Virginia Tech/DISIS "Ladybugs"

[Dusty Chalk]

I know, right?

Anyway, it's a home-made speaker system based on an Ikea salad bowl, some Pioneer car speakers and some corresponding digital amps. The salad bowl is inverted, drilled holes through, and acts as the enclosure.

parts list

videos, including construction of the speakers

I think it's pretty obvious that I was initially drawn to this because of the music-making-in-linux aspect, but since the speaker is polydirectional, that ended up interesting me, too.

I guess the big question is, is it optimal? I presume they picked car speakers for their ability to project (I.E. go loud), but I'm not as interested in that as I am in fidelity, so immediately, my first thought is full-rangers. Or at least better car speakers (being partial to Focal, I'd probably swing that way).

I'm actually not that far away from VA Tech, could probably swing by for a listen.

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh yeah, absolutely, that goes without saying -- the whole project is being done on a budget. But I still think some thought went into the choice. Could be wrong, though.