One friend did this to his living room with pretty nice results, decent seperation.
Both speakers clustered in the corner.
Both speakers clustered in the corner.
That's interesting. I could totally build a tall contraption to sit in a corner (or wall mount), radiating L/R in two directions.
Problem for this is that my only viable corner would be BEHIND the general sitting position - we typically sit facing roughly towards the bottom left corner.
But since this kind of setup relies a lot on reflected sound, maybe it could work. Probably not, though - a 100% reflected sound would get pretty muddled, swishy, and indistinct.
A weird option (for my specific case, but not for the hypothetical one-box challenge) could be a 3-box solution!
It's a take on the Mid/Side technique. I could stick a mono column speaker up front, as centered as I can get it, serving the Mid component. Then for the side element, I could have two smaller omnidirectional columns BEHIND the listeners, both fed with the Side signal, but wired out of phase.
It absolutely would not solve the cable spaghetti. But I bet it would get a VERY spacious sound (while mono component would still be rock solid) but pretty far removed from proper left/right stereo.
It's a take on the Mid/Side technique. I could stick a mono column speaker up front, as centered as I can get it, serving the Mid component. Then for the side element, I could have two smaller omnidirectional columns BEHIND the listeners, both fed with the Side signal, but wired out of phase.
It absolutely would not solve the cable spaghetti. But I bet it would get a VERY spacious sound (while mono component would still be rock solid) but pretty far removed from proper left/right stereo.
I think perhaps a tamer version of the old boominator, details of which can be found here: https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...er-stab-at-the-ultimate-party-machine.104402/ Obviously modify for airplay and mains power..
I think you did a good job of explaining the background, your goals and constraints. We have cats and bunnies, cats like speaker cones and wires, bunnies can't resist wires - even ones carrying mains voltage. (ouch) I have to exclude both from my dedicated listening/lab space, sometime this isn't an option.
I think you did a good job of explaining the background, your goals and constraints. We have cats and bunnies, cats like speaker cones and wires, bunnies can't resist wires - even ones carrying mains voltage. (ouch) I have to exclude both from my dedicated listening/lab space, sometime this isn't an option.
I used to build a number of stereo in one box units. They worked fairly well as stereo, the ones with angled speakers sounded the most stereo, as long as the angle was too steep. Some I did with front facing tweeters and side firing woofers, which had a nice effect, though less like typical stereo.
Here are a couple of them.
Here are a couple of them.
It is a populated PCB based around Chinese 2030 ICs running at 19 v, with a 7805 to supply the FM/USB/Bluetooth module.
Linear 12-0-12 transformer, quoted as 3 but really near 1.5 Amps.
A 0-12 line is tapped for the 7805, the kit comes with the 7805 on it, quite common here. $3 for the populated PCB in the picture.
I think that is enough for a 300 square foot room.
At least for background chatter on the FM and some music, nothing too loud...have spare systems for that.
Tentatively, 18" wide, 9" deep, 6" high.
Very nice cabinets pano!
Where do you get the super nice wood from?
My local HD and Lowes never seem to have what I need.
And I need some nice clear no-knots wood!
Where do you get the super nice wood from?
My local HD and Lowes never seem to have what I need.
And I need some nice clear no-knots wood!
Yes, room furnishings are a factor for that corner system that I posted.
Consider that the walls are the main reflective surfaces, and the corner placement will intensify the bass.
You can put one speaker in the bottom, amp in the middle, and other speaker at right angle on top to get a compact corner unit, similar to the one above by a friend of Wise...
I saw that nice cabinet, and I though it looks like an old black and white TV, remember those fancy cabinets?
Yes, of course I remember that "mid century" style.
I've got this nice old 1956 RCA phono up in the bedroom.
It was that "blonde" color, but after I restored and modded it, I decided on satin black.
6V6 PP amp, it kicks butt.
I've got this nice old 1956 RCA phono up in the bedroom.
It was that "blonde" color, but after I restored and modded it, I decided on satin black.
6V6 PP amp, it kicks butt.
@mtorn I have it! One cabinet.
Height the height of your chosen fullrange/coaxial speaker driver.
Depth as Deep as the ashtray, pots or albums you want to put on it.
Length 2 to 5 meters. Suspend in cieling or place om trompet feet. 1 driver in each end off course. Elephant Wire fence wired between the metal grilles to gently shock the kitties.
Cheers!
5 edits in 2 minutters. I suck
Height the height of your chosen fullrange/coaxial speaker driver.
Depth as Deep as the ashtray, pots or albums you want to put on it.
Length 2 to 5 meters. Suspend in cieling or place om trompet feet. 1 driver in each end off course. Elephant Wire fence wired between the metal grilles to gently shock the kitties.
Cheers!
5 edits in 2 minutters. I suck
I bet it does! Yes that form factor can work well IME. How the speakers are angled changes how the stereo effect sounds.
By both I hope you mean bunnies and cats, not wires and speaker cones! Otherwise that could present some challenges. 😛
Boominator is a pretty ancient design today considering the development in usefull features of newer class D chips and easier diysolutions for making waveguides. Do you know of more contemporary designs? Cheers!
Edit: Didnt read thru opening to the end, so didnt realise it has to be omniways sorry.
Cheers!
I have an Apple HiFi, aka iPod HiFi, which Steve Jobs said is all the stereo you need! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod_Hi-Fi) He knew better, as he had a SOTA setup (in his empty house) earlier in his career: https://www.wired.com/2014/04/steve-jobs-stereo-system/, but salesmanship conquers all. Actually, the Apple HiFi was a failure, even though it's a pretty convenient thing. I have it hooked up to a Google Chromecast Audio (via Toslink) or an Amazon Input, in a kitchen cabinet. It does the job, even though family keeps closing the cabinet door when it's playing.
I actually built the amp chassis from scratch with just a touch of global feedback, and the record changer is a newer model (1963) RCA Studiomatic from another larger console.
With a nice light-tracking (4gr) stereo ceramic cartridge wired for mono of course. (EV149D)
As for the speaker(s), across the front is a 6x9 in the center, flanked by a pair of 5x7's - making the whole front essentially a giant speaker.
Each speaker is 12 ohms, all in parallel, making 4 ohms load to the mono amp.
What amazes me is the deep bass response when cranked up.
Matrix Stereo or Single Stereo Speaker somewhere on this forum. With a little psychoacoustic filter and/or some acoustic attenuation of the mid speaker.
This is the best implementation I've seen aesthetically; https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-little-full-range-driver.379277/post-6884821
I've tried my own, with mixed results. The stereo effect is better than any bluetooth box I've heard, but you need the right amp (not Class D or Bridged) and some bass reinforcement. It's fiddly. I found the matrix needed tuning depending on room placement (some placements will increase the stereo effect). But I'm sure achievable for someone with your ears.
My most recent thought about the matrix stereo speaker was to try a 3-driver Pencil type of tall Transmission Line enclosure (to add some bass response) with some kind of adjustable acoustic cover for the centre speaker (reducing the high frequencies to the centre increases the stereo effect).
If you could sort that out for me and send me a working design, that would be great ;-)
edit; the sound is very enjoyable in a smaller room, very wide and spacious but unsurprisingly you lose that location imaging for critical listening.
This is the best implementation I've seen aesthetically; https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-little-full-range-driver.379277/post-6884821
I've tried my own, with mixed results. The stereo effect is better than any bluetooth box I've heard, but you need the right amp (not Class D or Bridged) and some bass reinforcement. It's fiddly. I found the matrix needed tuning depending on room placement (some placements will increase the stereo effect). But I'm sure achievable for someone with your ears.
My most recent thought about the matrix stereo speaker was to try a 3-driver Pencil type of tall Transmission Line enclosure (to add some bass response) with some kind of adjustable acoustic cover for the centre speaker (reducing the high frequencies to the centre increases the stereo effect).
If you could sort that out for me and send me a working design, that would be great ;-)
edit; the sound is very enjoyable in a smaller room, very wide and spacious but unsurprisingly you lose that location imaging for critical listening.
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Yep, in some aspects this follows a similar philosophy. I'm just checking out the thread now - wow, 6,800 posts!
Some obvious differences, of course: Mine won't need huge bass, battery power, or portability. But it does need to look like passably attractive, or at least neutral, furniture.