DIY Omni Directional Speakers

Magnetar · 17th January 2008, 06:56 AM

Did a search here and couldn't come up with any serious designs.

There are a few commercial systems out there that look to be well thought out (and expensive) but they all tend to be inefficient.

I'm thinking of using very high quality high efficiency drivers and building a three way. The bass should be easy, it will be down firing into a 360 degree reflector. The midrange will be crossed in at 300 and will fire up into a 360 degree reflector and extend to 3K and the treble will be a special 360 degree horn.

The goal is to drive the room with equal power response with little compromise in dynamics.

I have one working and it is pretty amazing. It's around 100db sensitive and measures (and sounds) darn near the same every where in the room with pink noise

I've tried this before but not with the reflectors, I used multi drivers like bose - this seems to be far superior.

Wonder how a pair will sound?

planet10 · 17th January 2008, 07:23 AM

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...47#post1323047

Magnetar · 17th January 2008, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by planet10
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...47#post1323047

Well it's pretty. Not really omni though

AJ · 17th January 2008, 07:41 AM

I know you're looking for something serious, but I played around with this idea a coupla years ago. Made some MDF cones adjustable over a sonotube baffle. It never went anywhere and I had a name for them - The Screaming Banshees.

I didn't much like the 360 degree reflector and ended up with a very nice sounding takeoff on the Pluto. Not high enough efficiency though.

Magnetar · 17th January 2008, 07:47 AM

AJ,

Those are close to what I have here in concept!

I'm liking the sound in mono but am afraid it will die when I go to two channels.

What was it that you disliked with the Screaming Banshees? How would you improve it ?

AJ · 17th January 2008, 08:04 AM

Mostly I just didn't like the presentation - the image and soundstage floated around to the point of annoyance. I just wanted to yell out, "Stay in one spot!"

The screaming banshee came from not being able to tame some peakiness around 5khz - I mean it was the mount Everest of peakiness and I never could figure out where it was coming from. I based the size of the large cone on the fact that 1khz was pretty much maximum for omni radiation from an upfiring driver of any decent size and so everything above that would be reflected as the cone got smaller matching the increasing frequency wavelengths. It may not have been a viable idea, but it seemed to make sense.

I like your idea of using a 360 degree horn. I often wondered how to get the efficiency up and I never thought of that.

BTW, I only tried using the Fostex FX200 and the Fostex FT17H you see in the picture and a one day experiment with the PR170. Different drivers might have been a better choice. I'm honestly not sure how to improve it.

poynton · 17th January 2008, 08:28 AM

Years ago........

I had a pair of Sony speakers which used exactly that arrangement, although the reflectors were in plastic.

They sounded reasonable, I think!!!

Andy

SamL · 17th January 2008, 08:53 AM

BrianP tried to start the discussion over madisound sometime last year.
http://www.madisound.com/forum/dc/dc...ng_type=search

el`Ol · 17th January 2008, 10:15 AM

This is a new concept:
http://www.planotspeaker.com/
I talked to the inventor and he was very euphoric about the fact that a single speaker already has some kind of stereo effect. He thought he could revolutionary stereophony, but I believe it is useful as an ambience speaker only.
No matter what will be the case, patenting before one has a stereo pair ready isn´t that smart.

poynton · 17th January 2008, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by el`Ol
This is a new concept:..........

I can see MANY problems with the design !!!!!!!!!!

Andy

17th January 2008, 06:56 AM	#1
Magnetar Banned Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Portal 2012	DIY Omni Directional Speakers Did a search here and couldn't come up with any serious designs. There are a few commercial systems out there that look to be well thought out (and expensive) but they all tend to be inefficient. I'm thinking of using very high quality high efficiency drivers and building a three way. The bass should be easy, it will be down firing into a 360 degree reflector. The midrange will be crossed in at 300 and will fire up into a 360 degree reflector and extend to 3K and the treble will be a special 360 degree horn. The goal is to drive the room with equal power response with little compromise in dynamics. I have one working and it is pretty amazing. It's around 100db sensitive and measures (and sounds) darn near the same every where in the room with pink noise I've tried this before but not with the reflectors, I used multi drivers like bose - this seems to be far superior. Wonder how a pair will sound?

17th January 2008, 07:23 AM	#2
planet10 frugal-phile(tm) diyAudio Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Victoria, BC, NA, Sol III Blog Entries: 4	http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showt...47#post1323047 __________________ community sites t-linespeakers.org, frugal-horn.com ........ commercial site planet10-HiFi p10-hifi forum here at diyA

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17th January 2008, 07:41 AM	#4
AJ diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Oregon	I know you're looking for something serious, but I played around with this idea a coupla years ago. Made some MDF cones adjustable over a sonotube baffle. It never went anywhere and I had a name for them - The Screaming Banshees. I didn't much like the 360 degree reflector and ended up with a very nice sounding takeoff on the Pluto. Not high enough efficiency though.

17th January 2008, 07:47 AM	#5
Magnetar Banned Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Portal 2012	AJ, Those are close to what I have here in concept! I'm liking the sound in mono but am afraid it will die when I go to two channels. What was it that you disliked with the Screaming Banshees? How would you improve it ?

17th January 2008, 08:04 AM	#6
AJ diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Oregon	Mostly I just didn't like the presentation - the image and soundstage floated around to the point of annoyance. I just wanted to yell out, "Stay in one spot!" The screaming banshee came from not being able to tame some peakiness around 5khz - I mean it was the mount Everest of peakiness and I never could figure out where it was coming from. I based the size of the large cone on the fact that 1khz was pretty much maximum for omni radiation from an upfiring driver of any decent size and so everything above that would be reflected as the cone got smaller matching the increasing frequency wavelengths. It may not have been a viable idea, but it seemed to make sense. I like your idea of using a 360 degree horn. I often wondered how to get the efficiency up and I never thought of that. BTW, I only tried using the Fostex FX200 and the Fostex FT17H you see in the picture and a one day experiment with the PR170. Different drivers might have been a better choice. I'm honestly not sure how to improve it.

17th January 2008, 08:28 AM	#7
poynton Magneto the Gravity Man diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: A life on the ocean waves when I'm not at home in N. Wales (but I'm not Welsh so no sheep jokes!)	Years ago........ I had a pair of Sony speakers which used exactly that arrangement, although the reflectors were in plastic. They sounded reasonable, I think!!! Andy

17th January 2008, 08:53 AM	#8
SamL diyAudio Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Wgtn	BrianP tried to start the discussion over madisound sometime last year. http://www.madisound.com/forum/dc/dc...ng_type=search

17th January 2008, 10:15 AM	#9
el`Ol diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Bavarian Forest	This is a new concept: http://www.planotspeaker.com/ I talked to the inventor and he was very euphoric about the fact that a single speaker already has some kind of stereo effect. He thought he could revolutionary stereophony, but I believe it is useful as an ambience speaker only. No matter what will be the case, patenting before one has a stereo pair ready isn´t that smart.

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