School bus / Tiny Home Speaker Recommendation?


Hey there,

 

I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for speakers that are no bigger than 8 or 9 inches deep as I’m worried if it’s bigger than that, I’ll hit my head on them from my bed!

 

I’ve spent the last year building out my own tiny home in a school bus and have been trying to figure out what speakers to put in.

 

The setup: I have an 13 foot by 9 foot bedroom / living room where I have run speaker wire to have speakers on each corner of the living room (4 speakers) and 2 additional speakers up front near the drivers seat. I’ll also have a subwoofer installed somewhere. Though I don’t know which yet.

 

I’ve done a lot of research and after days of googling I feel more clueless than I did when I started - so I’m posting my first post here.

 

Thank you!!

theraisin

I've been considering building a tinny home and this exact issue has been on my thoughts, as most tinny homes are no wider then 8" its hard to plan out a listening space. my conclusions are if you want the proper spatial q's, sound stage, etc. you need to go near field or have the room optimized acoustically. just about any smaller stand mounts should work fine. adding a sub for bass if you need it, note you may also use a sub to help with room nodes. 

the biggest thing to consider is room acoustic treatment to optimize room interaction. with that you can get a surprisingly large speaker in that space. bass is a concern too much will be noticeable. one other thing to consider is many tinny homes are all open so its actually a larger space to fill then you may at first consider.  its the width that is the limiting factor for most tinny homes. 

Personally I've decided to go wider with my build probably 10-12" so i wont be able to tow it as easily but I'll gain in listening space size. 

I'd recommend you use one of the room acoustic companies room size calculators ( GIK has one i believe)  and see what can fit in your space and where you may need room treatment. most of these are free to use. 

How about some active KEF LSX II speakers. These are small and supposed to be great.

LSX II | KEF USA

If you can get them to fit, LS50 II (the active version with Meta). The KEF KC62 sub would be a breeze to integrate (even wirelessly) with the sub and the LS50, not sure if the LSX has sub integration. I have the passive LS50 Meta and KC62 sub in my small office and I love it.

LS50 Wireless II | KEF USA

KC62 Subwoofer | KEF USA

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If you really want to get killer sound and ignore the dimensions of the bus, this will beat every suggestion offered including my KEF suggestion.

True Ribbon Headphones & Amplifiers | RAAL-requisite (raalrequisite.com)

- RAAL SR1a and / or CA-1a headphones. The SR1a is like 2-channel and the CA-1a is so shockingly powerful and like traditional headphones.

- RAAL-Requisite VM-1a headphone amp ($6.9K)

- RAAL-Requisite HSA-1a headphone amp ($4.5K)

- Schitt Jotenhium R headphone amp ($500)

The VM-1a amp will give you reference level sound. Some say the best headphone sound regardless of price. I do not have much headphone experience to compare. The SR1a are not like headphones though, more like 2-channel. It was better than my 2-channel speakers in my small office so I sold the speakers.

I like a cheap bright DAC with the VM-1a (Benchmark DAC3B). With the other 2 amps a warmer DAC is preferred.

BTW - I have both the SR1a and the CA-1a. I use the CA-1a when laying in bed and the SR1a when sitting up at my desk. 

For your small living room area why not consider using only two speakers with small sub? Have another set up front in driver section need not be the same speaker. Use an amplifier having two pairs of speaker outs that are selectable. 

What is budget?