From an electronics and amplification stand point, the Sonic Impact T-amp was a natural choice thanks to its high efficiency and relatively healthy output power. The high efficiency design of the amplifier allows us to use either a smaller battery, or to achieve longer runtimes. From an amplifier power stand point, while 10 or 12 watts per channel doesn't seem like much, many other small boom-box type devices only utilize 2-5 watt amplifiers.

So, that leads us into the speaker design portion, where the goal was to achieve a high sensitivity but also good overall fidelity. Since I wanted this to be a reasonably-sized system, I immediately knew that any 8" or larger speakers were out of the question. Also, I knew that to get the most power out of the T-amp, I wanted each channel to have a 4 ohm nominal impedance. After looking at many 5-1/4" and 6-1/2" drivers in the pro-sound, automotive, and home audio categories, I found the Dayton PA130-8. I liked this driver because of its overall sensitivity, lack of excessive XMAX that I wouldn't need, 8 ohm nominal impedance, and parameters that can achieve decent bass extension in small enclosures.

Tweeter selection was not an easy task, as I knew that I needed to have a real-world sensitivity of around 93-94 dB @ 2.83V, and that the tweeter couldn't be overly large. Since 94 dB is higher than what can be found on most standard dome-type tweeters, I had to look into pro-sound oriented tweeters that utilized waveguides or compression to achieve higher sensitivities. So, I grabbed a handful of bullet and horn tweeters of different sizes and price ranges for some quick testing. Much to my surprise, the Pyle Pro PDBT18 1" bullet horn tweeter pair offered the best combination of flat frequency response, medium-sensitivity, and low cost. Admittedly it does have a bit of a zing to it, but compared to other compression tweeters the remarkably flat frequency response more than makes up for it.