Feedback on my Audio speaker

Made a concept of an audio speaker and I would like to have some feedback. The exhibition we had for the project went good but would like to have comments from people I don’t know, what’s your thoughts about the design?

Here’s the link to the project:

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing. It’s beautiful, nice work. It is a good form factor for a speaker, a well-chosen size as well for in the living room.
I feel it brings out the aesthetic of wood better when one type of wood is used, and the form is aligned with the grain.
I would have chosen to make the border thinner and out of aluminum for a more modern look and thinner back wall as well.
Laser etched controls are nice and can be made to work capacitively even with a simple Arduino, resistors and aluminum foil.
The shape of the controls does not meet the product’s shape very well, I would have made it more aligned with the grain and off-center for some asymmetry. Wasa is a bit of an unfortunate name since it’s so synonymous in Europe with breakfast crackers. Apart from these details, you have made a beautiful design and prototype.

Thanks for the good feedback, really appreciate it!

I agree in this case that the aesthetic of wood should have been used for one type of wood. The idea was to get more difference between the woods but after the oil they looked similiar to each other. The idea was to have two completely different wood colors but because of my unexperience with wood it didn’t really get the effect I wanted. I think I still would like try have different types of wood but should be a bigger differens between them than my result.

The border is made of aluminium and yes, maybe thinner to give it a modern look. I tried to make it modern more with the aluminum and the red bright colour, but should maybe have taken more focus on the aluminum as you say.

Yes, I saw that Bang & Olufsen had made controls in the wood on their latest product which gave me inspiration to laser edge the controls. Okay, I played a lot with the shape and when I did asymmetry I find it hard to make it look good and balanced because of the overall form is round and I didn’t find a good balance with the control and the name. But thanks for your insight!

True, the name is well known for the breakfast crackers which can be bad for the product to maybe have the same name. The idea behind the name is that I love boat names. Many people who has a boat have put a name that mean something for them, maybe their childerns name or something that makes the boat feel more like a human. I then came up with the idea of Wasa because of a famous ship in Sweden was called “Wasa-skeppet”. But yes, I agree it maybe is a bad name to take because it is already a well known name. The idea also was if I did more products in this theme they all should have had names similiar to boat names.

Thanks again for the feedback, means a lot to me.

Thanks a lot, kyle.

I am glad you liked the design and yes, it looks very good on the wall as well.

I did this work on my exhange in Glasgow in a project we had at the University. It’s basically just a concept but we had to make it look like it could be working and I know if I take it further it could work very good. I am currently studying Master programme in Industrial design engineering so it’s hard to but money in it at the moment but the idea is to show it to people and see the reaction. Maybe someone would like to invest and make it real with me. The feedback from lots of people has been great. Many who has seen the model in reality has said as you are saying and want to buy one.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Do you have any specs/drawings on how it would work? How will the components fit? What is the assembly process?

Yes it looks nice but same as iab, where are the components? Without an attempt to define internal components then it’s just a nice work of art like you describe it. So here’s a good & fun challenge. Do your own project but this time buy an audio speaker and design the housing using your same premise. Scandinavian design, unique and timeless, etc. At the end if you do it right you should have a beautiful working speaker. This will test your abilities as a designer and we’ll be able to provide better feedback.

Here is a good example of a design that takes into account the internal components and acoustic volume needed in a speaker. Keep in mind sound waves are created by moving air. There more air there is in the speaker, the louder it plays.

This speaker is called the w7. It has a front firing mid woofer and two front firing tweeters, as well as a side firing tweeter on each side and a bass radiator on each side. It is approximately 7" cube with an extruded and post machined aluminum base. Give you a little insight into how complex it can be to make a smaller speaker sound really good.



Another important aspect to any speaker, active or passive, is the I/O panel. This is a wireless speaker, yet see how much is on the I/O panel.
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Cool render Yo! Interesting that the passive radiators have their own baskets, something I haven’t seen before.

I too would like to see an I/O panel. Even a Bluetooth or Wifi is going to need some space to mount a power input, switch, and maybe an Aux in. An internal power supply would take up some space as well…

Another great thing to see would be a complementary sub woofer - I could see this wall mount unit being OK for mid- to high-range, especially with DSP tuning, but there doesn’t seem to be enough volume (empty air) in the box to really give it the warm full sound I’d be expecting. The design is definitely making a statement, and gives me a mental idea of how the box should perform. I think if I saw it in a room paired with a sub woofer I’d be much more inclined to sit down and have a listen.

About the fabric - as the driver moves air in and out across the fabric, it tends to gather dust. Red fabric will start to look worn pretty quickly. Black, as boring as it is, seems to be a standard in the audio world for good reason. I think black fabric against your metal trim would’ve looked pretty great. It looks like you briefly considered it, judging from your workshop shots. Maybe a render or two exploring different color ways would be worth some of your time?

I appreciate the time and thought you put into this project, but I question the form aesthetic - especially when seeing it laying flat on a dining table - it makes me wonder how many users might accidentally lay a hot lasagna on it thinking its a hotplate (my kids would). That type of misconception is something we designers need to think through in the early phases of a project and couples nicely with the comments above regarding internals and air movement - we recently did some work for PRS guitars (amps in particular) and I can attest to the need for an air chamber. Maybe as a post-project circle-back you could take those two complaints into account and show us what you might refine and how.

Thanks for all the feedback. I will answer in 3 days, very busy now. Thanks again!

Really cool idea! I really liked the new form you’re trying out for a portable speaker and really appreciated the craftsmanship in putting together your model. The way you mounted it to the wall reminds me of some of the in-wall home theater Bose speakers with an open back which use the space and available air within the walls to their advantage. This available air will let the speaker sound much better and hiding most of the speaker in the wall allows it to maintain the same thin mounting look you’re going for here without compromising sound quality! It’s really refreshing to compare the use of natural materials in your design to the white painted aluminum and plastic of the Bose ones below.

As others have said, this speaker would not physically work because speakers require air to move sound. This speaker is too thin to be able to do that.

Sorry for very late answer! I don’t have any specs or drawings on how it would work. The work was mainly on focusing on the design, after the comments here I are going in my next Project Always try to make it work too. I have had a few people now that want me to make it real, I am going to take it further and then maybe have to change some things to make it work. Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for the tips! Yes, I have definitely learned from your comments here that if it doesn’t work it is just a nice work of art. I tried to leave so much space as I thought was needed to make it work but I can’t be sure it works with this design. Yes, that’s a good challenge and I am going from now on always try to make my projects “real” and not just about the design. It tests the abilities as a designer as you say. I have had several phone calls from people who want me to make it real. I find it hard at the moment to find time for it but I hope I can give it a try! Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks a lot! Yes, it seems very complex to make small speakers sound really good. As I have now written Before I haven’t thought more about the internal Components more than just tried to leave so much space/air for the speaker as possible. We didn’t have to make it work in our class, just focusing on the design. Also as I have said now Before is that if I going to make a speaker again I wouldn’t just make it look good, also sound good. I might take this design further and make try to make it work. What I have seen on the market I found much smaller speaker that sounds very good, so I didn’t Think during the process that it would be that hard to make it work. Thanks again for the feedback and explaination!

Really appreciate your time you put into this comment! Thanks a lot (Sorry for late answer).

Yes, as I have now written again I haven’t considered the internal Components. I have just looked on todays market and tried to make it same size or even bigger than many of them to really make sure it could work if I take it further. I have learned now from the comments that it can be really though to make it work because of the size. It would be a great challenge to make it work and maybe it wouldn’t give as good sound because of the size. If I try to make it real I might try to make it bigger and only having it on a wall, Another comment here suggested to mount it “in” the wall to get more air, which is a great idea and might work.

Great comment about the fabric, something I definetely miss when choosing fabric. I wanted to make the speaker stand out and make a statement, that’s why I choose red but it is probably better to take black or something darker so it don’t look bad after a while. I did consider a lot with the black fabric!

Thanks a lot for the comment!

Thanks for the comment, very helpful and something I didn’t thought of. It is maybe not a good idea to have it on a dining room as you say, especially if you have to move it all the time and you might not want to have something that probably cost a lot close to your food too… The idea to have it on tables was that during parties or just hanging out with friends we sometimes didn’t have a speaker so we used our mobile phones and had Music from it, we Always put it in the middle of the table. I didn’t find to many speaker that is made to be in the middle of a table or on a table. It’s one of my first Projects I do so I really appreciate the comments and time you all spend to give feedback. If I am going to make it work I Think I am going to mount it on the wall and probably do it bigger or different sizes. I am Thinking of making it real as a last/final Project we have for 6 months, would be a great challenge and fun to do. I am happy I seemed to succeed with the design as people seems to like it which was the aim for the Project at first. Thanks again for the feedback!

Thanks a lot! I am glad you liked the new form. Yes, and it’s a great idea to take advantage of that, it is as the other have said maybe it is too thin speaker to make the air move. I have though found speakers that is much smaller than mine and with good sound. Thanks for a great comment, something I am going to consider if I take it further.