Any experience with those Mini-Speakers?

I need sound to come from different sources/directions, for an installation of sorts, and it's outdoors. I could use bigger regular speakers that require a power source and hook those up to an mp3 player, but they are harder to hide and also more difficult to protect from rain, also the cables could be discovered and followed.

The sounds that will be playing will mostly be noises that sound like movement in the shrubbery, crackling branches and leaves, as well as objects/rocks being smashed far away (like the infamous night-noises we all know from Blair Witch), perhaps with a bit of artificial reverb. Now I wonder ... do I need bigger speakers or will these get the job done, if installed at the right distance?

Also I wonder how quickly they drain the battery power from an mp3 player (full volume). They should last at least five hours.

http://cgi.ebay.de/Stereo-Mini-Lautsprecher-MP3-Player-Discman-/370419020948?pt=MP3_Player_Zubeh%C3%B6r&hash=item563eb1b494

No very loud but they'll do the job (unless the have batteries, then they could be quite loud). Quality is crap, but in a place where you're using those speakers no one is going to care.

The people are supposed to think they're hearing genuine noises, not coming from speakers. They won't have time to stand still and listen to them though as they will only be producing sounds every once in a while. I imagined the higher frequency sounds like the branch- and bush-crackling could work with these crap quality speakers while anything that's more bass-heavy will sound noticeably fake... So maybe I could use one set of better speakers further away in a place where no one would find it, but still give these cheap ones a try?

they're shit. if they're more than a dollar dont buy em

They're like three dollars. When you buy more than one, the postage costs goes down. I need at least one for another part of the installation where there are supposed to be subtler noises coming from behind a locked door, in a room without power source. For that they should be fine. I tried it with headphones turned up to the highest volume, even that sounded alright, just a little too quiet...

Yeah but for the other thing, I guess I could also try to have just one mp3-player/amplifier and use like super long speaker cables to put the speakers a good distance apart and then address them separately via right and left channel. That oughta sound better than these tiny guys. Wireless speakers would be even better, maybe I can borrow some.

  On 9/9/2010 at 6:14 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

I imagined the higher frequency sounds like the branch- and bush-crackling could work with these crap quality speakers while anything that's more bass-heavy will sound noticeably fake

This. However, high-freq sounds are much more directional to the ear, so if you have a sub or two somewhere, it might work really well.

This sounds like an awesome project, more info?

I searched through some closets in my house and found four big battery powered speakers - the things you already own and have no idea about ... They should be much better.

The project is the followup to something I did last year, which resulted in a film that will hopefully be online and public at some point. I'll tell you more about everything when I have a clearer idea about what is going to happen.

One more question - Is there something like a transmitter/receiver that can be bought separately and plugged into the output of the source and the input of the speakers, instead of a cable? I don't want to buy an entire wireless speaker system. I could always try and hide the cables really well but it would make things a lot easier if there were none at all.

It depends on the distance you're trying to cover. I haven't tried the various bluetooth wireless solutions but it seems like they are about $100 a pop (stereo) and the sound doesn't travel too far, but at least it's digital. There's also these VHF systems (the lapel version), which I have been eying for some time but have no experience with. (http://www.dak.com/Reviews/2030Story.cfm $50/channel)

After that price goes up exponentially for UHF equipment, which will have better to way better range.

you could try something like that with an amp

like this

http://www.qualityelectronicsdepot.net/servlet/the-18141/DSI-STEREO-AMP-fdsh-SPEAKER/Detail

  On 9/12/2010 at 9:28 AM, ojkewin said:

you could try something like that with an amp

like this

http://www.qualityelectronicsdepot.net/servlet/the-18141/DSI-STEREO-AMP-fdsh-SPEAKER/Detail

That's a good thing to know. Would have been perfect, but I guess the battery powered speakers I found will do a job just as good.

  On 9/12/2010 at 4:46 AM, A/D said:

It depends on the distance you're trying to cover. I haven't tried the various bluetooth wireless solutions but it seems like they are about $100 a pop (stereo) and the sound doesn't travel too far, but at least it's digital. There's also these VHF systems (the lapel version), which I have been eying for some time but have no experience with. (http://www.dak.com/Reviews/2030Story.cfm $50/channel)

 

After that price goes up exponentially for UHF equipment, which will have better to way better range.

That's not overly expensive but regarding that I have already spent a little more than I wanted to on the whole project, and I have to buy some other stuff as well, I think I'll be going either with the battery speakers or I will try to hide at least some cables so I will have remote control about when they're gonna be producing sounds.

Looks like the best version of the little things from my original post. I'm still gonna use the stuff I found in the closet and already have though, but I guess they're the best choice for anyone planning to play their music in the back of the bus to annoy people. Thanks everyone!

  On 9/13/2010 at 2:02 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

Looks like the best version of the little things from my original post. I'm still gonna use the stuff I found in the closet and already have though, but I guess they're the best choice for anyone planning to play their music in the back of the bus to annoy people. Thanks everyone!

about x5 louder with a surprising bass, metal cones, fold out bass box = quite incredible for the size

they look nice - I wonder if they are much better than the build in iphone speakers