Today has been a wet Saturday! I therefore decided to build a pair of speakers with my 5 years old son that I can use at school when teaching sound, magnetism and electricity.
The components:
1) Pioneer TSG-400 coaxial car speakers - £20 a pair from Halfords.
2) 2 plastic lunch boxes from Wilco’s (£2 each).
3) A few sundries.
4) stuffing from an old duvet.
It took a couple of hours for us to ‘build’ these - the second was much quicker that the first. I did the bits that involved a craft knife!
I built them to use at school so that the children could actually see (hence transparent enclosure) how a speaker works. All the workings are mounted in the lunch box lid so that they can be easily taken apart and even run open baffle to show the children what difference an enclosure makes and to investigate why this might be.
After a bit of experimentation and run-in I thought they sound better than expected, if a bit thin. As luck would have it, we have just replaced a duvet in the house so I put a couple of roles of the stuffing in each speaker. The net result is that they sound surprisingly good, if still not exactly full range - pretty clear mids/top but limited bass extension. TBF, fed by an Arcam CD player and Arcam A18 amp I’m quite pleased, especially for the £30 cost all in - considerably better than a most Bluetooth speakers anyway and quite a nice soundstage when on a desk.
I’m not suggesting that everyone rush out and build this but, if you have a few idle moments, a spare £30 and want something that you could involve your child/children with, it’s worth a go.
I have added a few pictures from start to finish.
The components:
1) Pioneer TSG-400 coaxial car speakers - £20 a pair from Halfords.
2) 2 plastic lunch boxes from Wilco’s (£2 each).
3) A few sundries.
4) stuffing from an old duvet.
It took a couple of hours for us to ‘build’ these - the second was much quicker that the first. I did the bits that involved a craft knife!
I built them to use at school so that the children could actually see (hence transparent enclosure) how a speaker works. All the workings are mounted in the lunch box lid so that they can be easily taken apart and even run open baffle to show the children what difference an enclosure makes and to investigate why this might be.
After a bit of experimentation and run-in I thought they sound better than expected, if a bit thin. As luck would have it, we have just replaced a duvet in the house so I put a couple of roles of the stuffing in each speaker. The net result is that they sound surprisingly good, if still not exactly full range - pretty clear mids/top but limited bass extension. TBF, fed by an Arcam CD player and Arcam A18 amp I’m quite pleased, especially for the £30 cost all in - considerably better than a most Bluetooth speakers anyway and quite a nice soundstage when on a desk.
I’m not suggesting that everyone rush out and build this but, if you have a few idle moments, a spare £30 and want something that you could involve your child/children with, it’s worth a go.
I have added a few pictures from start to finish.
Attachments
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Many thanks. Yes he really enjoyed it and was very keen to learn about polarity etc. I am looking forward to taking the speakers into class next week. I took a subwoofer in last week for another class (English school Y4) and they were fascinated by the audible differences they heard between different test tones and how paper placed above the driver resonated differently at different frequencies.
Actual demonstrations mean a lot, especially to younger children.
Actual demonstrations mean a lot, especially to younger children.
Well spotted - a pair of Mission 731is to be exact. Bought as part of my first ‘HiFi’ system back in 1996 from Richer Sounds. The accompanying Sony CDP-XE300 CDP is still going strong - I gave it to my dad years ago and it was only recently demoted to 2nd system duties after being replaced by an Audio Analogue CDP. The partnering Cambridge amp (A1 MK3) was less good - flat and lifeless - replaced by a much better Arcam Alpha 7r - a massive difference.
As for the Missions, they have served well over many years in different systems - they seem to sound very different depending upon the amp they are partnered with. I am currently using them with an AVA Media Maestro 50 PCM/PWM amplifier - this combo works really well in my office (a small room) - excellent fluidity and cohesiveness + clarity, even though clarity isn’t the Mission’s strong point. They do verve and trimming really well though - great for rock music. According the the WHF review of the AVA amp, clarity/fluidity was its strongpoint, rhythm less so - I guess they are playing to each other’s strengths as they gel well together. When I want more power I plug in the Arcam A18.
Interesting idea - I certainly would like to build a compact amp from a kit and it would be a fun project - there seem to be quite a few boards/components/kits about.
Incidentally, my son has his own system now - a Tibo Bond Mini (Tibo app - my Tidal HiFi subscription) into a Temple Audio Bantam Stealth power amp (very good indeed and ideal for smaller rooms - UK-made and well worth looking up) powering wall-mounted Tannoy MR speakers. Sounds great and he loves it - my wife prefers it to our Arcam Solo/Piega TS3 combo in our bedroom😉.
A cool project to do with your son.
Fun, and he can say Dad and I made that.
Additionally the school children in your class will learn from it as well and get to take it home. A £20 car co axial is the real sweet spot for this type of educational build, an inspired choice.
Fun, and he can say Dad and I made that.
Additionally the school children in your class will learn from it as well and get to take it home. A £20 car co axial is the real sweet spot for this type of educational build, an inspired choice.
Ha! 731i - I bought my ex girlfriend a hifi system from Richer sounds (must have been 1996 or 7). It was the same Mission 731i but with a Technics CDP and Cambridge Audio A1 amplifier. I think the speakers are awesome, regardless of price, and I'm sure they'd beat a lot of modern, more expensive speakers. I'd keep hold of them...