suggestions for a tiny speaker with specific requirements

[meeotch]

I need several small powered speakers for a sculpture project, but the nature of the project implies specific requirements. The speakers will be installed on a flat board hanging on a wall, and covered by a mask that has low clearance.

1. no bluetooth needed - wired AUX input mandatory. Ideally, the wired input would disable the bluetooth altogether, as well as any auto-off feature.
2. if the batteries die, and power is subsequently restored via cable, the speaker needs to return to the previous settings (power on, volume setting as before).
3. if there's an auto-shutoff feature, it should be disabled by having the AUX wired input connected.
4. small form factor: I'm currently looking at the Tribit Xsound Go, which is 6.7 x 2.4 x 2.2 inches - but a "flatter" (less deep) form factor is better.
5. ideally, the AUX input would be on the side, rather than the back, or at least flush with the surface, so that the wires don't have to run out the back of the project, which will be wall-hung.
6. Cheap, 'cause I need several of them. The models I'm looking at are all in the sub-$70 range.

#1-3 are mandatory, #4 is important, #5 is important, but I could work around it with a sufficiently flat speaker.
So far, only the smaller Tribit and Oontz models have hit most of the above. I could go with a bare "standard" driver, and a T-amp, but I'd prefer having it all in one package to save space, and get bigger sound.

 

[wmgwizard]

Couldnt you use several small drivers and a single T amp or will the different speakers be playing different content ?

 

[meeotch]

Yes - as mentioned above, a worst-case fallback could be a T-amp and standard drivers. The reasons I'm avoiding that is: 1) more wiring, probably more space (the Tribit Xsound Go model referenced above is only 6.7 x 2.4 x 2.2 inches). 2) probably more work to get the same "bigness of sound" as a packaged solution. My current Tribit MaxSound, while slightly larger than the Xsound Go, sounds great. 3) possibly more power requirements, vs. a powered speaker that runs on standard 5V from a micro-usb cable. 4) could be more expensive. I'll need at least three separate speaker+amp systems.

But I'm open to suggestions for tiny drivers & tiny T-amps that achieve a big sound in a small footprint / small $$.

 

[wmgwizard]

But I'm open to suggestions for tiny drivers & tiny T-amps that achieve a big sound in a small footprint / small $$.

Not asking for much are ya ?

You can usually get 2 out of 3....
Small & cheap but sound that way
Small & sound good wont be cheap

Dom Perignon dreams with Mad Dog dollars

Good luck on your quest

 

[meeotch]

Yes - I know that it's a very specific ask. Mostly, that's based on the Tribit I currently have, and what I wish was better about it. It sounds great/big, is cheap, and mostly hits the size & feature requirements, but the connectors are in an inconvenient place, and it is not 100% rock solid, as it's a bluetooth speaker not designed for this sort of always-on application.

I realize that this is really a corner case... The big markets are probably for consumer products like the tribit, or raw parts for manufacturers. Not a lot of companies out there catering to the Sculpture Guy market.

I've also considered taking the Tribit apart, and attempting to fix the issues I have by wiring directly to the controls from the Raspberry Pi that runs each sculpture. But there again, more work, and experimenting.

 

[KingBubba]

Small amps are everywhere these days. Tiny Chinese stereo amps are easy to find on Amazon and eBay. I have three for various small applications around the house and garage. Tiny speakers may be a bit more of a stretch. You have a size in mind, but finding something that fits that will be more difficult. Can you give out more info regarding size and power needed?

 

[meeotch]

Yeah - I've got a Lepai 2020A+ that's reasonably sized (physically) that I've had good luck with, driving my standard-sized ESM speakers. As you mentioned, I'm less sure of the mini-speaker situation. I for sure don't have room in the sculpture for an 8" or maybe even a 6" driver. Especially if it's deep - I'm probably looking at 4" depth clearance, maybe a hair more if I drill out a hole in the mounting board.

The Tribit powered speakers claim 16W or 24W for the slightly larger one (which has impressive bass), if that helps. No idea what's going on under the hood to get that kind of sound out of something that's 7x3x2", though. There are other, flatter, portable speakers like the JBL GO3 - but they have no AUX input, and I don't want to rely on bluetooth.