Mini speaker - Japanese 100 Yen shop "Daiso" - 300 Yen speaker's modified model

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#101
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I've modified the AUDIOCORE speakers - added a 10,000 uf cap and resistor to the amp, and added fire retardant reticulated foam and a bit of cotton wool to the speaker enclosures. Because the 10,000 uf cap takes up so much space I used one enclosure just for the amp, as it was a very tight squeeze with the speaker magnet in there as well.
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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#109
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.
 
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#110
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.
 
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#112
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.
 
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#113
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.
 
#116
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I've covered the cardboard tubes with marble effect vinyl as I couldn't think of anything else to do with it, the two drivers are wired in series, with a 2.2uf capacitor in parallel with the one in the base, to boost the treble in the top driver above 10,000 Hz.
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