Portable speakers for the outdoors?

[potato]

I've had an idea for a little while for a product, and was wondering if something like this already exists.

Basically it would be a set of speakers that meets these criteria:
-Lightweight (<4 oz) and compact
-Somewhat durable and water resistant
-Max volume is sacrificed in favor of sound quality.
-Reasonable battery life

I know that small, quiet speakers with excellent sound quality and bass tones exist; earbuds do this. What I am proposing is like a couple steps up from earbuds. Just loud enough so that if you are in the wilderness in complete silence (or maybe mild rain), you can set up these speakers and comfortably listen to some background music. I think if a product like this exists, most urban users will complain that it is not loud enough, and that's cool with me because I don't have to compete with a lot of background noise. A cell phone speaker is more than loud enough but the quality is no good (at least on mine?)

I know I can just use earbuds, they are lighter and smaller, and this is already what I do. But I prefer to listen to music without putting something in my ears, and I prefer not to block out whatever ambient noise surrounds me in the wilderness. I also don't like the physical restriction of being attached to my cell phone with a wire that gets snagged on things.

I also know that many people consider it irritating to encounter someone who is blasting music on a hike, myself included, but I think the quiet volume of these speakers would prevent you from hearing much of anything unless you were quite close to them.

[Stefrobrts]

I have a set of these:

http://luckybums.com/musicstrap.aspx

I keep them on my day pack, and like to listen (quietly) to music while walking my dogs or walking home from work. I got them because I figured a little music would be nice, but I didn't want to wear earbuds in an urban environment (where I should be listening for cars). The sound is good, the battery life seems to be good, and they have endured being sprinkled on without any noticeable issues.

There is also this vest with integrated speakers for runners.

http://www.roadnoise.com/

Which also would meet your requirements of small, low volume, weather resistant. These are made by a local company I believe.


If you just want something to use when at at camp, I also have one of these:

http://www.hmdxaudio.com/hmdx-collectio ... eaker.html

They are rechargable through USB port, and the charge lasts quite a while. Sounds really good too, which surprised me considering I'm playing stereo music through a single speaker.

There are a lot of little speaker options out there right now. Hopefully this gives you some ideas of what's out there. It's a competitive marketplace for speakers.

[Koda]

I've seen a few portable compact speaker systems.


this one weighs 7 ounces (ea., you only need one...)
http://www.amazon.com/XBOOM-Portable-Re ... s+portable



consider that given the size, left/right stereo speakers might not be needed in favor of one contained quality speaker. Also, unless your thinking of hiking in the rain I would put more value in a carry case than waterproofness I see the idea as more of a campsite luxury.

[potato]

Thanks for the links. I will check these out.

It's hard to get a feel for the sound quality before purchasing. A lot of the music I listen to has a high level of detail in the bass range, and the problem I experience with cheaper systems in general is that I can't hear these important parts of the music at all. Which is why I hope there is an option that does NOT try to make as loud of a sound as possible for its size (many of these speakers are like "it will fill the whole room!" -- great, but not what I care about in this case). Keep the overall power consumption the same as a "loud" set, but turn down the volume and transfer some of that energy into the bass region of the spectrum

[renegadepilgrim]

www.tembotrunks.com (currently on sale for $10...can't beat that!)

Not quite speakers but super light!

[kepPNW]

http://www.tembotrunks.com (currently on sale for $10...can't beat that!)

Not quite speakers but super light!

Okay, that got my attention! Do those really work? How about with aftermarket ear buds? That'd be pretty cool, to totally leave the batteries behind.

[renegadepilgrim]

http://www.tembotrunks.com (currently on sale for $10...can't beat that!)

Not quite speakers but super light!

Okay, that got my attention! Do those really work? How about with aftermarket ear buds? That'd be pretty cool, to totally leave the batteries behind.

Well, you could mimic the idea by using cardboard and see if it works...it makes sense to me...and I am pretty sure aftermarket earbuds will work fine. For $10 plus shipping, I'd give it a try...I was more concerned about the stated weight. It seems off to me...

[potato]

If anyone has any of these speaker sets, would you mind doing a test for me?

Play this youtube video and see how low of a frequency you can hear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5XAU2IJEPU

When I use the earbuds that I like, I can hear down to 30 Hz and that's great, but with cheap computer speakers it's pretty inaudible at 75 Hz. It renders a lot of my music worthless when you cut out that range.

[retired jerry]

weird - my computer speakers get nothing at 100 Hz and below

earbuds - 20 Hz although it may actually just be harmonics?

[potato]

I ended up getting the FoxL speaker from a company called SoundMatters. It's 10 ounces so not as light as I would have liked, but it sounds awesome. Hiked with it from mile 702 to 1334. It was my favorite luxury item. There's another lighter/thinner version called the Dash7 and I'd like to try that one out too