Geddes on Waveguides

........... as the length from the peripheral phase plug slits is longer then the one in the center,............
It looks to me and the way he described it that the point Cp is at the centre of the radius of the dome/diaphragm. That means the sound arrives at Cp from all parts at the same time.
The phase error from the midpoints between the slits does introduce an error in timing, but that is inherent in all these slotted/holed plugs. The manufacturer just places the slots close enough to meet their target phase error for the highest frequency they want to pass.
I suspect it's this phase error that causes these CD to lose their flat response in that top octave.
 
Hi Whgeiger,

Very interesting drawing, but if it near the realty, that would mean, that wave front at the CD mouth is not planar, but spherical, as the length from the peripheral phase plug slits is longer then the one in the center, so may be the horn-throat angle has to be positive, in order that the horn-walls be perpendicular to the wave front.
From Your , attached, drawing it would be possible to get the radius and the center of such spherical surface that would "correspond to the" shape of the wave front.

Regards
Ivica

May be something like this

Ivica
 

Attachments

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No!

It looks to me and the way he described it that the point Cp is at the centre of the radius of the dome/diaphragm. That means the sound arrives at Cp from all parts at the same time.
The phase error from the midpoints between the slits does introduce an error in timing, but that is inherent in all these slotted/holed plugs. The manufacturer just places the slots close enough to meet their target phase error for the highest frequency they want to pass.
I suspect it's this phase error that causes these CD to lose their flat response in that top octave.

Cp - Phase Plug Slit Focal Point

Cd - Spherical Diaphragm Center

The principal reason to make them different is that the diaphragm motion is linear and parallel to the horn axis, not radial as would be generated by pulsating sphere. Thus, the wave pathway vectors are not exactly as you suppose. N.B.: It is a projected area [Sd] that gets you to [Vd] = [X]*[Sd] not the surface area of the diaphragm.

If the phase plug has been properly designed, then only diaphragm breakup modes remain at issue in the highest octave of bandwidth.
WHG
 
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No!

so Cp' is FROM the driver mouth at the distance dp'=R-sqrt[R^2-(D/2)^2], where R is diaphragm dome radius, and D i driver mouth radius

Ivica

I did not have CAD drawing to work with, so getting beyond a "1st. approximation" is not possible.

[Cp] is a point were the centerlines of the annular passages converge. It is approximate because it was graphically determined.

The profile radius was determined graphically by the intersection of:
1) a normal projected from outer wall of the outer annulus at the point of exit
and
2) a normal projected from the driver/horn axis at the point [Cp]

Note [Cd] was determined graphically as well.

However, the graphic was sufficiently accurate to determine [Cp] (0,0) < [Cd] (Xd,0)

WHG
 
Cp - Phase Plug Slit Focal Point

Cd - Spherical Diaphragm Center

The principal reason to make them different is that the diaphragm motion is linear and parallel to the horn axis, not radial as would be generated by pulsating sphere. Thus, the wave pathway vectors are not exactly as you suppose. N.B.: It is a projected area [Sd] that gets you to [Vd] = [X]*[Sd] not the surface area of the diaphragm.

If the phase plug has been properly designed, then only diaphragm breakup modes remain at issue in the highest octave of bandwidth.
WHG
Ah, I read that wrongly.
It's Cd that is equidistant from the dome/diaphragm
 
Attached is a plot of a design that I am working on. Notice that the DI does not change even up to 20 kHz.

I'm going to speculate on how you did this:

In a one-inch compression driver, the directivity will narrow at 13,500hz. This is because the frequencies above 13,500hz are smaller than the throat of the compression driver.

This generally isn't a concern; I don't think a lot of people are concerned about ultrasonic directivity.

But if you ARE concerned about it, the 'fix' is to use a narrower throat. Probably the easiest and readily available solution is to use a ribbon. For instance, a ribbon that measures 3/4" wide will maintain directivity all the way to 18khz. (13,500 / 3/4" = 18khz)

But you generally don't build waveguides with ribbons, so I'd speculate you're using this to do the job:

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


JBL took a similar approach with their "7 Series." Here's a polar response comparing the JBL M2 with the JBL LSR708i. In the latter speaker, you can see that the beamwidth is constant all the way to 18khz.

91849f4f_Tech_R5.jpeg

JBL M2

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

JBL LSR 708i
 
Is this a new phase plug in an existing driver, or a brand new driver with a new phase plug based on your concepts?

No new phase plug, newer DE500 driver. It's just proof that the widely held belief below is not actually true.

I'm going to speculate on how you did this:

In a one-inch compression driver, the directivity will narrow at 13,500hz. This is because the frequencies above 13,500hz are smaller than the throat of the compression driver.
 
The point is that just because a flat piston on a baffle beams does not means that a waveguide has to beam likewise. They are simply two different mathematical situations.

The systems with the DE250 did beam more than those with the DE500. I suspect that the wave front is closer to flat in the DE500 resulting in a wider CD bandwidth. By the way, the DE500 has the shortest throat of any B&C driver, which may also be a factor.

PS. I am updating your old Summas to the new drivers.