Noah's Speakers

Last fall Noah, buddy from work, and I decided to build a pair of small, single driver, desktop speakers.  In the past I have built numerous subwoofers, a nice set of towers, and a similar pair of single driver, tiny speakers.


For the driver we chose a Tang Band W3-1053SC from Parts Express, it's a 3" full-range speaker.  Noah designed a vented enclosure with internal dimensions of 4" x 4" x 13" and a 1" x 3" port.  The enclosure is made of 1/2" MDF.  A 500uF NPE capacitor is wired in series with the driver to attenuate low frequencies that would not play nice with the small speaker.

Half a year later, I finally finished the speakers and gave them to Noah.  Here's a look at the project:

Almost finished... soldering terminal cups to the

Tang Band full range drivers.

The finished speakers.  Noah picked a

slate blue paint for the cabinets.

Port and driver on the front, terminal cup on the back.

How do they sound?  We've only listened to them once so far and that was in a less than optimal setup, prior to the speakers having any break in time.  First impressions were good.  Noah played a piano only track that was very clear and detailed to my ears.  I think the lower frequency response will improve as the speakers break in, but they are showing potential to play lower than their size would suggest.  I look forward to listening to them more!