Fresh thinking in acoustic materials

An interesting read.
Maybe something in the future for us audiofools.
 
i'm wondering if it might be posssible to print the whole speaker including the internal acoustic stuff on the inside. Maybe structured panels could be lighter and stiffer than good ol' MDF? Now I hafta get a printer and learn something. 3D CAD is no problem.
 
i'm wondering if it might be posssible to print the whole speaker including the internal acoustic stuff on the inside. Maybe structured panels could be lighter and stiffer than good ol' MDF? Now I hafta get a printer and learn something. 3D CAD is no problem.
Now you're thinkin....
I was pondering something along the same lines but did not think about printing an entire speaker box.
 
Oh I believe many things will be 3d printed eventually. At least until the Star Trek generator comes into play.
I'm actually trying to introduce the tech to my High School son as maybe something to get into. I have the AutoCAD design side covered. Just need the CAM side.
 
That is an incredibly cool idea. Plus, your speakers are too damn heavy anyway. :)
No kidding! It's a pain in my back; we're standardized on 1" Ranger board - which is a tad heavier than std grade MDF. It's really needed to make the panels stabile in the midband where there's lot of energy that we do not want ringy-seeping thru the panels.

It's not an issue at the longer or shorter wavelengths. An LF system can be rather more scantily built than the 200-2KHz box. So, yeah, if we could kill that problem the speakers could be made much lighter.

I'm imagining a panel that derives its structural integrity more like a honeycomb, with internal open ended structures that knock both knock down reflection - since that bounces out thru the diaphragm - and deadens transmission. Those are actually thermal problems: the compression/rarefication of the air wants to be sunk to heat. That's what happens in a hunk of felt, the little fibers flexure sinks the heat.

One can also imagine a snail/seashell shaped diminishing crossection spiral that would refuse to reflect plus have huge surface area for the absorber structures. Casting something like that is way too much of a pita for a small shop like ours; it puts the idea out of range. But printing, yeah.

I've been at 3D CAD some 20 years, so that's no issue.
 
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