Yes, well a waveguide is a lot like a woman actually, Steve. You'll get best results if you listen to it 😉
Nice work! Allways good to see you pushing things forward.
I thougth I had seen something similar before... Here are the products of Anthony Grimani and Manny LaCarrubba:
Grimani Systems | Conic Section Array? Waveguides
Grimani Systems | Grimani Systems CinemaOne
I thougth I had seen something similar before... Here are the products of Anthony Grimani and Manny LaCarrubba:
Grimani Systems | Conic Section Array? Waveguides
Grimani Systems | Grimani Systems CinemaOne
Someone emailed me and asked if this could be scaled up to a larger size.
It COULD, but note that the radiator will dictate the directivity above a certain frequency. Here's what I mean by this:
If you have a radiator that's 3/4" in diameter, the radiator will dictate the directivity above 18khz. (Because 18khz is 3/4" long.)
If you use a larger radiator, that frequency is going to drop. For instance, if you used a 3" radiator the waveguide will only work below 4500Hz.
There's an obvious solution here, of course: the radiator needs a phase plug if the diaphragm is large.
The B&O speakers do not use phase plugs. Instead, they use two waveguides, one for midrange and one for highs. (At least in the Beolab 5 that is.)
It COULD, but note that the radiator will dictate the directivity above a certain frequency. Here's what I mean by this:
If you have a radiator that's 3/4" in diameter, the radiator will dictate the directivity above 18khz. (Because 18khz is 3/4" long.)
If you use a larger radiator, that frequency is going to drop. For instance, if you used a 3" radiator the waveguide will only work below 4500Hz.
There's an obvious solution here, of course: the radiator needs a phase plug if the diaphragm is large.
The B&O speakers do not use phase plugs. Instead, they use two waveguides, one for midrange and one for highs. (At least in the Beolab 5 that is.)
Could be, though the Mantaray variant looks very close from the rear, like maybe they modified a 32's worn out tooling. Anyway, quite rare AFAIK, coming too late in Altec's history to capitalize on its once booming A8 business, so wonder if the one's I auditioned were prototypes. Like other MR's it was much flatter over a wider BW with a much better polar response than the series they replaced, but then had a sharper drop off, so in the end they were right at the same efficiency if EQ'd out to 20 kHz.
GM
GM
This is an interesting device. If I had to come up with a name for it, I would call it an Orthoradial Horn or an Orthoradial Waveguide.
Ortho - the driver enters the throat at an angle 90 degrees to the listening axis
Radial - all surfaces comprising the waveguide are surfaces of revolution about an axis.
The 'radial' part is where I think this may be a novel device. In the case of the existing SAW and Grimani waveguides, the top and bottom surfaces are surfaces of revolution, but the side walls are not revolved surfaces (although they do curve gently to avoid diffraction at their edges). This could lead to a novel claim of a waveguide wherein all four surfaces of the waveguide past the throat exit are surfaces of revolution, and alternately, a waveguide where the side walls are surfaces of revolution and the top and bottom surfaces are lofted/complex. Also seemingly novel is that the cathedral-arch shape of the throat does not terminate in a point, but terminates in a radius, quite likely providing better matching of radiation resistance between the throat and the horn flare since there are no sudden terminations of any surface in the geometry.
Patrick, You have one year from this disclosure to file a patent, although you should ask yourself carefully whether the expense is worth it to you - will you recover the filing and patent attorney costs through product sales or better personal marketability to employers, and will you have resources to defend the patent if it is challenged/infringed? Perhaps the riskiest way to monetize the invention is to create a company to sell products based upon it; you would be hoping that the single feature provides enough benefit to your product that it will "sell itself" - extremely rare in the real world.
If not, I would let this thread become disclosure of the invention and let the invention become part of the 'prior art'. Your name is on the disclosure.
Another variant of this might be a "polyradial waveguide" where the waveguide entrance is parallel with the design axis, but all four walls are surfaces of revolution about an axis. I wouldn't think that would be patentable because some things like that concept have been done in the past.
Ortho - the driver enters the throat at an angle 90 degrees to the listening axis
Radial - all surfaces comprising the waveguide are surfaces of revolution about an axis.
The 'radial' part is where I think this may be a novel device. In the case of the existing SAW and Grimani waveguides, the top and bottom surfaces are surfaces of revolution, but the side walls are not revolved surfaces (although they do curve gently to avoid diffraction at their edges). This could lead to a novel claim of a waveguide wherein all four surfaces of the waveguide past the throat exit are surfaces of revolution, and alternately, a waveguide where the side walls are surfaces of revolution and the top and bottom surfaces are lofted/complex. Also seemingly novel is that the cathedral-arch shape of the throat does not terminate in a point, but terminates in a radius, quite likely providing better matching of radiation resistance between the throat and the horn flare since there are no sudden terminations of any surface in the geometry.
Patrick, You have one year from this disclosure to file a patent, although you should ask yourself carefully whether the expense is worth it to you - will you recover the filing and patent attorney costs through product sales or better personal marketability to employers, and will you have resources to defend the patent if it is challenged/infringed? Perhaps the riskiest way to monetize the invention is to create a company to sell products based upon it; you would be hoping that the single feature provides enough benefit to your product that it will "sell itself" - extremely rare in the real world.
If not, I would let this thread become disclosure of the invention and let the invention become part of the 'prior art'. Your name is on the disclosure.
Another variant of this might be a "polyradial waveguide" where the waveguide entrance is parallel with the design axis, but all four walls are surfaces of revolution about an axis. I wouldn't think that would be patentable because some things like that concept have been done in the past.
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