Hey guys,
I want to create a pair of speakers mainly for fun and aesthetic, based on some high sensitivity 8" full ranges, sphere/ball shaped, hanging from the ceiling, powered by some tube amps.
My friend who owns a ceramic factory in China is able to help me out on the enclosure. But for the maze, I'm not sure if it is possible to create one inside a ceramic sphere. 😕😕 Should i fabricate a maze, and stick it into the sphere?
I want to create a pair of speakers mainly for fun and aesthetic, based on some high sensitivity 8" full ranges, sphere/ball shaped, hanging from the ceiling, powered by some tube amps.
My friend who owns a ceramic factory in China is able to help me out on the enclosure. But for the maze, I'm not sure if it is possible to create one inside a ceramic sphere. 😕😕 Should i fabricate a maze, and stick it into the sphere?
I guess you can try the Bose Wave approach... Get a molded "waveguide", and put it in the sphere.
By the way I came up with an idea and too bad I do not have the skill, time and capital to give it a try. A terribly small sphere, say 2" to 2 1/2" in diameter, with dual 1" drivers, one front facing, one back facing. Mount the sphere to stands, 4th order crossover at 250Hz, the low frequency signal goes to an omnidirectional woofer. The aim of the design is to get spherical wave propagation from the lowest frequency up to something like 4-5kHz, and have excellent off axis and thus wide sweetspot.
By the way I came up with an idea and too bad I do not have the skill, time and capital to give it a try. A terribly small sphere, say 2" to 2 1/2" in diameter, with dual 1" drivers, one front facing, one back facing. Mount the sphere to stands, 4th order crossover at 250Hz, the low frequency signal goes to an omnidirectional woofer. The aim of the design is to get spherical wave propagation from the lowest frequency up to something like 4-5kHz, and have excellent off axis and thus wide sweetspot.
Let's take that idea one step further...........into the future Conan?😀
Place the sphere on a hovering platform (RC helicopter-ish) so that it can follow you room to room.
Stereo everywhere YOU ARE.😀
The Walter Mobility Group - HybriCraft™ Advanced Transportation Technology
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Back to the ceramic pod; why do you need a maze?
The closest recent project I can think of is the Ikea bowl speaker project, and it does not use a maze (that I can remember).
I made something similar a while back using a 3 inch driver in a teardrop shaped aluminum enclosure. The maze got the low end to sound better than the original open enclosure. Actually the overall speaker sounded better with the maze. It was difficult to make and i used rubber paneling to make the inner maze walls. I still use the speaker with my laptop. It was a fun project, mostly the part of creating a maze shape in a spherical enclosure.
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I'm quite intrigued by this "maze in a sphere" idea - where can I find information on the Bose Wave Approach and the moulded waveguide?
Newpaton, a photo of your maze if possible?
Newpaton, a photo of your maze if possible?
A good shape for the enclosure is a tear drop, but not for the inside, unless it follows the proper dimension of sphere and truncated tube with relation to the diameter of driver (B&W's nautilus enclosures). So I decided to play around with a maze system. The maze was somewhat complicated, but using a simpler maze I am sure you could still get good results. I will draw it up and upload a photo of the finished speakers.
Have approx idea of the Nautilus tapered impedance system (tapered tube) and the "maze in sphere" idea is new to me - most interesting - looking forward to it - thanks.
How interesting - does the Xsection area along the path of the "tube" stay constant despite the varying diameter?
The internal panels are straight panels, not curved, yes?
If that's a 3" driver, the sphere is about 5 - 6" dia with a rear taper of maybe another 3", yes? What freq do they go down to?
Roughly, what are the hole sizes on the lower "branch panel" and the rear hole dia?
I'm full of questions, sorry!
Is the sphere made of 2 Ikea wooden bowls, or something similar?
The internal panels are straight panels, not curved, yes?
If that's a 3" driver, the sphere is about 5 - 6" dia with a rear taper of maybe another 3", yes? What freq do they go down to?
Roughly, what are the hole sizes on the lower "branch panel" and the rear hole dia?
I'm full of questions, sorry!
Is the sphere made of 2 Ikea wooden bowls, or something similar?
Perhaps I should have asked a more obvious question - "Where can I find some Theory about this design" instead of plaguing you with basic questions?
The internal panels are straight panels, not curves (i had originally designed curved inner sphere but very difficult to make). I tried to calculate the tube so that it tapers down as it reaches the back tube area, the rough hand drawing is just that, rough, the real design was better calculated. The pic i attached is a 4inch version with the sphere taper proportions without hole (sealed), sound great with woofer. However the maze version uses a 3 inch driver, open end (30mm) and the teardrop is 28cm long and 18cm spherical diameter section (7 inch diameter) with 3 liter volume (minus panel volume) and goes down to around 75 hz -3db , this was not possible with the same driver without the panel systems, it did not go down so low. The sphere is one piece all aluminum (no seams) done using aluminum spinning and a very special chuck. The idea of the maze with the holes came from a patent I had read, i forgot the physics behind it, i haven't designed speakers for a long time now. Kinda rusty! But the holes where like 6mm, cover the holes with some type of acoustic material and line with sheep wool or felt or another type of damping material to reduce standing waves..etc.
Thanks for the info - I wonder if the same thing will work with my 8" FR driver in a 28liter chamber (16" dia) and just scale your design up? My exponential tapered "horn" is about 250mm long (sealed tip) for the system low Xover point of 120Hz, pretty much straight off the Nautilus papers - this taper is a bit different to that - I'll get started.
Thanks for the info guys!
Newpaton, your speaker looks really cool. do you think a full range driver, such as the Tang Band W8-1772 can produce enough bass in a tear-drop shaped enclosure?
I would also like to keep a ball shaped enclosure for the look... not sure if that is possible tho.
Newpaton, your speaker looks really cool. do you think a full range driver, such as the Tang Band W8-1772 can produce enough bass in a tear-drop shaped enclosure?
I would also like to keep a ball shaped enclosure for the look... not sure if that is possible tho.
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