Parallel/series 2.1 cheapies minimal-space BT build

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freefall

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Joined 2010
#1
Hi, Noobiest noob in town here (apologies for language and format issues). I'm thinking about building something and I hope that you guys can point me in the right direction, after having a healthy laugh of course 😉. I'm thinking about building a very low-end system inside a very compact space, an Ikea shelf actually (approximately 2 inches or 5cm in height, although I imagine that building a customized unit wouldn't be too difficult). Since those are mostly hollowed (honeycomb construction) I thought about stashing there:
  1. A Bluetooth receiver,
  2. A low profile Lepai LP-838 2.1 amp,
  3. Some speakers (the amount of which I could use advice with),
  4. Power bricks,
  5. Cables,
  6. Some air for sound and cooling.
Since the shelf itself will be set under a wall-mounted tv, I thought about fixing several slender ovals at the front of the shelf for directional sound (such as the speakers found inside flat screen tv's for example, which can be had for peanuts), and a downwards facing woofer/s. From the sofa, the bottom of the shelf is hidden, therefore it can be designed, drilled and aerated as required. The purpose of this build is first and foremost to not burn the house down, secondly to have some fun and learn something new (while sidestepping the burning down of things), and lastly it will be nice to have a discrete bluetooth enabled amplified `audio center` that gives out better sound in terms of quality and volume than that of the tv set. Definitely not a surround system nor an audiophile's one. So...
  1. Might it be possible for speakers and woofers to function properly within such tight constraints at all?
  2. Might the Lepai properly drive, say... two 8 ohms 10W speakers per channel in parallel? (I'm hypothesizing that 6 speakers are better than 3, and that 3 cheapies just won't do for the living room).
  3. Should they be in parallel...?
All critique and word of advice are welcome 🙂
 
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#2
1. Yes. Example by Visaton: TABULA. Note that it cannot go loud.
2. Yes, usually these kind of amplifiers can handle 4 ohms.
3. If you have two identical 8 ohm speakers per channel, yes.
4. Depends on the electronics. If you use a certified power supply and keep it outside of the enclosure, you at least get rid of the 230V safety problems.

More speakers are not necessarily better.
 
#3
Never ever, not even once in my life have I had a original idea... and I'm quite appreciative of that now as a matter of fact. Thank you TBTL for the precise example... it's hardly something I believe I'd have found by myself without some difficulty... and I quite agree with you on your 4th point... thanks again!
 
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