Ahhh Kenjit....
I worked for a loudspeaker designer, and actually some of what Kenjit is saying has some truth to it. A cabinet with the side walls getting wider to the back, not norrower would actually help attenuate some of the standing waves within a loudspeaker cabinet. They aren’t really pretty looking though, and let’s face it, when showing off a system, looks often so very important to the investor. (understandable)
Mike whom I worked for does not design drivers, and with a slew of world class drivers literally designed by engineers with decades of craftsmanship to draw upon, he doesn’t have to. However as another designer indicated, sometimes the device doesn’t exist for your application (like Arion), then you really have to make it yourself.
**Arion, by the way I heard your amplifiers at our factory, pretty darned good stuff mate!**
Consider the fact that specialists are designing drivers, capacitors, resistors, terminals etc. It might not be a bad idea to source some of the best components that work well together using skill and experience, than to ignore what is out there and try your hand at beating the best that already exists.
MDF is pretty dense, and it’s uniform in it’s performance. Mike, he’s used HD3 (1.6 times denser than MDF) and now uses 4mm sprung steel plates laminated to the insides of his MDF cabinets. The steel plates are electrically connected to the ground terminals, Faraday cage and ground planes connected to the amplifier and then source. Using pure copper screws to absorb the ringing effect of the drivers against the baffle of the loudspeakers. Using copper as the speaker basket would also be optimum, why? Copper’s Youngs Modulus.
Many unknown designers of quality audiophile products simply don’t have the resources to compete with the larger scale manufacturers marketing budgets. However, when you do get to hear a real performer, you’ll never mistake it for the lesser. Some people like to use cars as an analogy, so I’ll use one that makes sense to me. Driving down the highway seeing beautiful muscle cars and sports cars, I never confuse them for being the pinnacle of performance, as I’ve been to drag strips and formula racing, there’s no mistaking it when you’ve really seen it.
No, I have worked with a clever designer who with experience, and the trial and error Kenjit spoke of make stellar devices. I am sure there are many who have invested the time and effort to be great at their craft, who just aren’t the marketing giants the big names are, and their products are known to a local community who are aware they exist.
