Hi All,

My missus is working long hours at the moment (PC type work) and last
year I bought her one of the Sony MP3 / WMA / CD players because she
liked the medium of CD (no file transfers etc) and it lasted ages (80
hrs?) on a pair of AA's, and the Sony didn't 'jog' like similar
(cheaper) solutions. ;-(

For this years 'outside office hours' use I would like to get her some
compatible portable speakers (she sometimes walks to work and can't
leave any personal property 'at' work). She also uses a Mac (with no
speakers) and wouldn't be 'allowed' (nor want) to use that as a music
centre in any case.

By compatible I mean something with reasonable battery life (like the
Sony player), and sound 'good' at reasonable 'desk' volumes
(remembering these are a 'portable' solution of course!) ;-)

Working on the 'you get's what you pays for' saying, is there anything
out there with a good 'rep' to fit the above please?

I bought a pair of 'Ross' folding speakers but with them and the
Sony at full volume the levels are only just acceptable (over
background noise etc). There is no distortion so it may be that the
input sensitivity of the speakers is be quite low (or the o/p of the
Sonly low etc).

So d-i-y question (to keep the net police happy g) is I wonder how
difficult it would be to make / buy / install a small pre-amp into
these speakers? There could be space in the enclosure but thery are
only powered by 3V and the speakers / amp are only reated at 250mW
(each) anyway (ie would it be worth it)?

Something that looks like it could be a good match (all be it fairly
expensive (for us)) is:

"JBL Harman On Tour Portable Music Box Speaker System" (big name for
small speakers eh)? ;-) (I believe these are 3W each?)

http://tinyurl.com/99dpr

Anyone heard / have any of these please, if so, what do you think of
them?

Any other (UK) options welcomed / investigated .. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. I posted similar on uk.rec.audio but as yet no reply (is there
somewhere better)? She would like a solution this year and I know many
(but not all g) of you are into tecky / audio stuff. ;-)