loudspeaker/crossover design software

[phreeky82]

there are two things I would like to acheive in this thread:

a) get a list of software used by members in loudspeaker design, and
b) find something 'missing', and with the help of other members - primarily with regard to loudspeaker design technicalities (sp?) - create that 'missing' software. obviously it's a hobby and far from a job, so of course this software would be free. any ideas?

[Vikash]

Well, everything around driver/enclosure modelling has been done to hell, so you can probably skip straight past that (even i'm attempting an online modelling app that will allow multiple persons to interactively collabarate on a speaker design - but will it ever get finished... ).

I guess the same applies for crossover design. I'm not sure if you want to stay in this region, but I can tell you the tools I would like to have if that helps any:

1) Transducer design. At the moment SpeaD is the only one I can think of, and it's not free.
2) 3D Diffraction/Standing Wave simulator. What would be great is if you could just do the calculations by using a 3D cad file of your enclosure. This is something I'd be glad to help with. This could be extended to finding room response to listener positions etc. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but these things are all within reach of modelling. And I'm sure it's not rocket science. (the art of speaker design is much harder I hear you say )

[phreeky82]

the second one you mentioned looks like something i'd be interested in. i'm sure you could model such things in matlab etc, but a specialised application would be much better.

the great thing is that i'm quite into opengl programming, so i could make it very interactive and visual.

i'll do a little research and see what i think up. i'm open for other suggestions still of course.

[f4ier]

Email Paul V. at the FRD Group site if you're interested in sharing your work

[cm961]

How about software that models an entire system? I mean like you plug in your room dimensions and the material on the walls and floor, as well as your amplifier models, cd player models, etc. right down to the speaker cable you use and the loudspeakers you use. Even if the models for the cables and amplifiers were simple (at first), you'd still be able to pick up room modes (nodes?) and see how they interact with the response of the speakers.

Pete

[cm961]

Oh and the placement of the speakers of course.

[phreeky82]

not asking for much are we?

i would prefer to look into it a bit more before making a decision, as i don't want to end up taking up something that is simply unrealistic or impossible.

a system that models room response would be something i'd be really interested in. unfortunately the simulation time would be huge, but i spose some people would be prepared to wait a while - and computers will always get faster

i would also be interested in allowing the simulator to take objects within the room into account. for example, for each sound source, having its location, directions, on-axis response, and the ability to have a mix of off axis responses - both generally, or separate vertical, horizontal or even diagonal responses. this would be extreme, and i'd spend a lot of time on the maths, and so would program execution. but it'd be interesting. much like a ray trace application i guess. i guess each sound source would also require phase and delay information to get anything worth thinking about. so many issues.

something else i was thinking about was to just start off by creating an application that provides information on how two sound sources (with plenty of information about them) will react generally, and at a specific location relative to the sound sources.

[f4ier]

Yavuz Aksan's Room Response Calculator can take 2 sound sources into account and it's available for free. A free, FEM-based, room simulator would be really useful, especially if it could accept any room shape and size.

[phreeky82]

i'm gonna download that and have a play with it, looks nifty.

i kinda had something in mind more like: you spend quite a bit of time setting up and modelling your room, including all furniture and the reflective properties of the surfaces. i'll obviously have to spend quite a bit of time finding an efficient way of doing this, without consuming TOO much user time.

it's from there that i'll build the application.

i'd love to do something using this FRD format that's mentioned, but when i looked on the site i couldn't find info on it.

enjoying 3D coding, there is no way i could withhold giving a 3D representation of frequency response at locations throughout the room etc.

[f4ier]

FRD files are nothing more than text files containing data points of the following format

(Frequency SPL or Impedance Phase)
10 40 180
20 64 90
...
..
.

without words, comments or what -- just data