Uber portable speakers, any interest ?

I have come across some sick 2" full range drivers for a project i am working on, they are very very nice sounding and unbelievably weather proofed.

I am thinking of doing a small quick design for some uber portable speakers using them for putting in a bag and taking with you, would there be any interest in this at all ?

To be clear, these are not £5 drivers, even in quite bulky purchases they are up at around £30 each just for the driver, so we aren't talking a few bucks here.
I am not interested in making a ton of money off people, just gauging if it is worth the effort to get a custom amp board and cases designed to help out with a bit of nice uber mobile monitoring.

lets be clear before anybody jumps up and down and screams, these are 2" drivers, they are not going to tear down walls with thundering sub bass hahahahahaha.

FYI i started looking in to this while reading @huphtur thread and working on my current project with these drivers.

https://intua.net/forums/discussion/6920/huphtur-good-portable-speakers

Comments

  • Depending on final price and shipping details, I might be interested! You definately have me curious.

  • Final price will be about where you are, these drivers although british are cheaper in the states because of no VAT etc, so to be honest i am thinking a screw together kit would be the way to go, source the drivers yourself, this way the cost should be kept really low, and assembling should be clipping a few connectors to a PCB and screwing it all together, probably ten minutes per speaker lol.

    If somebody wanted a fully built unit, then the driver cost and heavier shipping comes in to play.

    It is also possible that at this sort of size, we could create a 3D printable design and then costs are lowered again because people could get the case printed locally or online.

  • Worth a shot, never tried something like this before, but definately willing to give it a go. Like the idea of 3d printing, going to research “Makers” in my area for the printing.

  • Im keeping my eye on a few smaller 3d printers on ebay, you never know lol.

  • This sounds great, but I'm trying to visualise what they might look like (size/shape).

    Do you have a simple sketch or concept design you could share?

  • Will just be a cube not more than 5cm x 5cm, basically just an enclosure to hold the driver.

  • What are peoples thoughts on passive vs active ?
    I was hedging towards active, but then the thought occured that a small cased amp with a volume control and maybe a dim that could sit next to the iPad like a little nano monitor controller, would actually be really cool.

  • Don't know what the difference is, and whatever the end result will be, I'm still IN!

    Big fan of 3D printing as well. Got an "axle" printed last week so I can mount the fork of my new bike )with disc brakes) in my old bike stand (which was quick release).

  • @huphtur said:
    Don't know what the difference is, and whatever the end result will be, I'm still IN!

    Big fan of 3D printing as well. Got an "axle" printed last week so I can mount the fork of my new bike )with disc brakes) in my old bike stand (which was quick release).

    I know the difference, but I don’t know what a bike stand is for 😁
    Looks like a beautiful job, though!

  • edited August 2018

    Passive = No amp built in to the speaker, external amp needed.
    Active = Amp built in to speaker, no external amp needed.

    Both have advantages and disadvantages, not least, if they are passive, you could get a £3 chinese amp PCB off ebay, bringing the cost right down.

  • ✅ Active

  • Active has the issue of volume control, do you require that the ipad be turned down before turning on, or do you have a super fiddly on and off switch and volume cntrol on the back of a 2 inch cube lol.
    Ergonomics would be a seperate tiny little amp with a fader and on off switch that could be next to your pad.

  • I’m interested. What would be the wattage of speakers like this?

  • edited August 2018

    The driver i have is 20 RMS

  • Now that sounds very interesting.

    I was interested in building a gainclone/chip amp
    and I simply haven't been able to get to it yet.

    I'm going to need portable speakers for my setup so yes.

  • Just brainstorming here but I wonder if it would be economical to buy a cheap BT or wired speaker for the case and amp and just swap in the quality drivers.

  • would these be something that had an Aux In ? USB-C ? or bluetooth.

  • They would be simple audio in, im no electronics designer, i would probably hire a designer to make the amp.

  • @winconway

    I'm not a designer but I do have some interest in that side of things.
    If you go to ,'DIYAudio', and have a look on their forum
    I'm sure you would be able to find an amp designer or even
    be able to find an amp design that would suit the drivers
    you have sourced.
    They quite regularly share designs and more.

  • I know a couple guys luckily anyway, one of them is basically "THE" god of mobile scratch technology, and without him, portabilism wouldnt really exist as it does, and he does all my DJ repairs too, so hopefully i can throw a bit of money his way.

  • Awesome, I like the sound of that as
    I'm currently pulling together a portable rig.

    He'll most probably focus as equally on
    the sound of the amp as well as it's function.

    Very cool.

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