Need advice on speakers for a very unique situation (studying hyenas in Kenya)

[mamafisi]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice on a good set of speakers for my research on spotted hyenas. I have some possibly silly requirements. Here they are:

- Excellent sound quality that has high fidelity (I need the sounds coming out to be close to what the hyenas normally hear and what I recorded originally)
- battery powered or rechargeable (no power except solar out there)
- compact (small enough to lift easily and be able play in a car window)
- Easy volume control (I need to be able to play the sounds at a standard dB. I'll standardize the recordings and whatever device I am playing from, but I need to be able to precisely set the volume and leave it)
- Loud (I'll be playing the hyena's long-distance call: whoops)
- Decent battery life (I likely won't find enough animals to do more than a few playback experiments a day, but I can't afford to have the sound quality or volume decline as the batteries first begin to lose power)
- Price <$500 (as a graduate student, the cheaper, the better. I'd prefer to stick around $300)

Thank you in advance! Let me know if there are any specs I may be missing. I'm happy to answer any questions!

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice on a good set of speakers for my research on spotted hyenas. I have some possibly silly requirements. Here they are:

- Excellent sound quality that has high fidelity (I need the sounds coming out to be close to what the hyenas normally hear and what I recorded originally)
- battery powered or rechargeable (no power except solar out there)
- compact (small enough to lift easily and be able play in a car window)
- Easy volume control (I need to be able to play the sounds at a standard dB. I'll standardize the recordings and whatever device I am playing from, but I need to be able to precisely set the volume and leave it)
- Loud (I'll be playing the hyena's long-distance call: whoops)
- Decent battery life (I likely won't find enough animals to do more than a few playback experiments a day, but I can't afford to have the sound quality or volume decline as the batteries first begin to lose power)
- Price <$500 (as a graduate student, the cheaper, the better. I'd prefer to stick around $300)

Thank you in advance! Let me know if there are any specs I may be missing. I'm happy to answer any questions!

That's not going to happen at $500. You need to look at car audio. First of all you can't get high power just from a battery. The voltage at the output stage determines max power. So you need an inverter to get high power output. This is what the high power car audio enthusiasts use. The vehicles electrical system will likely need modification, such as a bigger alternator and the addition of capacitors.

The speaker system will likely need to be custom and good if you want to fool an animal. A roof location would likely be preferable to through window.

This is not a simple project and you need expert professional help if this is going to be a successful project.

Mobile, high power and accurate is a formidable undertaking. It is not simple at all if your specification has to be met.