An art piece that could be placed or hung in the corners to break up standing wave resonance. Could be made of hammered copper, brass or bronze. Imagine no energy robbing ugly foam shapes. Very nice concept. We have used similar concepts to aid sound reproduction and supplemental lighting. Yours is much more bold. Tom. Star Sound Technologies.

theaudiotweak April 13, 2014 16:38

Holy smokes. I surely have never seen anything like that before. Enjoy!

devilboy April 13, 2014 15:42

In response to Don's comment - We have known each other for 40 years (graduated from high school together) - He and wife Sandy have been out to visit me in CO a couple of times (most recently we attended RMAF 2013) - If you are ever passing through near State College, PA, I urge you to contact Don and have a listen to his very top-notch system - All primo components - Maybe you'll see me there too :)

ggeers222 April 07, 2014 00:36

Now that is something completely different! Way to think "out of the box", pun intended!

mapman April 02, 2014 14:55

'Final photo' change: Instead of the pile of parts used to assemble the thing, I decided a night shot of the completed form looks a lot nicer - And somehow basked in this lighting it sounds even better too :)

ggeers222 April 01, 2014 14:24

Final photo - Perhaps I oughta make kits available (though the labor involved I guarantee might be a turnoff :)

ggeers222 April 01, 2014 01:22

Thanks very much, Albert - You've made my day as well. My wife is a fine arts painter, but I enjoy more creating in 3D; something about the engineering angle of the process. (BTW, I attended RISD during the 70's, and currently work as an engineer for Oracle, so I too understand the transition from art education to a more technologically oriented career!)

ggeers222 March 31, 2014 23:15

The additional photos are fantastic.

It's great to read your descriptions and see photos of your creative process. It's a unique blend of physical art, technology and music.

I was a fine art major in college, painted did pencil line drawings, advertising illustration and some charcoal.

After graduation I worked for LTV Aerospace, the only job I could find in art. Our department illustrated fuel (and other) critical systems for fighter jets.

This was when illustrations and text were done by hand and had to look nice. There were only a few of us that could pull that off.

Later commercial photography became my art. The challenge was when film and lighting on location were difficult. Days after returning home the film came off the line and had to be perfect as well as creative if you expected to be hired again.

I understand the difficult turning creative energy into reality. I'm very excited you shared your creation. It made my day and brought a smile to my face.

albertporter March 31, 2014 22:40

I have heard the spiral speakers in person and they sound quite good considering the low cost.

Gary- Too bad the helix project came after our visit for RMAF. Looks really cool...

Don

dpatterson March 31, 2014 11:45

Hi Douglas,

The drivers for the "Spiral" speakers are Dayton (Parts Express) 4" long-excursion aluminum-cone 4-ohm full-range units, which seat nicely into the tube ends (which are 10' lengths of 4" corrugated drain pipe sourced from Home Depot)- Hot glue is used as an adhesive/sealant. I also use EQ to balance frequency response, and drive the pair with a Dayton DTA-1 Tripath amp - Usually no one can believe the music that these make :)

Gary

ggeers222 March 30, 2014 23:56

Greers222, ok, now I have imagines of your speaker system rotating going through my head! That's a cool looking sculpture; I enjoyed sculpting in college. I never did any larger, more ambitious projects, so I admire the scale of the one in the pic.

Wow, top/bottom stereo, now that IS different. I would guess that the mind slowly accommodates the 90 degree angle and discerns the two channels as one gets used to hearing it.

The Tube speakers also are intriguing. What drivers are you using, and how did you mount them?

douglas_schroeder March 30, 2014 21:40

Thanks gents for your compliments... Albert: The concept grew from my ongoing hobby in creating wind-motion sculptures, plus rather unconventional stereo speakers; this project is more or less a melding of the two forms.

2 photos added as examples; a 6-ft wind sculpture (mounted atop an 8-ft pole), and a set of single-driver full-range speakers (each utilizing a 10-ft spiraled tube as the "enclosure" - Bass to 50Hz).

Douglas: Good point re: stereo effect; I'd experimented with L&R wiring, and settled on the top 12 discs playing right channel, and the lower 12 left channel - Believe it or not, even in this vertical orientation a stereophonic presentation is easily heard. I've got the EQ set to cut below 120Hz reaching the transducers in order to prevent a buzzing resonance which would otherwise occur (subwoofer cutoff is set to around 100Hz). Vocals: Beck's new "Morning Phase" release sounds rather nice at a moderate volume level, Enya does pretty well too, but instrumental space/ambient or symphony music certainly sounds best.

ggeers222 March 30, 2014 14:51

This looks like a larger scale multi-way surface transducer project. I would assume it's ideal for background non-vocal and ambient listening due to the nature of the components involved and the helix design.

It looks like metal "plates" were used for the surface, and if they are stereo, but distributed in a helix, then my guess is there is no stereo imaging, hence the need to consider it an ambient music source.

Would the bass reach beyond 80Hz? I would guess it doesn't, which is why the subwoofer is incorporated.

I'm sure you tried vocals, but I would imagine they might be quite diffuse and confused, somewhat like listening to talking in a highly reflective hallway, with all the drivers and how they are distributed.

The design strikes me as a quasi-omnidirectional speaker, but how does it create a discernible stereo effect if the drivers are distributed in the helix array?

Thanks for adding the additional pic of the driver. Curious to hear more, and congratulations on the reveal of your project! I love the creativity! :)

douglas_schroeder March 30, 2014 12:36

These transducers are very similar to the podium sound mark 1 panel bending wave loudspeakers.

andrewrona March 30, 2014 09:52

13mm transducer is adhered to the center of each steel disc, thereby creating 24 separate 12"-diameter flat "drivers"

Understood now.

I don't know of another system like this. Is it something you came up with?

albertporter March 30, 2014 07:26

One 13mm transducer is adhered to the center of each steel disc, thereby creating 24 separate 12"-diameter flat "drivers"... (All together these can play at a fairly high volume without breakup, but the primary design intent is for background sound levels.)

ggeers222 March 30, 2014 00:54

I have never seen anything like that.

Do I understand there are twenty four 13MM transducers (less than .5" cone area each) that reproduce the music ?

albertporter March 29, 2014 22:10