A new baffle shape can be used to improve dome loudspeaker performance significantly. Conventionally a dome loudspeaker is mounted on a flat baffle such that the sound waves radiating from the diaphragm are subject to reflection, interference, and diffraction, which results in irregular response characteristics. Noting that the wave front of a dome-shaped diaphragm is nearly spherical, we decided to use a horn to spread the wave front without distorting it. With this baffle it is theoretically possible to obtain the equivalent of a pulsating sphere at the opening. In theory there would be no problems of reflection, interference, or diffraction. Using an experiment baffle, we were able to confirm our hypothesis. We were also able to make further improvements in directional and imaging characteristics. Applying this new baffle toa dome loudspeaker, we found that it did indeed alleviate common problems and provide an optimum environment for dome loudspeaker operation.
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