May I share something relative that I got to be a part of at INFOCOMM?
Tom Danley and Doug Jones did a loudspeaker maker lab. Doug said it took him several years to get INFOCOMM to let them do it. And I am sure DSL paid for the room and all the supplies.
The participants were nine people that signed up. They got a box with from memory:
Small cardboard swatch
Plastic drinking straw
20’ # 30 magnet wire
Plastic Solo cup and lid
1/4” X 1.5” bolt
1/4” nut
1/4” USS washer
1/4” fender waher
1/2” dia X ~ 4” wood dowel
1/2” dia X ~ 6” PVC pipe
2 NEO washer magnets
2 NEO rectangular magnets
1 NEO square magnet
Electrical tape
Super glue
Abrasive paper
The goal? Right, create a functioning loud speaker, or, a speaker anyway, in an hour and a half.
As the ME of the group I was asked to help the lost.
Before the group came I was pondering the “junior high” level of the task and being that INFOCOMM is really a heavy hitter show for the real pro audio and video industry, I was really wondering.
Doug Jones is however proffessor emeritus of acoustics at the University of Columbia U Chicago and has a better bead on teaching than I likely ever will so I kept my mouth shut.
Nine guy show up, Doug explains the exercise, tells them that if they are introverts like himself amd want to sneek into a corner and work by themselves, do it. If you want to team up and share resources, do it. Also you are not limited to whats in the box, if there is something that you think you can swipe from the lobby, go for it, at your own perril.
Also, if you do’t know where to start, we have a paper that wil get you to a working unit. Ready set go!
Three guys teamed, three guys got to work individually and three sit and stared at the contents of the box. Those were my guys.
About an hour in the first speaker is brought to the amp and connected. Listening closely, it was stated that is sounds like music, maybe live, I think I hear applause... Doug said OK let’s see what we can do to improve its efficiency and they went back to work.
I promised myself I would not touch anyones project as I have a habbit of taking over. My three guys all suceeded without much actual help, mostly question that hinted at answers and direction. I was quite proud of them.
In the end, everyone had a speaker that actually sounded pretty good considering and what surprised me a ton, was that none of them had ever done anything like this, and the utter joy they experienced having created something new like this with their own hands, that worked.
Afterwords I expressed to Doug how surprised I was over the whole thing. He told me that our world has really changed in out short lifetime and the last two generation have been led to believe that if you could simply look it up, that this l was all you really need and that the actual doing is nearly totally lost on them.
That was a real education for me.
I myself don’t know much about electonics. Electricity yes. I re-cone my own drivers and build my own enclosures and do my own integration but what happens in those little black things on the circuit boards is a mystery to me.
I have some very nice top shelf audio products but guess what I did a couple of months ago? Yup, I ordered some Amp Camp Amps, and eagerly await there delivery because I too hope to gain a little new understanding myself, by doing. I couldn’t care less what they cost. I hope DIY made something for their effort to market it.
My best,
Barry.