A student came by my office today with an interesting question.
I teach industrial design by the way. He wanted to build a 2-3000$ speaker set for high WAF. The project was about crossing gender borders in product design.
I googled a lot of designer speakers with my Good Wife this evening, she´s an interior designer and knows these things. She found a lot of cool high-design speakers she liked but most of them look like they have really crappy sound.
So the question I put to you all is how do we design a really good sounding speaker that is not a rectangular wooden box. Something that looks as cool as it sounds? For a Woman?
All proposals have to be validated by the women in our lives.
Anyone up for the challenge?
I teach industrial design by the way. He wanted to build a 2-3000$ speaker set for high WAF. The project was about crossing gender borders in product design.
I googled a lot of designer speakers with my Good Wife this evening, she´s an interior designer and knows these things. She found a lot of cool high-design speakers she liked but most of them look like they have really crappy sound.
So the question I put to you all is how do we design a really good sounding speaker that is not a rectangular wooden box. Something that looks as cool as it sounds? For a Woman?
All proposals have to be validated by the women in our lives.
Anyone up for the challenge?
Here are a few approaches that might work:
1: integrating subs in furniture (an old one)
2: Hanging lamps/speakers omnipolars or gallo style spheres might work.
3: bookshelf speakers where the shelf is the speaker. line scource, horns, transmissionline f. instance
4: in wall infinite baffle of course
5...
1: integrating subs in furniture (an old one)
2: Hanging lamps/speakers omnipolars or gallo style spheres might work.
3: bookshelf speakers where the shelf is the speaker. line scource, horns, transmissionline f. instance
4: in wall infinite baffle of course
5...
Line arrays, hidden under acoustical cloth with a color of interior, masked as some "columns" or whatever. They shouldn't look like speakers, that's the point.
In the other hand there are Focal's Grand Utopias - hell of a speaker 🙂 And, somehow, it manages to look fine at the photos from the Focal's web site.
In the other hand there are Focal's Grand Utopias - hell of a speaker 🙂 And, somehow, it manages to look fine at the photos from the Focal's web site.
Here is a bit of a concept that I was tossing about a couple of years ago - never did get around to it. Go figure - a DIY type having a few ideas that they never seem to get around to playing with? 🙄
The left side of the enclosure shows a "fold out" OB type speaker with a separate woofer enclosure. The right side shows a line array design with a "tapped horn" woofer hidden behind the bookcase.
Obviously you would want to match up the speakers when building one - unless you have rather odd taste in mixing and matching speaker types.
SHMBO desired speakers that would only be 42 inches tall (107 cm) – so back to the drawing board. After that I lost interest in any father pursuit of the project. 😡
The left side of the enclosure shows a "fold out" OB type speaker with a separate woofer enclosure. The right side shows a line array design with a "tapped horn" woofer hidden behind the bookcase.
Obviously you would want to match up the speakers when building one - unless you have rather odd taste in mixing and matching speaker types.
SHMBO desired speakers that would only be 42 inches tall (107 cm) – so back to the drawing board. After that I lost interest in any father pursuit of the project. 😡
Attachments
Another option is to... build them for the interior style.
Let's take the Sonus Faber, and mix it with Grundig from 60s.
Grundig HiFi Raumklang-Box IVa
http://www.sumikoaudio.net/sonus/images/products/amati_pair.jpg
Or just the Grundig with SF drivers...
Let's take the Sonus Faber, and mix it with Grundig from 60s.
Grundig HiFi Raumklang-Box IVa
http://www.sumikoaudio.net/sonus/images/products/amati_pair.jpg
Or just the Grundig with SF drivers...
Dieter Rams L01 speaker , the one on the lamp foot, would be along the line of blending in I guess.
Speakers are more available than women, that's the problem😀
Speakers are more available than women, that's the problem😀
A trick I recently used...
Set a small portion of the budget aside. With the small bit, build something very large. Then, when you build something smaller, it'll be such a relief that she'll love them (well, it worked on Mum, as I'm only 16...).
Another way I've seen to work... Build something too small for the room, so they struggle to fill it. Use those for a while, then build some bigger ones, capable of filling the space. She'll want to keep the bigger ones for the sound - even to inexperienced ears, distortion is objectionable.
Chris
Set a small portion of the budget aside. With the small bit, build something very large. Then, when you build something smaller, it'll be such a relief that she'll love them (well, it worked on Mum, as I'm only 16...).
Another way I've seen to work... Build something too small for the room, so they struggle to fill it. Use those for a while, then build some bigger ones, capable of filling the space. She'll want to keep the bigger ones for the sound - even to inexperienced ears, distortion is objectionable.
Chris
Here is a guy who has made a decent Open Baffle speaker that should meet WAF
Flat - Re Federico DIPOLE SPEAKERS on the Behance Network
Flat - Re Federico DIPOLE SPEAKERS on the Behance Network
I bet the old lady would love those! Hide a sub behind the TV of course. I could do a pair this week. Great "aesthetic value"... my 15 year old daughter just saw them, looking over my shoulder, and commented on their attractiveness.
Do you need a real product, which could be brought to market immediately, or something more visionary including new technologies?
As a real product something like the "raal-solaja-audio-constellation" is the modern version of Dieter Rams' somewhat boring household lamp foot cube. It was presented at RMAF 2009
Visionary would be the world of nanomaterials. Search at nanowerk for "loudspeaker" and you will get sufficient information about nanotubes making music.
Apart from that there is still the world of NXT panel speakers, who lend themselves to hiding what they really are and do - an aspect of life women seem to appreciate 😉😛.
Rudolf
As a real product something like the "raal-solaja-audio-constellation" is the modern version of Dieter Rams' somewhat boring household lamp foot cube. It was presented at RMAF 2009
Visionary would be the world of nanomaterials. Search at nanowerk for "loudspeaker" and you will get sufficient information about nanotubes making music.
Apart from that there is still the world of NXT panel speakers, who lend themselves to hiding what they really are and do - an aspect of life women seem to appreciate 😉😛.
Rudolf
I think the point is to look at existing technologies. Often its the guy who is researching and trying to satisfy his appetite for hifi high tech goodness, but at the point of buying/building he has to look to his wife for final acceptance or the stuff ends up in the basement.
A good solution should meet both needs.
A good solution should meet both needs.
Wow ! Alberto ! A man ,not a mith !!
I went to Sicily this summer (just to ) and meet him !!!
A true reference for italian youngsters . He loves TBs and everything sounds
just marvellous 🙄😱🙂😉
infinite baffle bass is clearly the way to do the very low end in this case. As for mid/high frequancies horn drivers can look very cool.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I had a set of those...
dave
In 1989, One of my dates visited my apartment and fell for my SMGa's. Today she is my wife and I now have a pair of MG1.6's. Trust me, a diy planer magnetic speaker will have a high WAF...
Such topics come up from time to time...
I don't understand, either. Guys, the wives didn't know you have been in audio DIY world BEFORE meeting them? Or you didn't give them the chances to really know you?
At the first time my wife (GF then) came to my room, she saw the speaker taller than her. They both stay.
I don't understand, either. Guys, the wives didn't know you have been in audio DIY world BEFORE meeting them? Or you didn't give them the chances to really know you?
At the first time my wife (GF then) came to my room, she saw the speaker taller than her. They both stay.
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