Reflected speaker - Probably a stupid idea, but...

[Keldog]

I had a thought about building a custom cabinet with wooden bowls in place of the tweeter and midrange and then mounting those drivers outside the cabinet facing inward towards the bowls to reflect the sound. I've seen reflecting designs with downward firing woofers on to a cone and upward firing tweeters and mids to disperse the sound waves. I wonder if it was worth the trouble experimenting.

 

[John James]

We could get into bowl shapes, bowl sizes, materials, surface treatments, etc.

 

[I LIKE MUSIC]

Might work good for music in a bowl...ing alley.

Sorry it must be my meds.

It would be somewhat similar in principle to what is called a reentrant speaker. They are used in pa applications.



The physics would not be exactly the same.

Do you envision using the bowl as just a reflector or to provide some type of loading?

I can see some gotchas.

 

[John James]

Uh-oh.

https://www.amazon.com/Boom-Bowl-Sound-Amplifier-Ceramic/dp/B01D0FABKA

 

[gdmoore28]

I can't find the thread now, but just recently somebody had a pair of somethings that used two tweeters firing backwards into bowls just the way you propose. Factory jobs. Maybe somebody can find them.

GeeDeeEmm

 

[Tom Brennan]

I had a thought about building a custom cabinet with wooden bowls in place of the tweeter and midrange and then mounting those drivers outside the cabinet facing inward towards the bowls to reflect the sound. I've seen reflecting designs with downward firing woofers on to a cone and upward firing tweeters and mids to disperse the sound waves. I wonder if it was worth the trouble experimenting.

Sure, why not? Have fun.

 

[Keldog]

I can't find the thread now, but just recently somebody had a pair of somethings that used two tweeters firing backwards into bowls just the way you propose. Factory jobs. Maybe somebody can find them.

GeeDeeEmm

I'd really like to find that thread. You've hit it right on the head of what I was describing. I couldn't find anything on the web about something resembling my thought. I'm more hopeful now that I know it's been done professionally.

The bowl shapes I have in mind are either a complete hemisphere with a perfect radius to the curve or a bit less than a hemisphere. Either way, it would have to be thick like a salad bowl or serving dish.

 

[Keldog]

Is this the thread?

But the Aquarii that I have, have no forward-facing baffle openings or drivers: Their woofers fire upward (omnidirectional) and tweeters face backwards and reflect off a lens. So I'd really have to hack them up to get the drivers to face the listener, or stick with the current weird layout.

I suppose I could stick small WGs in the tweeter openings and rotate the heads to face forward, but the woofer would still be firing upwards.

 

[CopperWizard]

Here is the thread...
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/signet-sl-100-internals.761474/#post-10549816

 

[kaplang]

Hollywood Bowl.

 

[MannyE]

Sounds like a really cool project!

Actually, it feel a little like bi-polar speaker tech. A bi-polar speaker has a second identical driver firing backwards at the wall and the sound is reflected back into the room.

You may be onto something...

 

[RichPA]

This was the concept behind the very good-sounding Mirage OMD series: http://www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/mirage_omd15_omdc1_omd5_prestiges10.htm I have a pair of the OMD-15s, and like them a lot.

 

[loudnoises]

The car audio world is all about reflections, usually trying to eliminate or work around them.

 

[bowtie427ss]

The car audio world is all about reflections, usually trying to eliminate or work around them.

As are the professional audio and serious audio enthusiast worlds.

 

[turnitdown]

Bowlse 901s?

 

[loudnoises]

As are the professional audio and serious audio enthusiast worlds.

Oh quite right, but when you're inside a glass box and the reflective surfaces are inches away from the drivers, it's a different beast for sure.

I bring up car audio because it's a larger scale version of a reflected speaker akin to what the OP refers. I use ring radiators specifically to avoid the reflections (30deg dispersion), and the difference standing outside the car is quite notable vs domes and less controlled drivers.

 

[bowtie427ss]

This was the concept behind the very good-sounding Mirage OMD series: http://www.hometheatersound.com/equipment/mirage_omd15_omdc1_omd5_prestiges10.htm I have a pair of the OMD-15s, and like them a lot.

The doohickey over the tweeter reminds me of a similar device in the Shahinian Cosmostatic.

 

[gdmoore28]

Here is the thread...
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/signet-sl-100-internals.761474/#post-10549816

That's the one I was thinking about. Thanks for finding it, CW!!!!

GeeDeeEmm

 

[Tom Brennan]

The famous Tennessee Sound speaker.

 

[Keldog]

The famous Tennessee Sound speaker.

That's an interesting one, for sure.