If i was to manufacture a perfect set of speakers...

butcherblock

New Member
Ok so i have been very busy at the studio along with the multitude of personal stUff. I want and will design a totally new driver. Full range unlike any other, hopefully. But until then...

Here are my questions...

With all of the technology if yesterday and today, what is the characteristics of a great speaker to you? What does the speaker of your dreams entail? What would make you want a speaker. In lame mans terms:

What is today's market lacking that i could manufacture to fill the void or target a high demand?

I understand cost and performance are major factors. What is a respectable price you would pay for a high quality pair of speakers? Previously manufactured examples are welcomed.

Also, what configurations are the most popular? 2.0 stereo? 2.1 stereo? 5.1 surround? I honestly think a great left and right is all that is ever needed.

All input is greatly appreciated...
 
Ok so i have been very busy at the studio along with the multitude of personal stUff. I want and will design a totally new driver. Full range unlike any other, hopefully. But until then...

Here are my questions...

With all of the technology if yesterday and today, what is the characteristics of a great speaker to you? What does the speaker of your dreams entail? What would make you want a speaker. In lame mans terms:

What is today's market lacking that i could manufacture to fill the void or target a high demand?

I understand cost and performance are major factors. What is a respectable price you would pay for a high quality pair of speakers? Previously manufactured examples are welcomed.

Also, what configurations are the most popular? 2.0 stereo? 2.1 stereo? 5.1 surround? I honestly think a great left and right is all that is ever needed.

All input is greatly appreciated...
For what purpose must this hypothetical man be "lame"? Wouldn't an able bodied man's terms be just as valid?
 
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I am for more referring to pre-existing components and designs to get started and build a reputation. Also fund the ridiculously expensive venture of hoping to develope a revolutionary new driver...
 
Speaker design is a witches brew full of compromises.

First is the overall design, acoustic suspension, bass reflex, planar or electrostatic.

There is so much diversity is because there is no such thing as a perfect driver.

A speaker large enough to produce low bass will be too big, heavy and slow to reproduce high frequencies.

A speaker small and light enough to reproduce high frequencies will never move enough air to produce any bass.

So now we are forced to use multiple drivers.

Some of the more effective solutions seem to be some combination of large ribbon tweeter or electrostatic panel in combination with dedicated low frequency drivers. Think Acoustat, Quad or Martin Logan for electrostatic panels. Carver Amazing and Magnepan both use large ribbon tweeters but their handling of low frequencies are handled quite differently.

The large electrostatic panels or ribbon tweeters can play much lower frequencies than a traditional cone/dome/horn tweeter. This allows the crossover point to be lower and generally out of the mid range frequencies where are ears are most sensitive. But these designs tend to be more expensive than more traditional solutions.

I could go on and on and on. Books have been written and re written on the subject and many have tried and failed.

Thank goodness for the ones who succeeded like Henry Kloss, James Lansing, Bob Carver, Dr. Amar Bose, Andrew Jones, AK member Ken Kantor and countless others.

Perhaps one day your name will be on that list but the path from here to there is a long and winding road.
 
to be able to sell that driver.. it needs to be a totally new technology.. unlike anything existing..
pretty much every possible version of the magnet coil basket designs have been done before or being done..
elecrostatics were new for instance.. and different.. but too expensive ... invent something like that but cheaper :)
 
Not many technical fields are as mature as speaker design, there's been a lot done since the original Rice-Kellogg dynamic speaker design of the 1920s.

I say start reading every book you can find on speaker design, starting with Harry Olson, and Briggs, and moving forward through to present day. Not much new under the sun, maybe you will rediscover some obscure concept from the past which was impractical then but will work with today's materials and technology. At a minimum you will understand better how speakers work.

It's hard to think of something new.
 
Well, I'd have to say the closest to 'perfect' single full frequency driver I've ever heard is a
soundlabs electrostatic, and/or wisdom electrostatic, and/or Martin Logan CLS 3.

I doubt that's where the OP was aiming with his new driver, though.
 
IMHO, this is a great thought. In reality you would need almost unlimited funds, time, facilties, materials, and so on. Many have previously attempted what you wish to achieve and I wish you luck if you choose to pursue this endeavor.
 
Engineers at many multi Billion Dollar driver developers, are researching the same thing, and have the money to build it. My guess is focal , Martin Logan, or Harabeth, might be ahead of you A idea would be fun, cost to actually build something thats not been done by the big guys could be impossible. All cone materials have been used, researched thrown out or had a patend and was put to production. possibly human matter has not been tried yet, even transducers you can stick to anything that is flat, turns that into a driver, 80 hours a week for the last 70 years in many countries, new speaker driver development is happening. Be fun to cut some things up and hook them to a magnet and basket for a hobby like the 1950s and see what happens.
 
I suspect if you have to ask direction from a bunch of AK hobbyists, you don't have the chops to be successful in this project. I would think a speaker designer of a driver would have his own vision.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
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I have built a speaker that is so close to the term perfect that I have still found no way to improve any part of it since I decleared it finished back in the 90`s. No fancy overpriced drivers, just some hand-picked (some slightly modified) quality-drivers tuned by a ultrasimple oversized true 1.order filter using an asymetric cabinet whith no use of absorbers. Thick solid copper internal wiring, I know what I`m doing.
 
An electrostatic or electrostatic-like panel that would replace a 4x8 of sheetrock, to be built into a wall.

A pulsating sphere perhaps 4 feet across, that would collapse into a grapefruit-sized ball when not in use. Hung from the ceiling, and doubling as soft mood-lighting, whether expanded or not.

Those would be cool! But I'd settle for a new pair of Quad ESLs at $4000. :)
 
As I've said often, engineers can't even agree on what a perfect speaker should do, much less make one.

In any event a designer should first have in mind what he thinks an ideal speaker should do and then figure out how to make one do it.
 
Well i really like the way this is going. Let me clear this up. I have designs for a new driver and not asking about opinions on that. I have built Abd repaired many many many speakers over my days. I am asking, 2 way or 3 way, big and bulky like pioneers or slim and sleek like b&o, flour standing or bookshelf. Stereo or surround... So on... For my first production system using already available parts and platforms. To hone my skills further and finance my endeavors. What would "you" like to see it would buy. Just pretty much reading a sensuous...

Thanx all
 
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