Print Page | Close Window

Minirig

Printed From: Speakerplans.com
Category: General
Forum Name: 12v Powered Systems
Forum Description: From Mini-rigs to ICE, all your low voltage audio needs here...
URL: https://forum.speakerplans.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=38574
Printed Date: 19 March 2024 at 7:42am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Minirig
Posted By: davey t
Subject: Minirig
Date Posted: 27 April 2010 at 11:40pm
So here it is..... been working on this for months and finally have the prototype built and working and would love to share it with you guys to hear your thoughts!:

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8205/minirigprepro.jpg - http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8205/minirigprepro.jpg

(Sorry the forum image link wasn't working)

So yea, I plan to make a business out of selling these... or similar. so can't say too much about whats inside except that they're very loud, sound is really good with impressive bass, 80 hours+ battery life, charges from USB socket, light weight (~400g) and pretty damn robust. Just adding a grill next.

Oh, and its stereo! there is an output for the right speaker at the back. The control on the right switches between mono/stereo and sets the volume of the right speaker. The left knob turns it on/off and set volume of left main speaker. There are two 3.5mm sockets to enable you to link lots together daisy-chain style!

:D


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement



Replies:
Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 27 April 2010 at 11:47pm
Clap jobs a good un!

nice! is that an IP box? (as in ip66 electrical box) what kinda db do you get and down to what freq?

and how much? Tongue


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 27 April 2010 at 11:50pm
very nice dave.  u using lifepo4? or lithium ion?

If you want any assistance with Rapid prototyping and soft tooling of a fancy cabinet let me know.  something simple with nice rounded edges ipod stylee?  whats your estimated retail price?  


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 9:20am
Thanks guys

Yea a cots electrical box is the cheapest and best option at low volume. I will move to injection moulding for 1000of +

I have a very clever enclosure design in the pipeline but need to think about whether to try patenting it or not which is holding it up. There's a lot to be said for keeping it simple with the square box with rounded corners mind - looks like a speaker! I hate the look of all the flat faced ipod docks.

need quotes for machining the holes mind rich - is that something you do?

Aiming for £80-90 for the active speaker and £120 for the pair including the passive right one. Paying myself near to nothing as they are hand made at the mo and parts are expensive at low quantity. Need to get them out there though to get feedback and asses the market.

fun times


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 11:22am
Sounds like you're selling yourself short at £120, imo. Considering people pay more than that for a dock without a battery that probably farts out about 90db at full power.

That said.. put me down for a pair for sure! ;)


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 11:48am
for machining the holes it would probably be cheaper to get yourself an old pillar drill and decent hole cutter.  do it yourself with a nice sturdy jig and save a fortune.  thats a great price you are proposing.  with the right distributor behind you and maybe some endorsment from a well known company who are not in the sound game it would take off.  marketing 'the best ipod system in argos etc' would attract people like surf companies if the thing looked right.  imagine 10 mates with a pair each on the beach!

-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 11:52am
definately look at soft tooling mate.  it doesnt need to be in the 1000's to make it cost effective.  id say you would be looking at £10 per cabinet in soft tooling costs which is probably only twice what the off the shelf box you are using for prototyping costs.  mould would be a few hundred quid which will do enough cases to get working items out to the people with the big money to push for chinese manufacture. 

-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 12:00pm
Can you give me some more info on soft tooling

-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 1:53pm
firstly you draw your model using software such as solidworks.  I use this software.  the file is sent to a Rapid Prototyping machine where it is '3d printed' in resin.  the life size model is finished with sanding, filling, and spraying to the standard you wish the final product to be.  this is the time consuming part (where money comes into it if you need the finishing done by the rp company) - but with skill involved, it is not a nightmare for someone with hands on skills and patience to go down to 320 grit paper and then spraying.

once you have a model you then have it 'soft tooled'.  this is a process where a silicon mould is made.  the silicon moulding process allows for parts that the untrained eye would think were mass produced hard tooled injection moulded parts.  The process involves a 2 part resin being cold poured into the silicon mould under a vaccum.  any plastic used in hard tooling can be replicated very well in 2 part cold poured resin.  i have seen some extremely complex shapes cast using silicon moulds in this way.  but the simpler the shape, the less stress gets put on the mould and the longer it lasts.  

I have been involved in soft tooled plastic parts which were so good they were used to fool a medical company buying dept into thinking the parts were mass produced pieces.  big companies are often hesitant to hand over large sums on orders of equipment if they are aware the product is yet to go into full manufacture. 

There are a number of RP/ soft tooling specialists in Bristol and it can be a big cost, but if you can go in with a finished 'model' they can take a mould from without having to pay their guys to clean up the model, you will save a fortune.

give me a pm if you want some more detailed explanations and ill chuck you my number.  i know a few people including myself who could end up lowering your production costs if casting was something you wanted to go for. 


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 28 April 2010 at 9:02pm
thats a real nice bit kit. top work sir Clap  whats the bass like outside or dose it sound better indoors??

-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 11:28am
thanks Rich.. thats pretty much what I imagined soft tooling meant. Getting the rpt prototype made up should be 200-300 for the two parts. Then I would sand and finish it by hand before giving it to the mould maker.

Any idea how much the silicon mould would be? And how many injections could it withstand? I'm looking for 100-200 maybe. If the per unit price is a tenner or less then it would definately be worth it.

What do you think of the volume control knobs? I agonised for a long time whether to keep it simply and fixed gain or to put the on/off switch and the volume control in there.


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Jake_Fielder
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 11:47am
That is absolutley superb! i want one!!
 
The two volumes would be useful if people are buying one then running a different unit from the output, but not really necissary if they're buying the pair (which you want them to idealy) imo.
 


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 12:15pm
Have you considered integrating a mixer into it?

For example: http://www.boysstuff.co.uk/product.asp?id=15603&random=&cid=&src=Search

Weight is 200 grams, and if it retails for £20 I doubt it would add anything significant to the cost of production if you could work out an arrangement with the manufacturer (or just copy it :D)

Would probably help to further define it as a literal "mini rig", rather than a high quality boombox.


Posted By: Jake_Fielder
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 12:57pm
thats more of a novelty product imo, you would need at least CDJs or decks to do anything really then you may aswell have a proper mixer. as you cant change the speed on an ipod, you may as well just plug both ipods in and adjust the volumes on the ipods to "mix"


Posted By: Meat
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 1:14pm
Very nice looking Dave. I've been telling my housemate to hold off buying an ipod dock thingy until this comes out. I'll show him tonight.

-------------
Don't test the champignon sound


Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 2:18pm
Perhaps consider using flush rotary dials for the gain, maybe on the rear? If you finish the final mould in that 'wood' style brown you had on an earlier prototype it'd look really, really nice. The dials and USB socket you have currently kind of make it look cheap and nasty, and that won't help sales much.

Similar to these dials:


Posted By: darkmatter
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 3:05pm
Looking really good. Unless it's essential in terms of layout/space, I'd move the USB port to the rear and as Toasty says use detented (or recess the) volume controls. I'd keep the volume control for the main speaker & on/off switch on the front personally.

I know chunky big cables for a 3.5mm jack are pretty pointless, but my 3.5mm cable (http://www.chokemusic.co.uk/image/cache/atlantic_3mm-3mm-600x600.jpg) wouldn't fit in that I don't think as the volume control is too close.

Is there a DC in for mains charging at the back?

Hemisphere - that thing you posted looks like it could be good fun down the park - MP3 ports though!? hehe


Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 3:09pm
aye, recessing the knobs i reckon will make it far tougher, they are the only bits sticking out and will go first when dropped Tongue


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 29 April 2010 at 9:26pm
yes i agree that it would be better to get rid of the sticking out volume controls.. but its hard find recessed ones when you're buying parts in singles from normal distributors and working with cots parts. 

I just clocked the minirig (stereo) doing 108db at 1m in my lounge... pics to come


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 30 April 2010 at 10:38am
hey dave.

ordering 100-200 units from a bristol based company like Amalgam where they will do all mould making, casting and finishing will mean mould cost doesnt even come into it.  id imagine they will just give you a unit cost.  to keep costs down you should would aim to design the case so it has minimal sharp edges and detailing so as to limit the damage the mould incures per cast and then they are less likely to need to keep making new moulds.  a spherical shape will also mean 'finishing' is kept to the minimum.  colour/texture/material choice is also very important.  im sure amalgam would suggest the best material to go for.  personally im in love with an ABS style resin (cant remember the name) which casts extremely well and if dropped, has the same durability.  due to the slight warp of curing resin it is worth factoring this into the design.  maybe instead going for a flat face joint using a thin bit of rubber forming the seal.  could you not have a basic screwdriver pot in the back for tweeking to their specific ipod/player and have the user just use the source volume control while in use?  and have the on/off switch built into the input jack to keep it simple.     


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: bassmish
Date Posted: 01 May 2010 at 6:17pm
hi, just a suggestion, although I guess this just makes it all more complicated, but if I had one of these, I'd take it down the beach, and if I did that, I bet after 1 afternoon that USB port would be full of sand. so if there was any way that some kind of rubber plug could go over it to stop that happening, then it might be a good idea.

looks wicked.


Posted By: hond
Date Posted: 01 May 2010 at 6:52pm
Originally posted by bassmish bassmish wrote:

hi, just a suggestion, although I guess this just makes it all more complicated, but if I had one of these, I'd take it down the beach, and if I did that, I bet after 1 afternoon that USB port would be full of sand. so if there was any way that some kind of rubber plug could go over it to stop that happening, then it might be a good idea.

looks wicked.


that's a good point :p


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 02 May 2010 at 1:12pm
+1 on the USB port thing.

I took a portable speaker to a festival, and although it didn't have a USB port, the mp3 player I was using it with did. The speaker was fine, but the USB on the player was unfixable.


Posted By: bassmish
Date Posted: 02 May 2010 at 7:45pm
also, I was thinking, if you wanted to make one with a port, but didn't want it to fill up with sand or mud or whatever, just use a passive driver!! = same thing!


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 05 May 2010 at 12:03am
On the port comments: yes I've thought of that and looked into it - there are no cots rubber bungs for usb b ports. Only the A type. Also, i'm sure it would get lost very quickly. The usb b ports are fairly big and robust and it'd power only, not data. I'm sure it would survive a bit of sand as long as you blew it out after. I'lk think about it though. 

Passive driver is a nono. They don't exist in this size and the cost wouldn't be worthwhile. grill/foam is a better option. 

but yea, its going to be an outdoor product so need to think about all these things. Luckly the cone is pretty waterproof so thats a bonus. :)


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: minaximal
Date Posted: 05 May 2010 at 12:49am
looks good,

how about some of these for the sand:






-------------
Subs + Barges = :)

http://www.metaacoustics.com" rel="nofollow - www.metaacoustics.com



Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 05 May 2010 at 11:54am
Good suggestion but too pricey

-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 05 May 2010 at 9:48pm
something like this should do the trick :

http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=8134 - http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=8134


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 11 May 2010 at 12:05am
Just spotted the minirig in a banner for O2 ;)



Okay maybe not exactly.. but an uncanny resemblance I'd say :D even seems to be the same driver!


Posted By: neilpoints
Date Posted: 11 May 2010 at 1:58am
Hi. That's good work but I think it's got to sound better if you used a 2 or 3 or 4 way system. One speaker may be able to reproduce all frequencies, but it can't reproduce them all at the same time. The wider the range of any speaker and the more power, the greater the intermodulation distortion. Even a piezo tweeter would help, and would be very easy to add. I hope this helps.

-------------
former Eurovision contestant


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 12 May 2010 at 8:31pm
Originally posted by Hemisphere Hemisphere wrote:

Just spotted the minirig in a banner for O2 ;)



Okay maybe not exactly.. but an uncanny resemblance I'd say :D even seems to be the same driver!

dammit you've found the source of my design..

There's a counter arguement which a lot of audiophiles and pro audio companys back to say that if you can get full range sound from a single driver then it is much better as you don't have the crossover phasing and distortion from using two or more sound sources. 


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 13 May 2010 at 8:51am
Originally posted by neilpoints neilpoints wrote:

Hi. That's good work but I think it's got to sound better if you used a 2 or 3 or 4 way system. One speaker may be able to reproduce all frequencies, but it can't reproduce them all at the same time. The wider the range of any speaker and the more power, the greater the intermodulation distortion. Even a piezo tweeter would help, and would be very easy to add. I hope this helps.


a well designed full range transducer should infact have less timing issues than a 2 way system trying to achieve the same frequency band.  how many good quality hi-fi speakers actually have physical time alignment? or delay systems?  usually a dome tweeters vc is 50mm closer to the listener than the vc of the woofer on 2 way systems.

also, i am of the belief that a well designed fullranger will suffer less intermodulation distortion than a pair of drivers over the same frequency band.

im guessing this little unit has a highpass at 100hz?  i cant see it making much of a racket below this?  i will also say that in this area, no one expects response up to 20k anyway.  picnic goers wont mind if that little driver starts to roll off at 15khz and a bit of electronic eq built into the board will counteract this.

adding a tweeter adds size, cost, and undue hassle imo  


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 13 May 2010 at 8:54am
ps, the timing issues will still be there (and as noticeable-which isn't very noticeable anyway) on a 2 way system because the critical band of 250hz-5khz will be being reproduced by a single diaphragm anyway. 

-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 6:36pm
i want to see more on this as it develops. i think its a great little speaker ps me want one.

-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 28 May 2010 at 8:18pm
Thanks Edd! Yea, I've just today gone part time at work so I will be able to put some real hours into the business now. I'l keep you posted. 

-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 06 August 2010 at 9:46pm
Hello to those interested. I've been working hard on this and keep hitting difficulties but i'm getting there. This is the current CAD model, not finished of course but will give you an idea:



Its hopefully going to be quite elegant, cheap and simple to make as i'm aiming for the front and back halfs to be identical to half my tooling cost. Vacuum forming worked out very expensive, so i'm going to try to make my own silicone moulds from SLA and pour my own PU castings for the first 20-100. 

One of many design difficulties is the ports. Trying to control port noise and velocity at max volume whilest keeping the design complexity and costs to a minimum. 


Help and ideas very welcome!


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 07 August 2010 at 12:23am
would a basic hole not be ok for this sort of thing? i doubt anyone will mind if it ends up tuned to 120hz if it is the right price and goes loud.

i liked your original use of sealed electronic boxes for cabinets.  is this not a more cost effective option?  

if it has to be organic in form, if you can provide me with a cleaned up sla to mould from (20% bigger than you want the final outcome to be), i can cast in a rather tantalising material...


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 07 August 2010 at 6:03pm
20% bigger!? 

You done silicone castings before? I might recruit your help when I try n make some in my shed. Need to figure out the best way to cast and pour the resin. 


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 07 August 2010 at 8:45pm
20% to allow for shrinkage once cast:)      

for resin, you will need to make a vacuum casting rig.  a sealed box and a henry hoover should just about do it.  silicon mould making is an art.  probably some youtube vids on how to do it.   i might be able to act as a middle man and arrange a collegue to do the mould making for you.  ill do some asking when im back on monday. 

also, give atlas polymers a ring.  they will be more than happy to send a representitive around to discuss different 2 pack resins you can pour without needing a vacuum system.  just say you might be doing mass production and might need big quantitiesWink.


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 07 August 2010 at 9:29pm
Are you sure about that 20% I've never heard of that before! Shrinkage of what? the PU or a silicone? Thats a major problem if true. 

I've been talking to Tomps... they have a really good fast PU resin with the viscosity of milk apparently which should flow nicely without a vacuum. 

I'm hoping to do it all myself after getting rediculous quotes from companies to do vacuum formed castings for me. 


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 07 August 2010 at 10:09pm
I've just been looking through the Tomps site, he recommended using ATH filler with the PU and it says that it reduces shrinkage to "negligible amounts"... I don't think its a problem

-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 07 August 2010 at 11:15pm
the 20% shrinkage is with a material i have been developing myself.  its very uniform in terms of shrinkage so can be factored into while designing to tight tolerances. 

i have developed my own mixing, application, casting and finishing process for what i consider a very high tech material, maybe patentable.  just got to look into it more before throwing money at applications.

the best part is that it is a lot easier to tool for casting and the processes are better suited to back yard cottage industry stuff.

  


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 08 August 2010 at 2:03pm
oo sound like a headache working with that much shrinkage. but you've got a lot more experience. I've done a fair bit of potting and grp work so i'm hopeful i'l be successful, i'l let you know how it works out!

Oh, i'm actually quite keen to keep a rough textured finish so i was only going to do a light sand on the SLA master. I'l need to make the mating surfaces and groves etc nice and smooth though right? 

Am I also right in thinking that I should go for SLA over SLS for this? I've read somewhere that SLA is better for mould making.


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 08 August 2010 at 3:24pm
if a rough texture is required, id go sls all the way.  wont need any clean up and to be honest, the finish is rather nice (stippled).  sla's have more of a 'build line' where you can see how they are built up in layers.  imo an sla needs to be done properly otherwise a 'quick cleanup' tends to look more like a 'poor cleanup'.   

SLS will need a few thick coats of 2-pack polyurethane over them, then a nice bit of clean up on your joins.  its purely to get rid of the porosity of the sls material.  your 2-pack will fill all the stipples and give you a solid surface you can then work to a hard and sharp join.  having a nice flat join with a thin piece of rubber sandwiched to form a seal will allow the join to terminate really tidily.  you could then use extra long bolts which run through the driver mounting holes, right the way through the cabinet so they come through the back of the cabinet and the whole thing bolts together.    the nuts could be recessed into the back of the cabinet so they dont stick out.   


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 09 August 2010 at 11:00am
Originally posted by rich_gale rich_gale wrote:

.  you could then use extra long bolts which run through the driver mounting holes, right the way through the cabinet so they come through the back of the cabinet and the whole thing bolts together.    the nuts could be recessed into the back of the cabinet so they dont stick out.   

haha thats exactly what I was planning to do! brilliant, thanks Rich. Except I'm going to use two standard M4 bolts with a coupler in the middle. 

Thanks for the tip on sla and sls. I think i'l start getting some sla quotes together now.

I've almost convinced myself that I don't need a rubber or oring seal as long as I use a tongue and groove join with 2mm depth?  


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 09 August 2010 at 12:20pm
tongue and groove might be an issue due to the fact that you are not hard tooling.  a flat face on flat face type join, bridged with 0.5mm rubber sheet gives you a lot more room for error imo:)

-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 09 August 2010 at 9:40pm
Free any time this week for a chat rich? Be good to met up! i'l message u on fb

-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 10:45am
some pre-production prototypes to take a look at... let me know what you think




-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 10:58am
Where can I send you the money to preorder one, basically?


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 11:16am
:D got the website going up very soon.. this week hopefully. 

can you comment on the charging socket... I was going to make it a large USB type B socket but I think the 5.5mm DC power socket looks better, seals better and is more universal? It's going to come with a 5.5mm to USB cable 

the 3.5mm sockets are of course linked so you can daisy chain them up. The light at the bottom changes colour depending upon battery charge level. 

No volume control on this prototype... i'm not sure whether to add it or not. It would be in the form of touch buttons on the top but would add cost and increase the price. 




-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 11:41am
Clap

-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 12:46pm
whats the cylinder made out of?

lookin' good


Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 1:01pm
Originally posted by davey t davey t wrote:

:D got the website going up very soon.. this week hopefully. 

can you comment on the charging socket... I was going to make it a large USB type B socket but I think the 5.5mm DC power socket looks better, seals better and is more universal? It's going to come with a 5.5mm to USB cable 

the 3.5mm sockets are of course linked so you can daisy chain them up. The light at the bottom changes colour depending upon battery charge level. 

No volume control on this prototype... i'm not sure whether to add it or not. It would be in the form of touch buttons on the top but would add cost and increase the price. 




USB sockets do tend to get loose, even the smaller micro and mini types but to be honest DC barrels aren't much better - as anybody who's ever done laptop repairs will tell you. Depending on how accessible the DC input is for repairs, I'm fine with it.

Don't think a volume control is needed as long as the input sensitivity is high enough/impedance low enough to accomodate the wide range of output devices found in MP3 players and phones. Perhaps a simple flathead screw that can adjust the input sensitivity just in case?


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 1:05pm
brilliant mate!.  no need for a volume control imo.  id set it up to work best with an ipod source.  maybe just have a little pot inside, and a hole for a precision screwdriver if someone desperately needs to get it working for a less popular source. 

is there an active highpass filter before the amplifier?  id love to hear 20 of these hooked up!


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: abbotsmike
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 1:18pm
Looks awesome! The DC jack should be fine, they are common as muck, and cheap! as said, they tend to work loose, but mostly through abuse, and this should be stationary when charging. Volume control not essential IMO, as said, just make sure it can make full volume off an iPod/iPhone/mobile phone source.


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 1:51pm
good feedback thanks!

I think barrel socket will be more reliable in the long run. You can charge it from anything between 2-8V so it's pretty adaptable. You can even charge from a 3xAA batteries with the right adapter

Its currently set to around 30db gain which gives you max output (just) from an ipod nano. The only trouble is the noise floor is higher with a high gain and listening at really really low volumes is compromised


Its also a pain when using a laptop as you have to turn all the various volume controls right down



an idea just occurred to me to have two gain settings - a low and high which you select by plugging into either the lower or upper jack socket. Obviously if you link through and use both then it will set to high. 

I think that could work quite well. :)

oh the case and grill is aluminium of course. The prototype isn't anodised but the final version will be. 


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: SamV
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 2:03pm
What's wrong with a high/low switch?


Posted By: SamV
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 2:04pm
I might have to rack your brains about production tooling/costs, well both you and rich. Currently working on a commercial project


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 2:43pm
Originally posted by SamV SamV wrote:

What's wrong with a high/low switch?

switches are a no no... the speaker relies on complete air seal which a switch would compromise. plus the extra cost. 


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: imageoven
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 9:44pm
Is there a projected price for this latest design?

-------------
Keep pushing on, things are gonna get better.


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 10:44pm
Originally posted by imageoven imageoven wrote:

Is there a projected price for this latest design?

before I say... I'd like people to say what they would pay for it

quick specs:

15W amplifier
102mm diameter x 73mm
440g
10-48 hour rechargeable battery



-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Symzzi
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 11:06pm
Definitely want, and could even go for a second if it works out really well. Especially if it can get full output out of an iPhone, which produces a notoriously low output level compared to other portable devices..

Max estimated SPL from a single unit? The coloured light idea is fantastic.

Keep us updated Smile


Posted By: login4
Date Posted: 02 March 2011 at 11:30pm
looks really swish, 

and now the age old question "how low does it go" ?


-------------
CELTIC SUBSONIC SOUND SYSTEMS


Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 4:14pm
Originally posted by davey t davey t wrote:


Originally posted by imageoven imageoven wrote:

Is there a projected price for this latest design?


before I say... I'd like people to say what they would pay for it

quick specs:

15W amplifier
102mm diameter x 73mm
440g
10-48 hour rechargeable battery



Somewhere between £30-50 would be ideal.


Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 4:27pm
not really into mini speakers, so i would probably pay less Tongue

£30 perhaps?


Posted By: Heathrow_B_line
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 4:48pm
i would to buy the amps and battery only and put into my own design system.  would this be possible?

-------------
Produce a killer sound. Take no prisoners.


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 6:15pm
Originally posted by subbass subbass wrote:

not really into mini speakers, so i would probably pay less Tongue

£30 perhaps?

come on... we're talking something actually quality and good sounding here... not just a cheapo chinese ipod dock running off AA batteries. 

They need to sell for £80 in shops to make any financial business sense. I would still only make about £10 per speaker tho after the vat, manufacture, distributor and retail shops take their share. 

Its really tough keeping the cost down ....


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 6:48pm
thats true, a bit of a rushed reply there Smile

i propose £50 .. but how much i would pay depends very much on how it sounded, would need a demo to convince me to pay more than that Wink


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 7:43pm
Originally posted by subbass subbass wrote:

thats true, a bit of a rushed reply there Smile

i propose £50 .. but how much i would pay depends very much on how it sounded, would need a demo to convince me to pay more than that Wink

pop ova n have a listen


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: subbass
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 8:24pm
ill add that to my todo list for over easter Thumbs Up


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 03 March 2011 at 8:31pm
yea man... I wanna hear ur boombox too

-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 07 March 2011 at 2:52pm
Got to hear it to say what its worth but from the looks of the thing and the time and effort you have put in i'd say £50 to £60. when is it going to be ready Dave? il test it for you.Wink

-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 24 May 2011 at 8:22pm
Still very excited about this :) would pay pretty much whatever the asking price was, within reason. Hoping to get hold of one asap!

I sent you a PM about this Davey btw.



Posted By: LondonTowers
Date Posted: 24 May 2011 at 8:46pm
id pay £80 for one of these.. where do i sign?


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 24 May 2011 at 11:56pm
www.minirigs.com has a mailing list you can sign up to for updates on availability - haven't recieved any yet though!


Posted By: Ray
Date Posted: 25 May 2011 at 12:24am
£50ish


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 25 May 2011 at 12:52am
Amazed by the lowball price estimates on this tbh - the driver alone can cost about £30 in some places, plus amp, battery, charging circuits, filtering (presumably?), and all the other miscellaneous hardware.

Bottom line is if you wanted to build one of these yourself, even if you had all the skills and knowledge necessary to do so, sourcing the components alone would probably cost more than £80 (factoring in shipping costs from the various suppliers, because you would have to source from 5-6 different places at least).


Posted By: Bryan M
Date Posted: 25 May 2011 at 1:07am
I'm on the list, i hope i get one!

Was around during the prototype stages of these and the battery lasted for ages even with it being ragged for hours on end.

Best bit on the new ones is the link up option, any one fancy a linkup in the park when/if they get one ;-)


Posted By: Skra
Date Posted: 25 May 2011 at 1:10am
Yeah, I'd pay £80 for one of these. I paid £34.50 inc. p&p for the Orange Micro Crush mini amp the other day, and the sound quality was horrific. Sent it back yesterday. So yeah, £80 for something of much higher quality sounds about right.

-------------
Zombies, by their very nature, are inconsistent.


Posted By: matt andrews
Date Posted: 03 June 2011 at 8:53am
Hi Davey, £80 seems reasonable, i am not aware of any equivalent product....where do i send the money, hehe.


Posted By: eldiablo04
Date Posted: 01 July 2011 at 12:00am
any idea when these are gunna be available, money is waiting whatever the asking price :)


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 01 July 2011 at 10:37am
Parts on order... gonna start rolling out around sept/oct I'm afraid. Be worth the wait though! got an awesome design for packaging too. 

Gonna be one of a rare few "Made in England" electronics products!


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: hond
Date Posted: 03 July 2011 at 10:12pm
80 isn't too much. This is probably very loud for it's size so.. 



Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 11 August 2011 at 9:12am
Any chance of a stripped back version which is basically just amp/processing/battery and minimal case? If this thing is 440g with the driver, then it's gotta be like 250-290g without, and would literally fit in a trouser pocket! 

Could bring the price down to £60-70 too :)




Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 09 September 2011 at 7:25pm
On sale now!
WWW.minirigs.co.UK


-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: Hemisphere
Date Posted: 09 September 2011 at 7:44pm
Order placed :) any chance of it coming in less than the 4 weeks suggested..? Congrats on the launch! New site looks sweet.


Posted By: darkmatter
Date Posted: 09 September 2011 at 9:01pm
Ordered, cheersSmile


Posted By: minaximal
Date Posted: 09 September 2011 at 9:33pm
They look really nicely made, cool.


-------------
Subs + Barges = :)

http://www.metaacoustics.com" rel="nofollow - www.metaacoustics.com



Posted By: mucsavage
Date Posted: 09 September 2011 at 11:37pm
That looks great.
I'll deffo place an order in the next few weeks

Smile


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 10 September 2011 at 1:45pm
Nice one! just waiting for that pay cheque.
 


-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: matt andrews
Date Posted: 11 September 2011 at 7:09pm
Ordered Smile


Posted By: solution
Date Posted: 11 September 2011 at 7:59pm
sweet, once some invoices have been paid this is next on my list, been a very expensive month, CDJ2000's then a midas 160....now a mini rig to add to the list!!! Looking forward to hearing one of these.

-------------
Bassmentality: Ska, reggae, funk & Hip hop every month @ The Cellar, Oxford


Posted By: toastyghost
Date Posted: 11 September 2011 at 9:20pm
A shame they couldn't have been released before summer, when they'd have gotten more use! Also, how many charge cycles do you expect the batteries to last, and how easy are they to replace?


Posted By: davey t
Date Posted: 11 September 2011 at 10:16pm
yea summer is the ideal time to use and sell them... but its been difficult sorting finances. plus its given me change to fully test and tweek until they're the best I coulda possibly made them. 

Oh in answer to your question it depends upon how you use and store it but 500 cycles is a good ballmark for any lithium ion cell to still retain 80% capacity. Mind you, at 50 hours a cycle.. thats 25000 hours so you'd have to use it 24/7 for 3 years before the battery would start to fade! so its pretty safe to say it'l probably last a lifetime. :)

We did a little demo for tony andrews outside plasa today. He loved it! had a great chat too.. what a nice guy






-------------
Minirig portable soundsystem movement


Posted By: rich_gale
Date Posted: 11 September 2011 at 11:24pm
Clap

Lovely stuff man.  I hope to order one soon.  saw a few people around glade with these.  sounded nuts how much sound was coming out if them.


-------------
REFLEX ALL THE WAY.... (however, im playing with horns again...) That ok Mister Valiant? :)


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 12 September 2011 at 1:30pm
come on Friday!!!

-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: Edd Jordan
Date Posted: 13 October 2011 at 1:17pm
any one got one whats the review. im still waiting for some cash to come in Unhappy i really want to get one.

-------------
I do a sideline in ply wood wheels.


Posted By: Skra
Date Posted: 13 October 2011 at 2:30pm
I stand to win about £130 if wales and new zealand both win this weekend - if they do then I shall definitely be purchasing one of these!

-------------
Zombies, by their very nature, are inconsistent.


Posted By: darkmatter
Date Posted: 13 October 2011 at 3:33pm
Got mine, thanks Davey Big smile

Will post a mini review once I've had chance to compare and contrast properly, but in short it's very very good and very well built.

Just wanted to post up to say I just showed this to my mum's boyfriend - he spends his life setting up for shows - moving speakers and instruments around for gigs and concerts etc. I corner loaded it and fired it up, him and my mum were both scratching their heads looking around for a sub LOL


Posted By: colinmono
Date Posted: 13 October 2011 at 7:43pm
Got mine too - thanks Davey!!

As darkmatter said, very impressive bit of kit, really nicely engineered and well thought out.

Battery life is great, mine got used at a house party (dancing in the kitchen) last weekend full blast for a few hours, been using it on and off all week and still haven't had to charge it.

Showed it to my Dad who couldn't work out how the hell so much sound was coming out of such a small box. "That's not possible" were the words he used if I remember right!

My wife wants one for her car as she says its better than her car stereo.



Print Page | Close Window

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Copyright ©2001-2023 Web Wiz Ltd. - https://www.webwiz.net