Minirig portable speakers

[Davey T]

I hope hijack doesn't mind me spreading the word about the portable speakers I'm working on! I don't think I've posted on here officially about them before although many of you already may know about them.

www.minirigs.com

I'm making prototypes and getting feedback and testing at the moment. Also seeing about interest from retailers. I've been working on these for years but am new to the business of releasing a product so always looking for helping people with experience with these things.

The summer is on its way which is where they get used the most. I started working on them because there was simply nothing out there loud enough with a long lasting battery which would fit in a small bag and I'm finally happy this design. Its small and light, sounds great, really loud, lasts ages, easy to use and looks cool (I think).

whaddya recon!?

[The T.I.B.]

Looks like it's coming on well.  I work in product design & engineering so give me a shout if you want a hand.  Good luck with the project.

[noisy boy]

i can vouch for the quality of the older models but haven't yet heard these new improved babys.   

[Papa B]

 

I trust this product... when/where will it be available?

What's the spec?

[GRAHAM-ACIDIC]

get a vid online to promote this further

[Trufflehunter]

these look great, i would defo be interested. Few questions

Whats the dimensions? What sort of price will they be? When will they be available? Where would i be able to hear one in action?

[djshandy]

wicked. i like the slightly industrial style, they look powerful. signed up for updates 

[Davey T]

these look great, i would defo be interested. Few questions

Whats the dimensions? What sort of price will they be? When will they be available? Where would i be able to hear one in action?

I will update the site with a tech spec soon, but don't want to tie myself down to anything until the design is 100%. At the moment they are 73mm tall x 101mm diameter and weigh a measly ~400g. Hoping to sell them for £80 (including vat) which reflects the high quality components and materials used and the fact it is designed and made in uk, not in an Asian sweat shop.

As for hearing one, you can pop over for a listen or keep an eye out down the park and festivals over the summer.

[Duncan Pow!!]

wicked. i like the slightly industrial style, they look powerful. signed up for updates 

 

[x]

Looks tasty. Keep misreading the thread title as "mining portable speakers". If only you could get portable speakers simply by mining. Maybe if I mine £80 worth of coal I can sell it and buy some of these bad boys.

[pno]

i can vouch for the quality of the older models but haven't yet heard these new improved babys.   

I second that, my mk1 is still going strong! :-)

[Ironside]

These are awesome..

My mk1 v3 is still banging.

I have had sooo many positive comments from mates who genuinly cant believe the quality and volume you get from these little boxes.

[Dont Panic]

wicked. i like the slightly industrial style, they look powerful. signed up for updates 

 

  fantistic to see someone copping onto lithium batteries too, usb be charging as well. sterling work! signed up for updates 

[gusset]

Look cool.

Where and how are you manufacturing these?

[Shiverman]

These look excellent! Very much interested in these after some of the shite speakers ive taken to festivals in the past

[paradigm]

wicked. i like the slightly industrial style, they look powerful. signed up for updates 

[Ewan Hoozami]

Looks great, signed up for the updates. Would definitely like to know what sort of ball-park figure we're talking about price-wise. Personally I don't think I would spend more than about £20 on portable speakers, as there is always a strong chance of them getting damaged/lost/wet etc due to them being for outside use.
Maybe £30 if they were really good.
Would be very interested to know the price of these ones, and if they are more expensive than my budget I'm sure plenty of other people would pay more

[HOBO]

I'd have to think hard about spending £80+ on them but I'm bang on the updates list... been looking for something of this type for a while and only came up with these: http://www.jawbone.com/product-jambox-overview which look a bit more gimmicky and massively overpriced.

[Spit]

Looks great, signed up for the updates. Would definitely like to know what sort of ball-park figure we're talking about price-wise. Personally I don't think I would spend more than about £20 on portable speakers, as there is always a strong chance of them getting damaged/lost/wet etc due to them being for outside use.
Maybe £30 if they were really good.
Would be very interested to know the price of these ones, and if they are more expensive than my budget I'm sure plenty of other people would pay more

Hoping to sell them for £80 (including vat) which reflects the high quality components and materials used and the fact it is designed and made in uk, not in an Asian sweat shop.

Knowing Dave these will be the absolute bomdiggy, so a solid investment.

[Davey T]

I'd have to think hard about spending £80+ on them but I'm bang on the updates list... been looking for something of this type for a while and only came up with these: http://www.jawbone.com/product-jambox-overview which look a bit more gimmicky and massively overpriced.

Just to put this in perspective.. these "big sound" jambox speakers brag about doing 85db at 0.5m. ..   I've measured my minirig doing over 96db at 1m!  which if a LOT louder.

Thanks for all the positive feedback! Did I mention the status led? It changes colour through green to blue to purple and red as the battery level drops. I've found it really useful.

[HOBO]

Did I mention the status led? It changes colour through green to blue to purple and red as the battery level drops. I've found it really useful.

You sexy bastard.

[tko]

Good luck with all this dude, looks to be a top notch bit of kit.

Did you here back from my ex-employers in the end?

[paradigm]

I might be missing something but can it be mains powered?

[Skat Kat]

Having been mightily impressed by the MK1, I definitely want one of these! 

[Hooner]

I've one that has been made in one of those aforementioned sweatshops...only cost me $10 and a great buy.

I'd definitely be interested in a high-end speaker like this one...but 80 quid you say? Hmm...

[plodocus]

These looks amazing. I have signed up for updates   Hit me up if you want any visual promo stuff done - flyers, logos, stickers, adverts etc  

[Hooner]

Also let me know if you want an Australian distributor

[JE:5]

Definitely interested in one or two of those  

Just as long as you keep that industrial design that is

[lovepole]

look wicked

[Fraternal]

Nice! Might be cool to get a couple of accessories such as a jack-jack cable, or a stand or something?

[Davey T]

Oh yea I'm definitely keeping the industrial design. I wanted to make something that stood out and wasn't just another shiny cheap plastic toy. I'm waiting for the aluminium to get anodised at the moment. I think it's gonna look awesome. It's really strong too because of the tube shape and the ways its assembled with the 4 bolts. The idea is you can just chuck it in bags and throw them around and use em on the beach without worrying about them breaking.

They'l come with quality jack-jack cables and usb - 2.1mm charging cables. It accepts anything from 2-8V for charging so in theory you could charge from two AA batteries or a solar panel?

A couple other features: they turn on an off by plugging in the jack or charging cable. There is no volume control, but the upper socket has a massive gain of 35db for mp3 players and phones etc, If you plug into the lower socket it has a lower gain of 20db for using with mixers and pcs or at lower volume. There's also a built in clip limiter and compressor. sexy

[Gyu]

Sounds so awesome Dave

[apathesis]

want 

[applecore]

can you join a few together?

[TRiBEofFRoG]

Looks like a great piece of kit. Interested!

[TRiBEofFRoG]

can you join a few together?

http://www.minirigs.com/index.php

Multiple units can combine for more output

[TRiBEofFRoG]

I think making the charging socket a USB standard socket would be plus point. Although I can appreciate that preparing the hole and mounting a USB socket is not as easy as a barrel socket

However it does mean that replacement cables are easy for anyone to get hold of, and that people can use their existing cables for charging.

Making it a Mini-B socket or ideally a Micro-B socket would be great. Micro-B has been standardised for mobile phones, so that means a growing number of people will have Micro-B chargers too.

[Alkemy]

I think making the charging socket a USB standard socket would be plus point. Although I can appreciate that preparing the hole and mounting a USB socket is not as easy as a barrel socket

However it does mean that replacement cables are easy for anyone to get hold of, and that people can use their existing cables for charging.

Making it a Mini-B socket or ideally a Micro-B socket would be great. Micro-B has been standardised for mobile phones, so that means a growing number of people will have Micro-B chargers too.

I believe there were issues with getting an airtight seal with these connectors...

My MK1 is going like the clappas and is off in Ayia Nappa for a holiday with some mates at the mo!!! 

I can vouch for this new model being awesome too  -  we had a couple strung up in the tree at Bloc this year and had ourselves a saturday morning rave up!! 

[Davey T]

I think making the charging socket a USB standard socket would be plus point. Although I can appreciate that preparing the hole and mounting a USB socket is not as easy as a barrel socket

However it does mean that replacement cables are easy for anyone to get hold of, and that people can use their existing cables for charging.

Making it a Mini-B socket or ideally a Micro-B socket would be great. Micro-B has been standardised for mobile phones, so that means a growing number of people will have Micro-B chargers too.

Oh you've opened up a can of worms here... a lot of time has been spent thinking this through carefully.. and I have settled on the standard 2.1mm barrel socket for 4 reasons:

1) Its a universal power supply socket which has been and will be around forever. Its compatible with lots of DC power supplies etc. It gives you more freedom with the power source as it accepts 2-8V. Micro-B may be standard for now... but this could change.
2) The barrel socket is much more reliable in the long term and resilient to dust and dirt compared to the USB connectors.
3) The speaker relies upon being 100% airtight and its much easier to get a reliable seal with the barrel connector than a USB connector.
4) Machining a funny shaped hole for the USB costs more.

Yes they don't sell usb to 2.1mm cables in maplins and i'm certain these will get lost, but a quick google search will show you where to get one from ebay. I'l of course be selling replacements

[A guy called Adam]

I emailed about getting one of these. Really want one to take on my travels with me. Can I buy one yet?

[TRiBEofFRoG]

I've measured my minirig doing over 96db at 1m!  which if a LOT louder.

FUCK! Are you making to order yet? Want one!

[Davey T]

I've measured my minirig doing over 96db at 1m!  which if a LOT louder.

FUCK! Are you making to order yet? Want one!

There's are 9 prototypes going up for sale in the next couple weeks for test and eval.. not sure how i'm going to decide who to sell them to. After that it'l be a few months while I do CE testing and invest lots of ££ into buying parts for 1000.

[apathesis]

how much do you reckon you'll sell them for?

[Mix Masta Mullet]

I take my hat off to you Davey, this is a fucking awesome bit of kit! 

I've always liked being able to play music outside. I've had various boomboxes, most of which are from the 1980's so sound a bit shitty when you pump them up without careful eqing. I recently got an old JVC Kaboom which is massive and absolutely pumps, but it comes at a price - huge, heavy and sucks up 10d batteries in no time.
For times when I can't be doing with lugging around a boombox I had to buy a half decent logitech portable speaker, it's not bad, but although clear the sound is reminiscent of that portable speaker sound which is just a bit unrealistic in its sound replication... and now there's this!

I think this is the bomb man, really. I probably like it more than Joe Public because I love good sound and listening outdoors, but seriously there has to be a market for this. And don't worry about the price tag, if this is half as good as it sounds it blows everything out the water and is well worth the bunts. I'll definitely buy on.
One question - How is stereo sound achieved? Are there two speakers in there? I struggle to see how, from such a small unit, wide sound can be achieved.

Props!

[Chris Scrumping]

These look amazing Dave, strong work!

I am definately interested 

[apathesis]

RE stereo, would it be possible to make it so when you connect two you got left and right instead of two mono?

because that would be amazing 

[tko]

RE stereo, would it be possible to make it so when you connect two you got left and right instead of two mono?

because that would be amazing 

You would just need a circuit bent cable

[Mix Masta Mullet]

yea, re: stereo, im sure the unit as it is has stereo, all be it in a confined space, but as matey up there said, itd be wicked to have a switch on it so when two were connected it split the stereo sound between the two.. saying that, im no tech head but that might be a bit too far-fetched to put into this at that price

[powercut]

Surely you'd just need one of these for stereo
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=stereo+splitter&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3903362230874931287&sa=X&ei=qdHUTfypJoaxhAeK1aHsCw&ved=0CDQQ8wIwAQ&biw=1024&bih=601#

[TRiBEofFRoG]

Surely you'd just need one of these for stereo
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=stereo+splitter&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3903362230874931287&sa=X&ei=qdHUTfypJoaxhAeK1aHsCw&ved=0CDQQ8wIwAQ&biw=1024&bih=601#

Dual mono does not equal Stereo.

EDIT: Ok, actually looked at the link now. Yeh that would work. At first glance it looks like one of those headphone sharing cables, but it's not.