Cabinet edge treatment with nearby objects

[AllenB]

I am mounting this speaker in a corner near rafters and light fittings. It will be used for music and PA.

The first thing I want to do is to reduce the side and rear waves. I have decided that reducing sharp edge diffraction will help this and will also be a good thing on its own.

My driver is close to the edge of the cabinet as in the top illustration.

In the middle drawing, I'm thinking of adding roundovers to smooth the diffraction but I'm concerned about the lateral energy.

In the last drawing I guess I'm trying to do a waveguide thing, and reduce the energy going around the back.

Will I have any luck with these ideas? I could use room treatments but I'd rather not.

[Paul W]

Placing a box in a ceiling corner can introduce cavity resonances. Can you extend the baffle to the walls and ceiling? (I'm envisioning mounting in a corner next to the ceiling...so the front baffle would be triangular with a corresponding box shape.)

[AllenB]

It is actually at the base of a raked ceiling at the level of the top of the wall. It will be mounted on an exposed crossbeam (rafter brace), but against the back wall, so it isn't so much a cavity.

The main surfaces for reflection will be the rear wall (4 inches behind the cabinet), the ceiling (two feet to the side), and the next rafter crossbeam two feet in front of the driver. The cabinet will be angled downward slightly.

[Paul W]

Got it. In that case, I'd go for drawing #2 for lower HF diffraction. There will be positive and negative contribution from the back wall (lower midrange?) but it seems that can't be helped in this installation.

[AllenB]

OK, thanks. I I guess I figured with drawing three, that the strongest diffraction would at least go forward rather than become a reflection as well, but indeed there might be less with number 2.

[Loren42]

You can try it, but I would wonder if you will notice a difference at all.

You have so many other issues with the placement of cabinet, room acoustics, and probably the loudspeaker itself that edge diffraction will probably be the least of your problems.

The other question is, what are you trying to achieve? Is this setup intended for audiophiles to listen to HiFi music? Probably not, so how good will this really need to be?

Also, what type of function are you trying to do? How many people will be entertained by the system?

How many of those people will be actually critically listening to the sound quality? Is this is for a crowd? Will they will be socializing, talking, dancing, seated, standing?

I guess my point is that we have different levels of expectations for different functions. We want the best reproduction when we are only critically listening to music. If I am entertaining, all I need is enough volume and clarity to set a mood. If I am in a restaurant I want the music low enough so it doesn't disturb the dinner conversation.