Best sound quality computer speakers I can fit in a suitcase?

[nomadic mujer]

Hello friends,

Forgive my ignorance as I know little to nothing about speakers. I live in the Himalayas of northern India where I have been volunteering for the last 4 years and expect to stay until i die. I am heading back shortly as I have now sold my home and all i own. Life is quite basic there, electriclty perhaps 6 hours a day, internet out sometimes for months at a time due to avalanches, bucket showers, but darn it, I want to go back with the best quality speakers I can get for less than $300 that won't take up all my room in the suitcase. Currently music comes from a USB on my macair. New speakers I could plug in or go bluetooth, though I have read that bluetooth compromises a lot of quality. The smaller the easier for me to transport but I want to enjoy the music. I have a jbl flip 2 my brother gave me a few years ago but the base sounds weird to me. Thanks for your help.

 

[Pogre]

Damn. Now there's some dedication for good audio! lol

I don't have any good suggestions, but your op is so unique I had to reply. You'll get some better answers. Just hang tight.

 

[nomadic mujer]

Thanks!! You brightened my day!!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I don't know if they fit size, but they do fit the budget and have excellent sound quality:
http://www.vanatoo.com/store/speakers/new-transparent-zero-black
http://noaudiophile.com/Vanatoo_Transparent_Zero/

You may not have time to wait until these become more available, but if you're interested, I'd contact the vendor directly to see if they would be willing to sell you maybe a demo model.

 

[nomadic mujer]

wow, they look great but would sure take up most of the room in my luggage...i will look into it but realistically should consider smaller. Thanks so much for your thoughts..

 

[rojo]

@nomadic mujer: Best SQ with a small footprint and limited budget would of course be headphones. You'll get profoundly better sound quality out of $200 headphones than you will from $300 loudspeakers, especially any that would easily fit in a suitcase.

If you must have desktop speakers, then I'd recommend building a pair of Jeff Bagby's Quarks and powering them with a cheap little T amp of some sort. At 6.5"x5"x4.5" they ought to fit easily into a suitcase. Measurements here.

Or the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors look pretty interesting. They're 7" tall, built-in amplification, and have an F3 of 55Hz. Manufacturer-supplied measurement graph indicates a flat response, although the graph probably has some somewhat deceptive smoothing applied:

Or there's also the Audioengine A2+ which are claimed to have a 65Hz - 22kHz +/- 2dB response (although Sound and Vision's measurements seem to disagree, as do Brent Butterworth's) in the smallest enclosure mentioned thus far at 6”(H) x 4”(W) x 5.25”(D). They're even cheaper if you don't mind used.

Or if you can accommodate 8" x 7" x 4.5", the PSB Alpha PS1 (new | used) offer a flatter response than the Audioengine (according to Butterworth's measurements), albeit with a higher F3 of 80 Hz. Still well worth considering, as the difference between 65Hz and 80Hz is only a blue note.

 

[mtrycrafts]

wow, they look great but would sure take up most of the room in my luggage.....

You need a larger luggage They come in a variety of sizes.

 

[shadyJ]

I would just get some robust headphones with their own sturdy case. Speakers might not take well to the jostle of constant travel, not to mention the humidity. Ear buds might be an even better idea.

 

[nomadic mujer]

Thanks all for the info. I liked the Audioengine A2+ and have seen them mentioned in several places. That is certainly as large as I could handle.

I am not sure what is being suggested regarding headphones. I have a laptop where music is stored. I want music around me where I can here it...if I have headphones, dont I need to be plugged into my computer? or are they bluetooth..not sure what is being suggested.

And to clarify ShadyJ, it is just one time travel to get there. I live there, in the Himalayas at 12,000 feet, high and dry cold desert. We just dont have a lot available there so if I want something in my home, I need to take it with me.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Thanks all for the info. I liked the Audioengine A2+ and have seen them mentioned in several places. That is certainly as large as I could handle

Here's the review. It's not very impressive tbh.
http://noaudiophile.com/AudioEngine_A2_Plus/

I am not sure what is being suggested regarding headphones. I have a laptop where music is stored. I want music around me where I can here it...if I have headphones, dont I need to be plugged into my computer? or are they bluetooth..not sure what is being suggested.

Not sure what your concern is about wired headphones. Yes they need to be plugged in just like speakers would, but to provide great sound they don't need to be very large and take much less space in the luggage. Just like motorcycles are much faster than most cars yet have typically much smaller engines.
Also your concerns about quality of bluetooth are somewhat outdated. Yes, early versions were pretty bad, but not modern Bluetooth is actually quite good. I'm still old school and prefer wire since I don't need yet another gadget which must be charged to use, but it's not really about quality anymore, especially with such tight constraints. If wireless/hands is a must then you should seriously consider set of good BT headphones like https://rbhsound.com/hp1b.php or if budget allows Sennheiser Momentum 2.

And to clarify ShadyJ, it is just one time travel to get there. I live there, in the Himalayas at 12,000 feet, high and dry cold desert. We just dont have a lot available there so if I want something in my home, I need to take it with me.

I think that part we all get that part.

 

[MrBoat]

I would take the speakers of my choice, disassemble them, break the cabinets down or make a copy of the cabinets into a flat pack, and reassemble/build them once I got there. Or I would buy a ready to assemble kit.

Or. . . .take the drivers out, and fill the cabinets with other items you need to take, so that they are not displacing as much room in your luggage.

Or. . . .just take the drivers and the crossover boards, wiring etc, and take the dimensions of the cabinets and build them once you get there with local materials, even if you have to rive the wood from a tree yourself. Typically, those out of the way places have a very inventive and industrious people. Do your homework and see what skills reside there.

 

[KEW]

I have a jbl flip 2 my brother gave me a few years ago but the bass sounds weird to me.

I think the Flip2 (which I have) is a pretty decent speaker given the size constraints, but with only 1.75" drivers, there is no way it can produce any decent bass at any volume.

What I am getting at is you cannot get decent bass from such a small speaker! The good news is that you have lots of room for improvement!

That said, I would suggest you check out the Presonus Ceres 3.5BT (around $120 from Amazon):
https://www.amazon.com/Presonus-C3-5BT-Powered-Speakers-Bluetooth/dp/B00N55NS4W?th=1
http://www.audiorumble.com/presonus-ceres-c35-review/

They are compact with 3.5" woofers (for comparison, the AudioEngine 2+ has 2.75" woofers), and a 7/8" tweeter with protective metal grills. These are what I would buy in your situation.
If you are currently in the USA, you can get these from Amazon and return them (Amazon pays return shipping) within 30 days if you don't like them, so you don't have anything to lose!

The AudioEngine 2+ is not a bad product, but the Ceres 3.5BT at half the price matches it and adds deeper bass!

Each speaker measures: 8.3 x 5.6 x 6.4" (210 x 141 x 162 mm) and 6.1 lbs for the pair.

Note: A larger speaker will get you deeper bass. I don't know what your size limits are. I have these and can say they are excellent sounding speakers and a bargain for what they cost. I use mine when I go on trips in combination with a padded camera bag!

 

[KEW]

One concern I have is with your occasional power availability, I wonder how good the power is when you do have it? Do you often have failures of equipment due to line variations.
You may need something with a more rigorous power supply than routine home/pro audio products offer!?

 

[killdozzer]

Perhaps I'm just overthinking it, but at that height shouldn't you consider thinner air and perhaps get something that... ...hmmm... has pronounced bass, or would it be pronounced highs? And then expect to be evened out up there.

 

[nomadic mujer]

Thanks again all!!

Ok, I am beginning to learn just how outdated and ignorant I am in this area.I have been living in remote areas for a decade now. Glad to hear that bluetooth technology is pretty close to wired now in terms of quality. That opens a lot more options! Ok, recomendations on best "portable" bluetooth speakers?

Headphones a great idea but not ideal for where I live and would be a bit shocking to that culture, so I want to stick with some speakers.

Disasembling great idea as well, but not sure i am up to it. So, best speakers, wired or bluetooth, I am thinking 8 inches max. The Ceres is 15x8x11, just too big.

The Audio Engine 2+ are acceptable size, a bit heavy. I know I am asking a lot, small size, best audio quality, under $300, etc.

So far in the last four years the power coming and going has not bothered any of my electronics, everything runs fine, i just have to plug in and charge whenever i can. If you want to chack out photos of where I live, a magical place, google Kelly and Ladakh. Thanks all for your help...keep thinking and I appreciate all the ideas!!

 

[BMXTRIX]

You definitely should get some B&W 801D speakers.

You WILL need a larger suitcase though.

 

[slipperybidness]

Thanks again all!!

Ok, I am beginning to learn just how outdated and ignorant I am in this area.I have been living in remote areas for a decade now. Glad to hear that bluetooth technology is pretty close to wired now in terms of quality. That opens a lot more options! Ok, recomendations on best "portable" bluetooth speakers?

Headphones a great idea but not ideal for where I live and would be a bit shocking to that culture, so I want to stick with some speakers.

Disasembling great idea as well, but not sure i am up to it. So, best speakers, wired or bluetooth, I am thinking 8 inches max. The Ceres is 15x8x11, just too big.

The Audio Engine 2+ are acceptable size, a bit heavy. I know I am asking a lot, small size, best audio quality, under $300, etc.

So far in the last four years the power coming and going has not bothered any of my electronics, everything runs fine, i just have to plug in and charge whenever i can. If you want to chack out photos of where I live, a magical place, google Kelly and Ladakh. Thanks all for your help...keep thinking and I appreciate all the ideas!!

Honestly, I don't think you are gonna do better than post #12.

Just maybe the Mackie CR-3. But, I think the Presonus are better for you due to those metal grills.
https://www.amazon.com/Mackie-CR-CR3-Reference-Multimedia/dp/B00KVEIY4E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1496166367&sr=8-3&keywords=mackie+cr3

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Honestly, I don't think you are gonna do better than post #12.

Just maybe the Mackie CR-3. But, I think the Presonus are better for you due to those metal grills.
https://www.amazon.com/Mackie-CR-CR3-Reference-Multimedia/dp/B00KVEIY4E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1496166367&sr=8-3&keywords=mackie+cr3

http://noaudiophile.com/Mackie_CR3/

 

[slipperybidness]

http://noaudiophile.com/Mackie_CR3/

Yup, I've seen that. I have those CR3 in my garage, they are fine for a garage.

I have not seen that new Vonatoo Zero, however. That looks interesting, and those are very diminutive. I was fairly impressed with the Transparent One.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Pending NoAudiophile review, I think given it's tiny size and advertised solid performance https://www.amazon.com/IK-Multimedia-Monitors-Ultra-compact-Reference/dp/B01C5RZWCQ these are/should be front runners. That said I do get the gut feeling that there is something too good to be true about these. I could be wrong thou.