A Study of DMLs as a Full Range Speaker

is there any benefit to making the sides of the 1'x4' panel slightly non parallel or is any difference only minimal?
moray,
I don't think there is. People like to surmise that non-parallel sides will reduce standing waves, but they really don't.
It's possible that there could be some other benefit to non-parallel sides in terms of the distribution of natural frequencies or influencing the radiation efficiency of modes, but if there is I am not aware of it.
Eric
 
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I think epoxy resin is too hard, and on styrofoam you want something that will act as a thin skin, not a hard wall.

And since it is so hard, if you could make it thin enough to not overdampen the plate, it is too brittle and would crack.
PVA and hide glue can be easily diluted for a really thin coat, and is soft enough to not crack.

On some plates I attempted covering an area around the exciters with epoxy to see how that would affect HF reproduction, but found that mostly it reduced sensitivity, and the plates I had prepped like that overheated with the same power as plates where I only used a minimal amount of epoxy to fix the exciters.
I'm not certain that epoxy resin has similar characteristics to UV resin. I've never chanced comparing them.
What is the (Skin) made of that comes from the factory and why does everyone stand it off?
What are the sonic benefits of sanding the surface then applying a mixture of PVA and water?
XPS seems to have an inherent tendency to ring on it's own when pulsed clicks are sourced through an amplifier.
Can PVA and water actually calm the ringing?

Jack
 
While I was playing with the CD panel I thought how it would sound on a canvas panel as in the pictures.
These are not glued , it is just a demonstration of what might be possible?
As long as the panel is not mounted hard up against a wall it might sound OK?
The canvas might damp some of the problem sounds caused by the acrylic?
The cd on its own has trouble going loud , but damping or clamping seems to help this a little.
The frequency response is pretty lumpy as well, but the damping or clamping seems to help this too.
The response of the CD seems to go down to about 200hz or lower depending on how it is housed ?
For a novelty art picture it could sound OK, maybe?
I have still got a few more tests to do, so you never know?
Steve.
Steve CD's are made from optical grade Poly-carbonate (on the read side probably a lesser grade on the top side). Carry on.
 
I'm not certain that epoxy resin has similar characteristics to UV resin. I've never chanced comparing them.
What is the (Skin) made of that comes from the factory and why does everyone stand it off?
What are the sonic benefits of sanding the surface then applying a mixture of PVA and water?
XPS seems to have an inherent tendency to ring on it's own when pulsed clicks are sourced through an amplifier.
Can PVA and water actually calm the ringing?

Jack
I have no experience with UV resin, but think that most resins have quite similar characteristics and the main difference is how they are hardened, and the quick hardening is touted as the main advantage of UV resin, not different material properties.

Not sure if there is only one type of skin on styrofoam blocks. You get different surfaces when you cut with hot-wire or press in a mold, and perhaps some brands have some extra chemical layer for fire protection.
The plates I use is pressed in mold, but are not for use as building material and not surface treated afaik, so did not seem to be any need to sand.

The sonic benefits are a tighter more controlled sound, and if done carefully, without loosing efficiency. When analysing I would expect to see a little shorter RT60. Other forms of damping such as clamping the edges tend to also reduce sensitivity apart from bass region where it can help control the plate to avoid self-cancelling. But by forming a tight skin on the styrofoam it seems to make it a bit more sensitive overall instead, I guess in a way similar to how a drumskin that is tight will generate more sound from a small excitation than a loose one. For that to work you want the skin to be tight but not too stiff. A thin sheet of acrylic or epoxy would be a poor replacement for a goat skin. While that is a different kind of excitation, it goes to show how much the material properties matter when it comes to acoustics.

Epoxy can certainly be used as part of a composite like the case with the Tectonic carbon/nomex plates, but IMO high grade EPS is quite good as it is, and covering it epoxy seems like it would change to properties too much. You probably want a different core if going with epoxy skin. At least on EPS it seems easier to get a really thin skin that tightens up the plate without overdamping using hide glue, shellac or PVA, .
 
Eric.
This is an interesting patent from Paul Burton.
He talks about exciter design and damping of a thin film panel.
I'm not sure if this is the design NXT spent millions on ,but it does sound similar?
Figs 9,10,11, seem to have disappeared.
Steve.
Oops forgot to put in the link.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US4924504A/en
Steve that is the patent for the Highwood Audio loudspeaker marketed as the Sumo Aria in 1988. I co-developed this design along with paul my partner at the time we started Highwood Audio in Calgary.
 
A couple of years back on this thread I've shared the DMLs in the first of the attached images.
My wife has urged me to consolidate this setup (dedicated to music) with my more modest home theater setup in another part of our loft currently served by the more recent described set of DMLs (see photo to the left).

My audio interests have spread from our living room, den, and my workshop (repurposed when our daughter went off to university ;-)

Perhaps I've reached just a bit too far.

Moving the large DML's introduces a challenge.

To use these large aluminum DMLs in the home theater setting, I will need to mount them very close to the back wall - perhaps just a couple of inches away from it.

Does this seem feasible?

Do I need to consider either absorbing or defusing the back wave.
Should I place some sound absorbing material directly behind (but not touching) the DML panels?
If yes, what would make sense to use? Acoustic ceiling tile? Acoustic (grey) foam (see attached image)? Fiberglass mat?

Strategies appreciated.

(I've got a long weekend to play).
aagas if you nest the woofers as opposed to having them face to face then you can cancel the difference in the compliance of the woofer suspension. not a huge deal but one more thing cleaned up. very nice looking system and room. thanks for the peek at home.
 
@chdls you are welcome. Yes I read it that way as well. For anyone interested in trying it I think its very doable. A picture frame chassis with an EPS/XPS/ply plate and four exciters and you are done. The high QTS you seem to get with the picture frame and canvas suggests it would work as an open baffle bass driver. Quite tempted myself.

Burnt
you could fit this into an H-Frame cabinet. cheap bass seems very attractive.
 
not mm but Mil which is 1/1000 of an inch, these are thin films. I was suggesting that if I was going to use an exciter to drive a thin film DML panel my choice would be to first experiment with using silk screen mesh rather than a Mylar film. The mesh has very much more internal loss (compared to a film) so modes might be better controlled. Of course this necessitates having a stretching jig. One of my favourite early panels was a line source dimension was about 12"x48" it had a 1 mil (1/1000") Mylar diaphragm tension was just short of its breaking point and used a vertical 4 ohm copper voice coil in the centre of the diaphragm and a matching magnet structure with ceramic magnets and steel pole pieces. The winding of the voice coil were all going in one direction by means of a wiring harness so signal entered vertical wire number one of the coil travelled up the panel connected to the harness which returned the signal via the frame well out of the magnetic gap to the next wire in the coil and so on so that signal flow of all the wires in the VC were all in the same direction. I hope this is of interest.
Ok ... Should have been obvious, mils are often used as shorthand for mm in Aus. Your mils are often called thous here.
Oh for worldwide consistent units!!
 
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homeswinghome this is what I meant by laser velocity https://mtiinstruments.com/products...-laser/microtrak-4-laser-displacement-sensor/ its nice to have access to a university lab equipment.
Also Eric and homeswinghome I would suggest using a linear solenoid has a tapper for your experiments since it can give a known energy and contact area that everyone can reproduce. Like Burnt Coil suggested, I will not post any more on my Omi-directional transducer as it is a distraction of this thread I will post on separate thread.
Tagis would you please post the address for your omni loudspeaker blog? I have listened to a number of omni designs such as the balloon/globe types and find them very interesting and I would like to follow along. Thank you.
 
The idea is from linaeum a dipole tweeter which is more or less omnidirectional.
in this way made as on top tweeters.
Also made as halves to use in closed speakers. Kenwood used them in the past.
the original linaeums were made of silk. later on these are made by optimus. they used a plastic film instead.
you have a myriad of options for diaphragms using polyester silk screen material available is a wide range of weights and weave sizes. This as lots of internal loss built in and makes a good sounding diaphragm. Hope this is of interest.
 
Christian,
Good question, I am wondering the same thing. It's complicated to by the fact that not all membranes (planars) work the same way. I have very limited knowledge about planars but my understanding so far is that for most of them the motion of the memberane is at least intended to be "pistonic" in nature, by which I mean the entire membrane moving in phase. (if someone know this to be wrong, please correct me). The Quad ESL on the other hand, appears to be a special case where the intention is apparently to create a "ripples on the pond" type
Christian,
Good question, I am wondering the same thing. It's complicated to by the fact that not all membranes (planars) work the same way. I have very limited knowledge about planars but my understanding so far is that for most of them the motion of the memberane is at least intended to be "pistonic" in nature, by which I mean the entire membrane moving in phase. (if someone know this to be wrong, please correct me). The Quad ESL on the other hand, appears to be a special case where the intention is apparently to create a "ripples on the pond" type waves in the membrane. According to the Wiki article:

View attachment 1119668

But I'm not sure what the implications of that operation mode is for dispersion characteristics.

Eric
the Quad 63 does not generate a travelling wave, it simulates an expanding wave using delayed lines to drive the panel sections which are driven as pistons. Panel sections decrease in area from the largest area for the bass to end with a small area piston to provide high frequency dispersion.
The Highwood Audio panel did do a pretty good job of recreating a travelling wave panel speaker. We could place a 1/8 inch B&K condenser microphone at a right angle at the outer edge of the panel and measure out to10 KHz. Dispersion was uniform generating a reasonably even hemispherical wavefront. This sort of radiation pattern does however light up the room with both floor and ceiling bounce which has to be considered, you can have too much of a good thing.
 
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I did mention, a little further back in this thread, my thoughts and findings of why sometimes it is better to have the panel on its side.
Tectonic and other pro audio tend to have their panels on their side but I have never seen them say why.
Steve.
you would get come extra floor bounce to add to the overall output of the system same as the difference between a woofer up off the floor in a cabinet and being close to the floor in the same cabinet. a panel on its side will present a larger surface are which the floor will reflex.
 
Never heard of that one before. Thanks for sharing the link.
It's interesting that they seem to suggesting that it's based on travelling waves (pebble in a pond) rather than standing waves, but give no mention of how or if they have any features to prevent reflections.

Do you know if they have any patents or other literature that gives more details?

Eric
Museatex of Montreal was the name of Ed Meitners company which merged with Highwood Audio in Calgary after Highwood had to part ways with Sumo Audio. So the Highwood Audio speakers were sold under the Museatex Melior banner.
 
It's your standard cardboard but I have added 2 more layers of corrugated paper/ cardboard , I will be adding a final piece reversed ( corrugated part facing out) this will give it the appearance of an old washboard 😄. The size of the panel is 130 cm X 60 cm it has 2 exciters per side one 32 mm and a small 25 mm strategically placed after many listening sessions, ribbon tweeter fills in after 2400 k and is on a L pad so it can be adjusted to taste. Sides are held solid only the top and bottom are free to move.
He Neil good to have fond you here.
 
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Moray's dip into the past has me re-reading the old posts 😵‍💫
Made me idly wonder what the results would be if a ply panel was tissue/paper et al stiffened on the rear face more than the front so the rear waves were dampened more than the front.. It'd be like shifting the neutral axis rearwards....
Thoughts...???
Eucy
 
The reason you dont see much NXT products is because they catered mostly to "Pro/live audio" instead of Audiophiles/DIYers. They are two completely different marketing catagories. Most of NXT products werent sold in the common hi fi audio stores but rather Music/Instrument stores hence the lack of popularity in the audio enthusiast community. Occasionally NXT would license there product to other companies like Teac but failed to build anything note worthy.

If my memory serves me correctly I warned yawl about Tech Ingredients. Its not my problem if you dont want to listen to my advice. :rolleyes:

You never read NXT patents before? I find that odd, since you are the patent king?:ROFLMAO:

Hmmm I just recently mentioned skins in my previous post. Anything touching the surface of said panel material becomes the skin and will take on some of the skins sound signature depending on the skin used. For example paper has a warmer/duller sound but it will sound more accurate. While Aluminum will have a brighter more lively sound. Many factors involved its not as simple as one might think. If your core material is already warm sounding to begin with then you wouldnt want to use paper unless you want it to sound really warm, you have to find the RIGHT combination which again boils down to personal preference. Like Goldie locks and the three bears you dont want it too hot or to cold but "JUST RIGHT". ;)

Anyone ever hear a "CERAMIC", type of tweeter or woofer? Ceramic is very clean and articulate sounding but also can sound very dry. The SKIN material that sounds like a ceramic driver is one of my many preffered skins is "PARCHMENT" paper. Here is another tip> One side of the parchment paper does not sound the same as the other side. You have to listen for yourself which side you prefer. Ahhh man giving away to much secrets. :ROFLMAO:;)
I would assume that the parchment sounds this way is due to a combination of the cotton fiber and wood pulp in its structure. There are so many materials to try and combine. Consider Fostex in Japan who make full range drives. Over the decades hey have produced so many different types of papers for cone material it is amazing. Interesting to read your comments on modern parchment. Have you tried parchment on any lo grade low density expanded polystyrene which is on the warm side and rolled off sounding?
 
i just made 2 new recordings of the ply panel with dome on the left and the proplex with cling film on the right.
the panels are 2ft apart facing each other full range without subs , with me holding the phone between them.
this makes recording easier as i do not have to get the mixing right.
they are at the same volum level so similar efficiency , but i think the ply is brighter sounding ?
it is still too cold to do serious listening at the moment so will reserve my thoughts till i can have a proper listen.
but this will do for now , i think.
steve.
if I had to choose I would pick the ply as the proplex has a somewhat subdued character though the spectral balance is indeed close.
 
The point is its not soil or rock in there natural form. Shellac and wood grain fiber filler are not in there natural form. Its used to harden the panel at the same time damping the panel like a layer of skin.

Diatomaceous Earth is not in its natural form nor is Chitosan.

Its like trying to adhere an exciter to D.E. ;) :LOL: :ROFLMAO:
I would think that DE used as an admixture to PVA would help to extend the high frequency transmission of a coated panel surface especially around the exciter mount. Well worth experimenting with.
 
Hi moray.
You keep bringing up old interesting ideas ,which I had forgotten about.
Some are even mine 😃
I do have a lot of DE , which we use for our chickens.
I might splash some on an eps chill box panel I am testing at the moment.
Not sure about the colour though 🤔
I will use the 50x50 mix to keep the weight down ,and see how it goes.
Steve.
 
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