Interesting speaker/driver design
- Thread starter PioneerGuy75
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
cablephil212
Super Member
Tarnished aluminum? :scratch2:
cablephil212
Super Member
Is that a Ping-Pong Ball for a phase plug?
We built a line of car speakers with off-centered voice coils, but that's not one of them.
The advantage was it allowed the speaker to be "aimed" somewhat to improve imaging in a typical car door location. The asymmetrical cone - which was developed through extensive computer modeling - gave us more output in one direction than the other. The disadvantage was they were a bitch to manufacture with perfect cone balance - the cone thickness and density had to be perfect and it almost never was, so the line added a small weight on the rear of the cone during assembly & then tested them for proper balance (not ideal from a cost standpoint, obviously). Worked ok, but nobody bought them and very few were made.
John
The advantage was it allowed the speaker to be "aimed" somewhat to improve imaging in a typical car door location. The asymmetrical cone - which was developed through extensive computer modeling - gave us more output in one direction than the other. The disadvantage was they were a bitch to manufacture with perfect cone balance - the cone thickness and density had to be perfect and it almost never was, so the line added a small weight on the rear of the cone during assembly & then tested them for proper balance (not ideal from a cost standpoint, obviously). Worked ok, but nobody bought them and very few were made.
John
PioneerGuy75
Certified Lurker
And we have a Winner!!! Or two!
Yes it IS off center. I looked closely several times before I realized they were. First I thought they glued the cap on off center. No it is right on the coil.
Picture of the back notice how one side is straight and the other is angled.
Attachments
TrrR
Speaker of the House
The deep rubber surround says it's a low frequency driver and if that's the case, offsetting the voice coil for directing the sound in some way makes no sense at all.
Tell us more about this driver. Is it an automotive speaker? Perhaps made that way to clear other under dash components?
Tell us more about this driver. Is it an automotive speaker? Perhaps made that way to clear other under dash components?
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
Dammit! .... You beat me! .... Balls!
I would thing angling the entire driver/enclosure would have the same/better effect. Or perhaps a universal-pivot neck for free-air-mounted cone/horn-tweeters. I mean, look at the Altec VOTT models.
Last edited:
Gang-Twanger
Resident Wharfedaliophool
I think it's bsymmetrical, actually...
And there's a small firm in NYC, run by a bunch of Sicilian guys who make CEMENTRICAL speakers, but I hear they sound like garbage.
......
Thanks.... I'm here all week.... Tip your waittress.
Last edited:
PioneerGuy75
Certified Lurker
These are actually speakers from a JVC "Executive system".
One of those little fancy schmancy desktop systems.
Whole system sounds quite good actually!
Speakers are 3" fullrangers. Pics coming tomorrow.
I don't understand what is to be gained from an offset driver like that....Other than higher cost. Betcha most people that have these systems don't even know about them!:scratch2:
One of those little fancy schmancy desktop systems.
Whole system sounds quite good actually!
Speakers are 3" fullrangers. Pics coming tomorrow.
I don't understand what is to be gained from an offset driver like that....Other than higher cost. Betcha most people that have these systems don't even know about them!:scratch2:
Why would the cost be higher? Parts cost and assembly are the same as fully concentric drivers, unless they do have to go thru the balancing during assembly process that we did... but we were doing drivers quite a bit larger than 3", and with higher power handling/longer excursion too. These are probably no more expensive to make than a normal speaker.
John
John
Brian
An Old Geezer
Most companies purchase off the shelf parts or even completed drivers and such cases there are efficiency costs of parts and production. A concentric driver not being an off the shelf driver means higher costs for frames, cones, etc. Standard items such as terminals may cost nominally more. Seas buying 100,000 terminal blocks even under a release contract will pay substantially less that a company buying say 3,000 units. Cutting costs buy a few cents per item can have a significant impact in the end cost.
In cost accounting, it is not a matter of dollars but, pennies.
In cost accounting, it is not a matter of dollars but, pennies.
Yes and no... I'm willing to bet those savings from efficiencies would easily be offset by market demand or the lack thereof. If the brand owner spec'd something oddball and had to have it tooled, then yes they probably paid a premium for the parts. On the other hand, if the part maker produced a bunch of drivers on their own dime & shopped them to the brand owner or the factory that had the manufacturing contract, they could have ended up being a bargain since most buyers would run from that design. Also very possible that these drivers were produced in volume for some other products in markets other than North America and that the parts were off-the-shelf available at no premium whatsoever.
At any event, there's a grip of markup on a lot of those executive systems so either way I doubt it drove the market price much one way or the other.
In a previous life I used to spend time in speaker factories in Taiwan & China, you do run into a lot of oddball stuff being sold by the part sub-contractors. For every major speaker assembly factory, there are hundreds of smaller places cranking out every part imaginable and for unbelievably low costs.
John
At any event, there's a grip of markup on a lot of those executive systems so either way I doubt it drove the market price much one way or the other.
In a previous life I used to spend time in speaker factories in Taiwan & China, you do run into a lot of oddball stuff being sold by the part sub-contractors. For every major speaker assembly factory, there are hundreds of smaller places cranking out every part imaginable and for unbelievably low costs.
John
Brian
An Old Geezer
John,
That is a lot of supposition. A concentric driver is a low volume driver even if made in some village in China. As a cost accountant there are certain facts related to final production cost of a product whether produced in Canada, the U.K. or China. Yes, the cost to manufacture in China is less due to labor costs but raw material tends to be more worldwide market driven unless subsidized by the government. It might be a manufacturer had an order that after production was canceled and sold it on the open market at a loss or breakeven to recoup as much cost as possible, especially where many contracts and laws provide for recoupment in such occurances. Few manufacturers who are third party contract parts suppliers produce product on speculation as it is not part of the business model of most. One might find over time from an number of orders a new combination of stock parts will yield a potential new product such as finding from driver A a frame that has low resonances frequency, from driver b a cone and surround with less breakup and higher response curve than either a or c and the voice coil magnet assembly for driver c provides a higher guass and handles more power than a or b so, takes each of the stock parts and puts them together as a speculative product. More likely than not only a major prime driver manufacturer with engineering and r&d departments will engineer a totally new product on speculation. That is not the function of third party contract suppliers as a general rule. Or at least in my decades in the manufacturing sector including as controller of Genesis Physics speaker company.
PioneerGuy75
Certified Lurker
