First excuse me if my question is absurd, but I am trying a small diy project and I am not an expert in electronics and even less in audio, I have tried to learn how audio works but I am very dumb at it and I have more questions and in the end I don't understand anything.
I have an esp32 and it plays a small sound for 4 seconds.
I have tried with max98357a amp and pam8610 and pam8403 amp.
I have a 3w 4ohm speaker.
The idea is to get at least ~100db of sound and if possible at least in a radius of 5 meters but I can only get ~88db (tested with a mobile app).
I have tried to put amplifiers in series and in parallel, this last one I saw in a youtube video.
Sound distortion is not a problem, but I can't use a bigger speaker, I have a limited diameter, could I increase the height?
I saw some videos changing the capacitors in the pam8610 to improve the BASS but I'm not sure if this can help my problem.
Thanks in advance
I have an esp32 and it plays a small sound for 4 seconds.
I have tried with max98357a amp and pam8610 and pam8403 amp.
I have a 3w 4ohm speaker.
The idea is to get at least ~100db of sound and if possible at least in a radius of 5 meters but I can only get ~88db (tested with a mobile app).
I have tried to put amplifiers in series and in parallel, this last one I saw in a youtube video.
Sound distortion is not a problem, but I can't use a bigger speaker, I have a limited diameter, could I increase the height?
I saw some videos changing the capacitors in the pam8610 to improve the BASS but I'm not sure if this can help my problem.
Thanks in advance
In any really small loudspeaker the easiest way to increase net volume is to use thinner build material.
dave
dave
You can fill a room with sound with a 3watt amp (I'm currently listening to a 3watt TDA2822) - IF you use sensitive (efficient) speakers, I've used the same amp in my large workspace and thumped out "bass outlaws" at high volume, but with 90db sensitive speakers with an 8 inch mid/bass driver - at home I use speakers with a sensitivity of 94db, and I don't go any where near full volume, but I'm guessing that your speakers (if small) will not give the same results. I've used both the Pam 8403, and the better Pam 8406, both have greatly imprest me with the sound that they're capable of with decent speakers, and about 20,000 uf of capacitance on the power supply. I think your best bet would be to use the pam8610, as it is apparently capable of 15 watt per channel, coupled with the most efficient speaker drivers that you can get.
100 dB within 5 m distance equals about 114 dB at 1 meter.
let's say your small 3 W speaker has a sensitivity of about 90 dB @ 1 W and 1 m (it may be slightly less in reality).
then you would need +24 dB to reach your desired output.
+24 dB translates into power-factor of 256 thus ->256 Watts.
your speaker can't handle this.
if you just need a single frequency tone (alarm signal) you can build a resonating enclosure and multiply the sensitivity of your speaker.
alternatively you could add a horn to your speaker. but it will get incredibly big if it needs to work for low frequencies. also, horns will direct the sound in a specific direction - this may even be desirable for you?
what will you use your device for?
do you know how (incredibly) loud 100 dB is?
let's say your small 3 W speaker has a sensitivity of about 90 dB @ 1 W and 1 m (it may be slightly less in reality).
then you would need +24 dB to reach your desired output.
+24 dB translates into power-factor of 256 thus ->256 Watts.
your speaker can't handle this.
if you just need a single frequency tone (alarm signal) you can build a resonating enclosure and multiply the sensitivity of your speaker.
alternatively you could add a horn to your speaker. but it will get incredibly big if it needs to work for low frequencies. also, horns will direct the sound in a specific direction - this may even be desirable for you?
what will you use your device for?
do you know how (incredibly) loud 100 dB is?
Take a look at this small speaker https://faitalpro.com/en/products/LF_Loudspeakers/product_details/index.php?id=401000150
This is an efficient 3” speaker, that is, it produces a lot of sound for a small power input. It is rated at 91db spl per watt of input power, so this speaker would need 10W at 1m for 100db.
At 4m it would need 40w for 100db. However it is only rated at 20W, so using that drive unit won’t meet your needs, but will get you much closer than you are now.
That supplier makes lots of very efficient speakers, however none of the small ones get close to your sound pressure requirement with a small amplifier, however, some of the 12 and 15 inch speakers come much closer.
Alll the laws of physics are against you when you want lots of spl at low power from a small drive unit.
You may need to rethink several aspects of your project to find a set of compromises that you are happy with.
Note that my arithmetic above is approximate, but gives you a rough order of magnitude of the problem you face.
Perhaps an alarm sounder might work better than a speaker if this is an alarm application?
This is an efficient 3” speaker, that is, it produces a lot of sound for a small power input. It is rated at 91db spl per watt of input power, so this speaker would need 10W at 1m for 100db.
At 4m it would need 40w for 100db. However it is only rated at 20W, so using that drive unit won’t meet your needs, but will get you much closer than you are now.
That supplier makes lots of very efficient speakers, however none of the small ones get close to your sound pressure requirement with a small amplifier, however, some of the 12 and 15 inch speakers come much closer.
Alll the laws of physics are against you when you want lots of spl at low power from a small drive unit.
You may need to rethink several aspects of your project to find a set of compromises that you are happy with.
Note that my arithmetic above is approximate, but gives you a rough order of magnitude of the problem you face.
Perhaps an alarm sounder might work better than a speaker if this is an alarm application?
Alarm sounder https://ie.rs-online.com/web/p/alar...eee874b07d2b1da16ba511af7d9b17d1&gclsrc=3p.ds
That is rated at 100db.
That is rated at 100db.
I will investigate to do test it.
The idea is to make a sound grenade for Airsoft, which normally uses a buzzer, but I thought it would be cool if I had a grenade with a "realistic" explosion sound, my first attempt was with an analog recorder chip and I was able to get ~90db but the chip is too big to make a relatively realistic sized grenade, and the recording quality is horrible.
This test is with the speaker without an enclosure.
One of my fears was that this would be impossible.
This speaker looks great to me, unfortunately it is too big for this project, at the moment I am using a 1.5" speaker, I can use another speaker a bit bigger but I guess I will have to sacrifice something, either the sound or the size.
The amps are examples but any chip of similar size with more power can be used, but I'm not sure if it can be too much power for this speaker as well.
Any way I have in pause other very similar proyect and the 3" speaker is perfect.
Thanks a lot to all,
Now understand a little more the sound.
I will try to find other better speaker.
If you want to imitate an explosion, you could always use a compressed gas canister to over inflate a rubber hot water bottle.
If you're trying to do it with a speaker, try to get as much output at 80 hz, as this is the frequency that you feel in your chest. Perhaps a bandpass with a strong peak, or a passive radiator.
If you're trying to do it with a speaker, try to get as much output at 80 hz, as this is the frequency that you feel in your chest. Perhaps a bandpass with a strong peak, or a passive radiator.
@talunion, one trick you may be able to take advantage of if you want to reproduce a loud explosion noise is to take advantage of the fact that hearing is not directional at low frequencies. If you can hide some big speakers in your 5m radius, you can use those to produce the thump, and let your small speaker produce the localised high frequency sounds. By deliberately removing low frequency content from the small speaker, this will maximize the volume available there as no power will be wasted on frequencies that the small speaker can’t reproduce. You may be able to connect via Bluetooth so you won’t need any wires between the little speaker and the big ones.
When I say “big” I mean 10 inch at least, even 5” with lots of power won’t give you a convincing thump in the chest. ( I have actually tried this 🙂, although like you I was limited on space, it may have worked with 5” with much larger cabinets.) A pair of 15” would easily hit your target spl.
Just a thought!
When I say “big” I mean 10 inch at least, even 5” with lots of power won’t give you a convincing thump in the chest. ( I have actually tried this 🙂, although like you I was limited on space, it may have worked with 5” with much larger cabinets.) A pair of 15” would easily hit your target spl.
Just a thought!
Commercial grenades use similar systems, either confining CO2 in a plastic bottle or detonating a blank cartridge in a steel bottle.
The diy grenades are with buzzers.
I've thought that speakers might be an option, but I have a lot of things against it.
@Jeffh01, I think the idea is great for a scripted game, but it's impossible for a normal game and being able to use the grenade in any field in any situation.
Looking for a 20W speaker I saw a resonance speaker, at first I thought this doesn't work for me, but maybe I can try one.
I have designed a 3D printed grenade box, I'm not very confident about this working as I hope, but if the speaker works when the grenade is on the ground, in theory the vibrations can go to the ground and use it as a speaker (If this works, soft ground will be my enemy).
What think about the resonance speakers, Do you think it can be possible or I am fighting agains the physic again?
I have no experience with exciters or resonance speakers as they are a bit more specialized than general Hifi use. There are some threads on these here though, e.g. https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/sound-quality-tests-on-exciter-type-speakers.295647/
You might find some ideas there, but as you says the physics is probably not with you on this one!
You might find some ideas there, but as you says the physics is probably not with you on this one!
I wonder if you could just discharge a capacitor into a speaker. Perhaps mount the drivers back to back (or magnet to magnet) to cancel out the forces. and have the resonance around 80 hz. Some cheap car speakers might work.
Hi, I was able to get a new 20w 8ohm speaker and burn a couple of circuits (Typical for me) I used a booster circuit to convert 9v to 12v and I use the PAM8610, I see that if I use it in mono I can use all the power of the amp and looking for an explanation to do it I saw this thread https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/pam8610-data-sheet-info-not-clear.388366/ using the diamgran from the last message I use 1uf capacitors and I could not reduce the noise in standby (this is not very important for me) and I could not get more sound than when using the 3w speaker and 3w amps and I think I am doing something wrong.
I tried to feed the PAM8610 with 3 18650 batteries in serie, but without any asistant circuit to rise to 12v, I obtained around 10v and the sound was more lower.
I tried to feed the PAM8610 with 3 18650 batteries in serie, but without any asistant circuit to rise to 12v, I obtained around 10v and the sound was more lower.