ultra cheap and simple omni-tweeter experiment idea.

[mondogenerator]

I had a silly idea today.
It was to inflate a balloon and fix it to the tube that projects from many compression drivers.
I figure that the added atmosphere or so of pressure may not work with many, but a piezo CD is potentially more robust.

Has anyone ever tried this? Is it worth trying?

[DUG]

Very interesting idea.

I'll put it on my list of projects.

[bear]

The balloon is compliant, like jello... it will also "look" like a monster discontinuity and a reflective surface to the wave front coming out of the compression driver... it is also doubtful that the high frequency waves will spread over the surface.

Otoh, if you are going to modulate the balloon and have it re-radiate the hf energy, that is a different matter again.

There is/was a high end tweeter with an egg shape that did more or less this sort of thing - modulate an inflated shape from the reverse side... I can't recall the brand or model at the moment.

There are issues with this, and it was small and not a balloon in the usual latex sense, nor was it a compression driver on the other side.

_-_-bear

[dheming]

Originally Posted by bear

There is/was a high end tweeter with an egg shape that did more or less this sort of thing - modulate an inflated shape from the reverse side... I can't recall the brand or model at the moment.

You might be thinking of the Audax HD-3P tweeter. This site has a bit of info on it for those who are interested: AUDAX HD-3P

[mondogenerator]

the Audax tweeter is exactly what i was thinking of. If i recall it used PVDF piezo film. A balloon isnt the same, but it was just a simple fun 5 minute test. Granted it would likely sound awful.

[bear]

or it would sound great...