A flat-panel speaker is attached to an exterior surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) housed within a consumer electronic device. Rather than place the flat-panel speaker within a sealed speaker box and then attach the speaker box to the PCB, as is conventional, the present invention attaches the flat-panel speaker to the exterior surface of the PCB without the speaker box. Removing the speaker box allows designers to reduce the dimensions of the device, and to minimize the complexity of the device.