Mt 9-year old is one of the top street performers in the world. When she performs she usually uses a Street Cube EX. Problem was her crowds were getting so big that they surrounded her 360 degrees. So when we turned up so that the people on the sides and rear could hear her, it was too loud for the people in front. Also, we were getting a lot of distortion because the little street cube EX just wasn't powerful enough. Even so, we had a few visits from the police with their Db meter saying that we were too loud and they would citation us if we didn't urn it down.
So, knowing it's all about sound distribution, I was forced to design and build her two 360 degree speaker enclosures and I was blown away as were others. People can't believe the great sound. The police came to check us out but we were under the limit and they were like..."but how is it so loud?: and, "It sounds fabulous, how did you do it?"
Am I allowed to post the link to my YouTube tutorial here so that you guys can take a look? I don't want to break the rules so I will wait until I get an OK. And, no, nor trying to get views as I could care less. Just trying to share in case any others want to duplicate my efforts. It may make great hi-fi sound system too?
I was working 80 hours a week when I built it so you will have to excuse the occasional loss of memory but as you with kids know, a parent will do anything for their little one. Let me know and I will post it.
Thanks, John
So, knowing it's all about sound distribution, I was forced to design and build her two 360 degree speaker enclosures and I was blown away as were others. People can't believe the great sound. The police came to check us out but we were under the limit and they were like..."but how is it so loud?: and, "It sounds fabulous, how did you do it?"
Am I allowed to post the link to my YouTube tutorial here so that you guys can take a look? I don't want to break the rules so I will wait until I get an OK. And, no, nor trying to get views as I could care less. Just trying to share in case any others want to duplicate my efforts. It may make great hi-fi sound system too?
I was working 80 hours a week when I built it so you will have to excuse the occasional loss of memory but as you with kids know, a parent will do anything for their little one. Let me know and I will post it.
Thanks, John
Please go ahead and post it.Thanks @jazbo8
You will have to excuse the title..."Best In The World" as my daughter and her mom posted this and she is obviously proud of her daddy. And, again, excuse the fact I was literally sleep deprived because of my heavy work load calling nuts, bolts and forgetting where I was...Lol! Anyway here it is. If anyone wants particulars I'll be happy to help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-2N0YoYO8
And if you want to hear how these bad boys sound click on the right photo at the end of the video which will take you to a performance using the new speaker system. It's truly amazing. Thank you for your time.
John
You will have to excuse the title..."Best In The World" as my daughter and her mom posted this and she is obviously proud of her daddy. And, again, excuse the fact I was literally sleep deprived because of my heavy work load calling nuts, bolts and forgetting where I was...Lol! Anyway here it is. If anyone wants particulars I'll be happy to help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-2N0YoYO8
And if you want to hear how these bad boys sound click on the right photo at the end of the video which will take you to a performance using the new speaker system. It's truly amazing. Thank you for your time.
John
PS: I also wanted to say that if you listen to any of her other vids with these speakers the distortion you are hearing is a result of the compressor we had attached to her mix board. We tried every which way to adjust the compressor but nothing worked. So we finally took the compressor off the system and the distortion went away. Now the sounds is phenomenal. I even brought them in the house and hooked them up t the stereo system and the sound was amazing. But since I'm not a hi-fi buff, I can really give an expert opinion on that. But I can tell you with certainty for a live gig, pound for pound, I have never found another speaker system that even comes close. I'm powering this with a pretty decent amp and she only plays at 1/4 volume. When I crank it up it can be heard for blocks and still remain clear.
@Chris, yes I will get the model numbers of amp and mix board and post later when I return home.
@Sonce, speaker cabinet builders use mathematical formulas to determine speaker enclosures and size of ports as was done on this design. As an ME I do not profess to be an expert speaker enclosure builder. However, like most engineers, I'm anal about research and consultation with experts in a given field whom possess more knowledge than myself to get it right the first time. Hence, I can assure you the enclosure, ports and even the use of leather-backed sheepskin meet design spec criterion for speaker enclosures per the engineers I consulted with.
Furthermore, regarding the conical shape (Pile cone cap) mounted in the bottom, that too has a purpose...Speaker cabinet builders go to great lengths to try and keep sound/air from bouncing off the interior walls of which, more often than not, eventually finds its way to the back of the speaker cone thereby influencing the free, natural movement of same resulting in diminished sound quality.
Without said Pile cone cap mounted on the bottom of the cabinet, the air/sound would hit the bottom of the bucket and bounce back up to the speaker cone resulting in diminished sound quality. With the Pile cone cap mounted on the bottom, the air/sound is deflected right out of the ports without any air/sound deflected back to the speaker cone thereby resulting in increased sound quality.
Also, once the overall dimension of the ideal size port was determined via mathematical calculation it was purposely divided by six which resulted in six smaller ports. This too was for a reason....it is a 360 degree cabinet meant to project sound 360 degrees. If you just had one or a couple of bass ports as you suggest, then only the audience in-line with the trajectory of those ports would get the bass (low-end) sound. With smaller ports equally spaced around the unit the entire crowd can enjoy the same quality 360 degree full-range sound regardless of where they are standing.
@Sonce, speaker cabinet builders use mathematical formulas to determine speaker enclosures and size of ports as was done on this design. As an ME I do not profess to be an expert speaker enclosure builder. However, like most engineers, I'm anal about research and consultation with experts in a given field whom possess more knowledge than myself to get it right the first time. Hence, I can assure you the enclosure, ports and even the use of leather-backed sheepskin meet design spec criterion for speaker enclosures per the engineers I consulted with.
Furthermore, regarding the conical shape (Pile cone cap) mounted in the bottom, that too has a purpose...Speaker cabinet builders go to great lengths to try and keep sound/air from bouncing off the interior walls of which, more often than not, eventually finds its way to the back of the speaker cone thereby influencing the free, natural movement of same resulting in diminished sound quality.
Without said Pile cone cap mounted on the bottom of the cabinet, the air/sound would hit the bottom of the bucket and bounce back up to the speaker cone resulting in diminished sound quality. With the Pile cone cap mounted on the bottom, the air/sound is deflected right out of the ports without any air/sound deflected back to the speaker cone thereby resulting in increased sound quality.
Also, once the overall dimension of the ideal size port was determined via mathematical calculation it was purposely divided by six which resulted in six smaller ports. This too was for a reason....it is a 360 degree cabinet meant to project sound 360 degrees. If you just had one or a couple of bass ports as you suggest, then only the audience in-line with the trajectory of those ports would get the bass (low-end) sound. With smaller ports equally spaced around the unit the entire crowd can enjoy the same quality 360 degree full-range sound regardless of where they are standing.
jtay, my suggestions were all in a friendly manner.
On a first glance, big total port area and almost no depth (only the thickness of the plastic bucket wall) means very high resonant frequency and no low bass. Which was the design resonant frequency?
Dimension of the cone cap is too small to be effective - except higher in the frequency. Stuffing (sheep wool) at the bottom is much better for this.
Simply - not true.
Not true. Sound from ports is low in frequency (or should be), so it is omnidirectional by its nature.
@ Sonce
We can agree to disagree. Everyone has an opinion and you're entitled to yours. I'm not here to sell you or others on the quality of the unit I designed because I posted the link only as a service to the many people who are in need of such a 360 degree system, and there are many.
Understanding the engineering is pretty much common sense and anyone who wants to consider it without splitting hairs or trying to prove their worth will get it! If you want to design one, and/or revise this one, I'm sure others here would appreciate your input. As for me, we are perfectly happy with the phenomenal sound of this unit, as designed, which blows away ALL OTHER professionally designed big-name busking systems with twice the power which is all that really matters - we have gone up against all of them head-to-head on the streets from coast to coast and all hang their head in shame and beg for mercy which is one reason why I'm giving the design away now.
FYI, I am recognized around the world for my engineering contributions:
John R. Taylor Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search
And, while I readily admit that I have limited experience in speaker cabinet design, that no way precludes me from being able to assimilate information, from qualified engineers, and pass it on which is what I'm doing here and is the foundation of engineering. If you want to specifically discuss the ports you can consult with this company as one of my engineers consulted with them during the design phase about a year or so ago before arriving at the final design of the ports:
Barefaced Bass - The mysteries of ports
If you would like some other names whereby you can seek information, including some people tied to Audio Nirvana, to discuss some of the other things you mentioned, I'll be happy to pass them on as your desire to make an impact in speaker cabinet design seems to be much more than mine.
Regards,
John R. Taylor
We can agree to disagree. Everyone has an opinion and you're entitled to yours. I'm not here to sell you or others on the quality of the unit I designed because I posted the link only as a service to the many people who are in need of such a 360 degree system, and there are many.
Understanding the engineering is pretty much common sense and anyone who wants to consider it without splitting hairs or trying to prove their worth will get it! If you want to design one, and/or revise this one, I'm sure others here would appreciate your input. As for me, we are perfectly happy with the phenomenal sound of this unit, as designed, which blows away ALL OTHER professionally designed big-name busking systems with twice the power which is all that really matters - we have gone up against all of them head-to-head on the streets from coast to coast and all hang their head in shame and beg for mercy which is one reason why I'm giving the design away now.
FYI, I am recognized around the world for my engineering contributions:
John R. Taylor Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search
And, while I readily admit that I have limited experience in speaker cabinet design, that no way precludes me from being able to assimilate information, from qualified engineers, and pass it on which is what I'm doing here and is the foundation of engineering. If you want to specifically discuss the ports you can consult with this company as one of my engineers consulted with them during the design phase about a year or so ago before arriving at the final design of the ports:
Barefaced Bass - The mysteries of ports
If you would like some other names whereby you can seek information, including some people tied to Audio Nirvana, to discuss some of the other things you mentioned, I'll be happy to pass them on as your desire to make an impact in speaker cabinet design seems to be much more than mine.
Regards,
John R. Taylor
My intention was to suggest how to improve your loudspeaker. But if you are satisfied with the current one, so be it...
No, I do not want to discuss about the ports - it is the basic staff. I just asked which is the design resonant frequency.
No, I do not want to discuss whether low frequency sound is omnidirectional or not. It is written in all basic books about sound waves.
@Sonce
You seem like a very knowledgeable person and I do appreciate your input. The problem is, I'm not personally educated enough on the subject to discuss this with you, or any others, intelligently so I have no desire to do so at this time nor time to learn with my current work load around 80 hours/week.
Simply put, my daughter was in need of gear that wasn't available on the marketplace so me and my engineering team, none of which have experience in this area, went to work on the general design concept in our spare time consulting with people we felt were knowledgeable along the way. And, what you see is the result of our many consultations.
I didn't mean to imply that it's perfect, but only that it wasn't thrown together by typical hit-n-miss protocol in that there was a lot of thought that went into it, especially the 1" pile, leather-backed, real, sheep skin which had an amazing result on the 0.090" plastic radius wall making it similar to wood. If someone had to pay for the PD we did to get to this stage of the design it would have been in the thousands but for my little girl it was free and now free to all who want to pursue it.
Does it work? Damn right! Can it be improved as you suggest? Most likely. However, since I have no time nor desire take the design further it will take a much more qualified person, such as yourself, to take it to the next level.
All I wanted was to get around the dB laws while maintaining quality sound and give all of my girl's audience a chance to hear her performance regardless of their position in the crowd, and I accomplished that.
Thanks for your input and my apologies I came across as non appreciative.
John
PS: Next up...the amp, mix-board and battery pack. I found out somewhat of an unknown that very few know about and why mix-boards are probably not included in every car stereo system out there, when they should be. And, now car stereo enthusiasts can include a mix-board, with mic and all, with this simple wiring that gets rid of DC hum prevalent in hooking up pro gear with consumer gear - I learned from an engineer with Yamaha. Some here may already know and laugh at the thought that it's new, but if you don't know it, you will want to rush out to buy a Yamaha 12v, 6-channel mixer and hook it up to your car rig.
You seem like a very knowledgeable person and I do appreciate your input. The problem is, I'm not personally educated enough on the subject to discuss this with you, or any others, intelligently so I have no desire to do so at this time nor time to learn with my current work load around 80 hours/week.
Simply put, my daughter was in need of gear that wasn't available on the marketplace so me and my engineering team, none of which have experience in this area, went to work on the general design concept in our spare time consulting with people we felt were knowledgeable along the way. And, what you see is the result of our many consultations.
I didn't mean to imply that it's perfect, but only that it wasn't thrown together by typical hit-n-miss protocol in that there was a lot of thought that went into it, especially the 1" pile, leather-backed, real, sheep skin which had an amazing result on the 0.090" plastic radius wall making it similar to wood. If someone had to pay for the PD we did to get to this stage of the design it would have been in the thousands but for my little girl it was free and now free to all who want to pursue it.
Does it work? Damn right! Can it be improved as you suggest? Most likely. However, since I have no time nor desire take the design further it will take a much more qualified person, such as yourself, to take it to the next level.
All I wanted was to get around the dB laws while maintaining quality sound and give all of my girl's audience a chance to hear her performance regardless of their position in the crowd, and I accomplished that.
Thanks for your input and my apologies I came across as non appreciative.
John
PS: Next up...the amp, mix-board and battery pack. I found out somewhat of an unknown that very few know about and why mix-boards are probably not included in every car stereo system out there, when they should be. And, now car stereo enthusiasts can include a mix-board, with mic and all, with this simple wiring that gets rid of DC hum prevalent in hooking up pro gear with consumer gear - I learned from an engineer with Yamaha. Some here may already know and laugh at the thought that it's new, but if you don't know it, you will want to rush out to buy a Yamaha 12v, 6-channel mixer and hook it up to your car rig.
Maybe sleep deprivation is at work again - the link you gave says exactly the opposite. Maybe you missed some of what the consultant was telling you.
"Because the frequencies are long relative to the source size, the source has no ability to control their direction - they are emitted omnidirectionally. The wavelengths of the sounds coming from a loudspeaker port are huge compared to the size of the port and even our very large ports are small relative to the wavelength's emitted. This means that once the pressure wave just outside the port exit has transformed into a velocity wave, the output goes everywhere!"
I'm keen to read this bit. If you post it to a different place / section, please put a link to it here, in this thread.
@hollowboy it would be an engineering dream if we could take only one aspect of a design such as ports literally and design from it....not in the real world! Hence, many factors to consider when designing with a plastic bucket, cones and sheepskin. Much different than a wood box with tuned ports where design criterion is pretty much known due to extensive testing and results thereof.
No, I didn't read the page of the link and didn't mean to suggest we designed with that criterion. All I meant was that company had input in our final port design as well as some others based on a 5-gallon plastic bucket, plastic pile cone and sheepskin of which our crew had to do much of the calculations/crude testing and with that information make some assumptions based on the limited information and time we had at our disposal.
No, I didn't read the page of the link and didn't mean to suggest we designed with that criterion. All I meant was that company had input in our final port design as well as some others based on a 5-gallon plastic bucket, plastic pile cone and sheepskin of which our crew had to do much of the calculations/crude testing and with that information make some assumptions based on the limited information and time we had at our disposal.
Similar contemporary commercial design, compact all-in-one, but prohibitively expensive:
BenkCube Natural One Acoustic-Combo for acoustic musical instruments
You can DIY this for much less money, especially if you use plastic buckets.
BenkCube Natural One Acoustic-Combo for acoustic musical instruments
You can DIY this for much less money, especially if you use plastic buckets.
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Agreed. That's no small thing (and that's just the gravy, as the smile on your daughter's face would be reward enough as it is).
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