2-way/ 3-way speaker concept

[lufbramatt]

hi guys, just finished some renderings of my current project. The design will be made during the summer here at uni, and these pictures are an initiaal concept- the styling has already changed slightly to neaten up some areas and make the two parts "gel" more as a whole, but ive not yet finished the CAD models for the new variant.
The speaker comprises two parts, similar to a watt/puppy, albeit aimed at a much lower price point.
Thought you might like to see the pics, any comments welcome

[lufbramatt]

and with the add-on bass enclosures:

[69stingray]

Looks Great, very sexy. How are you going to manufacture them?

[lufbramatt]

thanks

the top mid/tweet unit is an all polymer construction, with a double walled shell forming the airspace for the 15cm driver to work in. between the two walls, a particle damping system is used to effectively damp vibrations from the drivers. Similar to using sandboxes under turntables to damp vibrations, but not using sand
The bass enclosures would be made from a combination of a rigid ply ply frame covered with flexiply, with an outer shell vacuum formed from polycarbonate.
Thats in theory, in reality the prototypes will be made from a combination of rapid prototyping, fiberglassing and good old woodwork. Should be a fun summer- build myself a cool pair of speakers and get myself a degree in the process
Just waiting for about £120 of crossover components to arrive from germany so i can test some crossovers and hear how the drivers are going to sound together.

[Alexnick]

superb enclosures!

[maxro]

The upper enclosure's feet look suspiciously like binding posts (right down to the colours). Is this how the upper enclosures connect electrically to the lower ones?

How long does it take one to render a 3D image like these?

Max

[sachi]

Wow...excellent enclosures.

[lufbramatt]

Originally posted by maxro
The upper enclosure's feet look suspiciously like binding posts (right down to the colours). Is this how the upper enclosures connect electrically to the lower ones?

How long does it take one to render a 3D image like these?

Max

cheers for the comments guys

yes your right- the feet were binding posts, which wouldve been the way the two enclosures joined electrically- however, due to me finding out that KEF have a patent on doing that and me needing to reduce the parts costings, this idea was dropped and on the second rendering simple rubber feet have been used, with the bass enclosure wrapping around to the binding posts on the back- so no external wiring is needed to join the two units- simply slide the midrange enclosure on and away you go- no chance of incorrect wiring damaging the unit.

The renders were produced using PTC ProEngineer - a proper parametric CAD package rather than a "fake" 3D package like 3D Studio Max- which means i can use these models to produce CNC machined parts and analyse mechanical properties of components.

The full size version of the pictures here are 12 mega pixel (3500x3500 pixels) and take about 4.5 hours to render on my Athlon 3200 with 1Gb RAM. Gives me lots of time to listen to music hehe

[muhy3]

It might be better to make these speakers from wood, from multiple slices one on top of the other to get the desired shape. Sound will be better in my opinion.

Top job on the render!

[lufbramatt]

Originally posted by muhy3
It might be better to make these speakers from wood, from multiple slices one on top of the other to get the desired shape. Sound will be better in my opinion.

Top job on the render!

Cheers

That would be one way of doing it- but in my eyes thats an inelegant, time consuming and wasteful approach, its also been done many times before and i would get a rubbish mark for my project! I'm using this project to try out some new ideas that I havent really seen before- if it works (and my research indicates it could be quite good), then thats a bonus- if it sounds rubbish then theyll look cool for my degree exhibition and i can use the drivers in a more conventional enclosure after i finish uni hehe

Parts of the lower enclosure will be made from this method- namely the baffle and the top part of the bass enclosure that supports the upper enclosure, but its incredible how much filling a cavity up with a particulate material deadens a panel. Use of moulded forms allows much, much more freedom of form than using laminated sheets, and is much easier to finish to a high degree.

When Ive detailed up the insides of the lower enclosure ill post some pics so u guys can get a better idea of how it will go together.

matto