with the speakers.
So we built our own PAM8406 to suit our own needs.
It is housed in a small 3D printed box, with an aluminium plate on top.
A flexible thermal pad helps to transfer heat from the IC to the aluminium cover, acting as heatsink.
The USB power is LC filtered (on the bottom side of the PCB), separately for each channel.
As it is meant to be used with computer / laptop, (digital) volume control is at the source, and not with pots.
Patrick
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