Speaker experiments

MNT Reform
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As promised in the LTE modem thread, I tried mounting two of these OWS-131845W50A-8 speakers on the outside of the laptop chassis, under the overhang. Compared to the Pocket speaker mod @josch did, they are quieter and tinnier. Overall the effect is worse, though I was initially hopeful based on tests using a Dune 2 trailer where the whispered “Paul” it opens with came through quite clearly on the OWS while sounding muffled to the point of being unintelligible on the Pocket speakers. But there’s basically no bass with the OWS speakers, which became clear when I tried to listen to Axel F. It sounded pretty good with the Pocket speaker mode and way too harsh and tinny on the OWS speakers. Where my ears are concerned, there’s no contest between the two.

I did also buy a pair of SM360508-2 speakers to try as well. They’re overall bigger, but still thin enough to fit inside the case, parallel to the motherboard. I’ll report back in this thread once I’ve had a chance to try those.

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Alright, I didn’t know anything about speaker enclosure design before starting here, and now I’m at least aware of its importance. Speakers without enclosures, it turns out, just generally sound quiet and terrible. The SM360508-2 speakers sounded marginally better taped to the bottom of my laptop than the OWS speakers did taped to the front; there was not nearly as much difference as I’d expected given their sizes and specs.

I am going to continue using the Pocket speaker mod for now, and I’m going to put this line of inquiry on the back burner, so to speak. If I return to it, I’ll be testing the speakers outside the laptop first, and I’ll be experimenting more with different enclosures.