The inflatable travel speaker concept

[davepenney]

Hi there,

Does anybody have an opinion on whether the concept of the inflatable travel type loudspeakers, could be scaled up for use with a much bigger system, say even a pa rig for easy touring….

I’m in the process of thinking up some novelty ideas for a uni project.

Cheers, dave.

[joe carrow]

Do you have a link to those speakers? I don't know if I've ever heard of this before.

[Cal Weldon]

Is this an inflatable cabinet? If so, I wonder what give the walls stiffness?

[roddyama]

Originally posted by Cal Weldon
Is this an inflatable cabinet? If so, I wonder what give the walls stiffness?

I would wonder how the speakers are loaded unless they're using horns or each driver has its own ridge enclosure and the "ballon" is just providing a mounting structure.

[Cal Weldon]

Googled and found them on ebay. Can't say that the enclosure is a replacement for wood but it does give you the option of decorating them such as the beer cans.

[davepenney]

there were two types that i knew about

http://www.shoptronics.com/elhotairinsp.html

and one where the cabinet was inflated.

I have just read somewhere that a company called SoundTube is developing cabs for bands to take to gigs,

[myhrrhleine]

It's that new Air-O-Space technology.
Developed at Boing

[houstonian]

but the idea is just silly. Sound will pass right through an inflatable membrane, almost by definition (ie an air pressure wave in a membrane supported by air pressure). Since the purpose of the enclosure is to absorb or at least change the frequency and phase characteristics of the wave coming off the back of the speaker, you cannot make one that is inflatable, at least not under the normal meaning of "inflatable."

[sdclc126]

Perhaps something more practical would be traditional solid cabinet speakers that can collapse or fold into a compact size. Even something as simple as snap-together panels - sure there would be compromises in sound quality/cabinet integrity, but for the intended purpose of the speakers it might make sense. At least you could still use "real" drivers in it.

I guess they would come with a notice on the box:

"Some assembly required"

[Pano]

Originally posted by houstonian
but the idea is just silly. Sound will pass right through an inflatable membrane, almost by definition

Ha! Funny stuff. When I was an audio guy we always used to joke about inflatable an P.A.

Houston, you got it right but missed the point. These are NXT type speakers. The membrane IS the speaker. The NXT stuff does not use a piston motion to produce sound, instead it uses overall modes or nodes in the vibrating surface. So the entire inflated surface would radiate.

At least that's the idea. The NXT stuff I've fooled around with never impressed me. But I never tried hot air. (why hot?)