Travelling speakers

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Yesterday I tried a pair of small Logitech PC speakers with my 50" LED TV, to see if they provided an improvement on the internal TV speakers. And there was not.

So I started thinking if it's worth it devising a set of smallish speakers, using full-range small drivers, powered by an also small eBay power amp and housed on a plastic box, a kitchen type perhaps or similar.

Something you could carry around when traveling. It can't be too heavy or big, as it should fit easily inside a traveling bag.

Any suggestions?
 
I can't imagine those drivers would do much better than the ones in the Logitechs you already tried, and even so they wouldn't be very loud at all with the rated 3W output. A good option might be a .4x scale Karlsonator with whatever 3" driver is most readily available for you. I've built a pair with the FaitalPro 3fe25 8ohm drivers and have been constantly surprised that so much sound comes out of such a small space:
Mini Karlsonator (0.53X) with Dual TC9FD's
Might be a bit bigger than you really want, but you could hold them together with velcro or something similar, have all the electronics in one and have the other function as a sort of satellite that's seen with many powered speakers. Foamcore provides a lot of benefits for ease of working and transportation, but maybe not so great in the durability department. It's got trade-offs, but I have to say the ability to build a pair after work in an evening is quite an attractive aspect. And if it doesn't work out, the only thing you lose is time, and even then not much of it.
 
So I started thinking if it's worth it devising a set of smallish speakers, using full-range small drivers, powered by an also small eBay power amp and housed on a plastic box, a kitchen type perhaps or similar.

Nope.

You won't be able to beat the price and the sound coming from little commercial portable speakers. Spend the $100-300 on a portable bluetooth unit and enjoy.

PS. It's just weird to me that people get big 50" TV for the image and expect big sound from 2" drivers.
 
Nope.

You won't be able to beat the price and the sound coming from little commercial portable speakers. Spend the $100-300 on a portable bluetooth unit and enjoy.

PS. It's just weird to me that people get big 50" TV for the image and expect big sound from 2" drivers.

Apparently you misunderstood my purpose for these speakers.

They are meant for traveling, as on the places I get to sometimes you have a large TV just with internal speakers, and the sound is poor.

Of course that at home I use large high quality speakers and amplification, and I certainly wouldn't use those small speakers there.

You may not know, but all recording studios have a pair of small speakers over their consoles, and play the mixings on them at the end, to have an idea on how the audio will sound on a car or similar. The drivers are small and the sound is good.

The major problem is the box, really, I think.
 
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
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I have uMar-Ken6 i use for travelling speakers. With a small class D amplifier and iPod/iPhone/lsptop as source. It all fits into a haliburton briefcase. The shallow design (driven by the large bezel size) is nice for fitting them in the briefcase.

255018d1323926065-minionken-fonken-picture-gallery-umarken6-teg-comp-jpg


dave
 
I have uMar-Ken6 i use for travelling speakers. With a small class D amplifier and iPod/iPhone/lsptop as source. It all fits into a haliburton briefcase. The shallow design (driven by the large bezel size) is nice for fitting them in the briefcase.

Dave,

uMar-Ken6 are the drivers or the loudspeakers?

Pretty awesome!

But it seems they need a much larger box that I can afford to shine.

Carlos
 
Apparently you misunderstood my purpose for these speakers.

They are meant for traveling, as on the places I get to sometimes you have a large TV just with internal speakers, and the sound is poor.

Of course that at home I use large high quality speakers and amplification, and I certainly wouldn't use those small speakers there.

You may not know, but all recording studios have a pair of small speakers over their consoles, and play the mixings on them at the end, to have an idea on how the audio will sound on a car or similar. The drivers are small and the sound is good.

The major problem is the box, really, I think.

I know about mixing... done some in my time and yes, we would actually bring the mix to the car radio to check it.

Then, I'll say it again, you will not beat portability and sound with any kind of DIY you can come up with.

I have a friend who has the Bose Soundlink Mini, and it would probably do well in your case, or something similar.

Easy to go to a store and have a listen.
 
Those Bluetooth speakers all have a DSP on board and are tuned using measuring gear (calibrated microphone). The DSP is dynamic and adjusts bass based volume level. Unless you can do the same, you cannot beat them. Many of them can be connected to an audio source with a line in cable. Production in numbers makes their price lower than you can build it for.
 
One liter would probably be the largest. Remember the idea is to put the two speakers on the bag along with clothes and all.

Driver size is probably around 3", though of course most of them rely on a large box to extract some bass from them. Which is not possible in this case, and might demand active eq for extra bass. A parametric filter before the amp could work fine.

Budget might be $100 tops.
 
Yesterday I tried a pair of small Logitech PC speakers with my 50" LED TV, to see if they provided an improvement on the internal TV speakers. And there was not.

So I started thinking if it's worth it devising a set of smallish speakers, using full-range small drivers, powered by an also small eBay power amp and housed on a plastic box, a kitchen type perhaps or similar.

Something you could carry around when traveling. It can't be too heavy or big, as it should fit easily inside a traveling bag.

Any suggestions?

Ok irmão, then go measure your travelling bag and tell us what is the acceptable size :)

Consider a pure rectangular cabinet (which you can build) and not a plastic rounded edges one (which you can not) which makes it a little more difficult to fit inside a travelling bag.

No, "Tupperware" type plastic food containers are not suitable for this (I tried) , walls are too thin, too flexible, not braced, and vibrate way too much: unusable .

If anything, plastic tool cases are better, (I tried), and worst case they don´t need a bag for transport, they are self contained and even have carrying handles :cool:
91a5vfXMn9L._SX450_.jpg

maybe you find a size where 2 of them fit inside your bag, but in any case we need your data to be able to answer.

I bet a couple such cases, sporting, say, a 4" or even 5" full range speaker, and one housing, say, a 30+30 to 60+60W amplifier, maybe Class D and with an SMPS supply to save weight, will be immensely better than those 2" TV speakers, any day of the week.

I have built small Guitar and Voice amplifiers inside such cases (as well as powered mixers to be used with external speakers) for travelling Musicians, even with built in rechargeabla battery for street/subway performers, go figure.

Or you can build a lightweight box, any size you want, out of 12mm plywood, even down to 9mm if you are (or can get) a somewhat skilled carpenter.
 
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