AES New York 2015
Paper Session P6
P6 - Transducers—Part 2: Loudspeakers
Friday, October 30, 9:00 am — 12:30 pm (Room 1A08)
Chair:
Sean Olive, Harman International - Northridge, CA, USA
P6-1 Wideband Compression Driver Design, Part 1: A Theoretical Approach to Designing Compression Drivers with Non-Rigid Diaphragms—Jack Oclee-Brown, GP Acoustics (UK) Ltd. - Maidstone, UK
This paper presents a theoretical approach to designing compression drivers that have non-rigid radiating diaphragms. The presented method is a generalization of the Smith "acoustic mode balancing" approach to compression driver design that also considers the modal behavior of radiating structure. It is shown that, if the mechanical diaphragm modes and acoustical cavity modes meet a certain condition, then the diaphragm non-rigidity is not a factor that limits the linear driver response. A theoretical compression driver design approximately meeting this condition is described and it's performance evaluated, using FEM models.
Convention Paper 9386 (Purchase now)
P6-2 Time/Phase Behavior of Constant Beamwidth Transducer (CBT) Circular-Arc Loudspeaker Line Arrays—D.B. (Don) Keele, Jr., DBK Associates and Labs - Bloomington, IN, USA
This paper explores the time and phase response of circular-arc CBT arrays through simulation and measurement. Although the impulse response of the CBT array is spread out in time, it’s phase response is found to be minimum phase at all locations in front of the array: up-down, side-to-side, and near-far. When the magnitude response is equalized flat with a minimum-phase filter, the resultant phase is substantially linear phase over a broad frequency range at all these diverse locations. This means that the CBT array is essentially time aligned and linear phase and as a result will accurately reproduce square waves anywhere within its coverage. Accurate reproduction of square waves is not necessarily audible but many people believe that it is an important loudspeaker characteristic. The CBT array essentially forms a virtual point-source but with the extremely-uniform broadband directional coverage of the CBT array itself. When the CBT array is implemented with discrete sources, the impulse response mimics a FIR filter but with non-linear sample spacing and with a shape that looks like a roller coaster track viewed laterally. An analysis of the constant-phase wave fronts generated by a CBT array reveals that the sound waves essentially radiate from a point that is located at the center of curvature of the array’s circular arc and are essentially circular at all distances, mimicking a point source.
Convention Paper 9387 (Purchase now)
P6-3 Progressive Degenerate Ellipsoidal Phase Plug—Charles Hughes, Excelsior Audio - Gastonia, NC, USA; AFMG - Berlin, Germany
This paper will detail the concepts and design of a new phase plug. This device can be utilized to transform a circular planar wave front to a rectangular planar wave front. Such functionality can be very useful for line array applications as well as for feeding the input, or throat section, of a rectangular horn from the output of conventional compression drivers. The design of the phase plug allows for the exiting wave front to have either concave or convex curvature if a planar wave front is not desired. One of the novel features of this device is that there are no discontinuities within the phase plug.
Convention Paper 9388 (Purchase now)
P6-4 Low Impedance Voice Coils for Improved Loudspeaker Efficiency—Niels Elkjær Iversen, Technical University of Denmark - Lyngby, Denmark; Arnold Knott, Technical University of Denmark - Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Michael A. E. Andersen, Technical University of Denmark - Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
In modern audio systems utilizing switch-mode amplifiers the total efficiency is dominated by the rather poor efficiency of the loudspeaker. For decades voice coils have been designed so that nominal resistances of 4 to 8 Ohms is obtained, despite modern audio amplifiers, using switch-mode technology, can be designed to much lower loads. A thorough analysis of the loudspeaker efficiency is presented and its relation to the voice coil fill factor is described. A new parameter, the drivers mass ratio, is introduced and it indicates how much a fill factor optimization will improve a driver’s efficiency. Different voice coil winding layouts are described and their fill factors analyzed. It is found that by lowering the nominal resistance of a voice coil, using rectangular wire, one can increase the fill factor. Three voice coils are designed for a standard 10” woofer and corresponding frequency responses are estimated. For this woofer it is shown that the sensitivity can be improved approximately 1 dB, corresponding to a 30% efficiency improvement, just by increasing the fill factor using a low impedance voice coil with rectangular wire.
Convention Paper 9389 (Purchase now)
P6-5 Effectiveness of Exotic Vapor-Deposited Coatings on Improving the Performance of Hard Dome Tweeters—Peter John Chapman, Harman - Denmark; Bang & Olufsen Automotive
The audio industry is constantly striving for new and different methods with which to improve the sound quality and performance of components in the signal chain. In many cases however, insufficient evidence is provided for the benefit of so-called improvements. This paper presents the results of a scientific study to analyze the effectiveness of applying vapor-deposited diamond-like-carbon, chromium, and chromium nitride coatings to aluminum and titanium hard dome tweeters. Careful attention was paid during the processing, assembly, and measurement of the tweeters to ensure a control and equal influence of other factors such that a robust analysis could be made. The objective results were supplemented with listening tests between the objectively most significant change and the control.
Convention Paper 9390 (Purchase now)
P6-6 Wideband Compression Driver Design. Part 2, Application to a High Power Compression Driver with a Novel Diaphragm Geometry—Mark Dodd, Celestion - Ipswich, Suffolk, UK
Performance limitations of high-power wide-bandwidth conventional and co-entrant compression drivers are briefly reviewed. An idealized co-entrant compression driver is modeled and acoustic performance limitations discussed. The beneficial effect of axisymmetry is illustrated using results from numerical models. Vibrational behavior of spherical-cap, conical, and bi-conical diaphragms are compared. Axiperiodic membrane geometries consisting of circular arrays of features are discussed. This discussion leads to the conclusion that, for a given feature size, annular axiperiodic diaphragms have vibrational properties mostly dependent on the width of the annulus rather than it's diameter. Numerically modeled and measured acoustic performance of a high-power wide-bandwidth compression driver using an annular axiperiodic membrane, with vibrational and acoustic modes optimized, is discussed.
Convention Paper 9391 (Purchase now)
P6-7 Dual Diaphragm Asymmetric Compression Drivers—Alexander Voishvillo, JBL/Harman Professional - Northridge, CA, USA
A theory of dual compression drivers was described earlier and the design was implemented in several JBL Professional loudspeakers. This type of driver consists of two motors and two annular diaphragms connected through similar phasing plugs to the common acoustical load. The new concept is based as well on two motors and acoustically similar phasing plugs but the diaphragms are mechanically “tuned” to different frequency ranges. Summation of acoustical signals on common acoustical load provides extended frequency range compared to the design with identical diaphragms. Theoretically maximum overall SPL sensitivity is achieved by the in-phase radiation of the diaphragms. Principles of operation of the new dual asymmetric driver are explained using a combination of matrix analysis, finite elements analysis, and data obtained from a scanning vibrometer and the electroacoustic measurements are presented. Comparison of the performance of these dual drivers and the earlier fully symmetric designs is provided.
Convention Paper 9392 (Purchase now)
