3 D printed loudspeaker

andromedaaudio · Feb 10, 2016

an artist in holland who specializes in 3 D printed structures asked me to do the soundenginering of a model he had in mind , with a somewhat restricted budget
I had a great influence on required thickness overall height / dimensions , used LS units ,cabling and X over , cool project .
They ll be in : plus design gallery, Milan italy on saturday on a show :

snowman zijaanzicht by andromeda61, on Flickr

amirm · Feb 10, 2016

That's really cool! I bought a 3D printer a year ago and still have not turned it on

.

andromedaaudio · Feb 10, 2016

he has designed one himself , he had aquired a huge robot arm from the automotive industry , and he writes the modelling programs himself iirc .
He has a website , here s a pic of the machine he uses and more info :

http://www.dirkvanderkooij.com/pages/about

amirm · Feb 10, 2016

Holy cow!

I am in love.

Fitzcaraldo215 · Feb 10, 2016

amirm said:
Holy cow!

I am in love.

You mean in love with the printer robot, not the speaker itself, right? You pervert!

andromedaaudio · Feb 10, 2016

I quite like also this one that he makes , a diffusor with drawers

featured_-_diffuser_cabinet_diffusor_dirk_vander_kooij_van_der_2_1024x1024 by andromeda61, on Flickr

treitz3 · Feb 10, 2016

Hello all. I have always wanted to take a 3D printing and print out a custom pair of speakers using nothing but Delrin except for the base, which would be made of wood. Andromedaaudio, sounds like you are having some fun. That's what this hobby is all about man!

I am looking forward to the observations of those who hear these.

Isn't it great to be involved in projects like this?

Tom

andromedaaudio · Feb 10, 2016

absolutely .

YashN · Feb 10, 2016

Very cool idea. Are there specifics as to the material used or any other thing to be taken care of for proper structural strength?

treitz3 · Feb 10, 2016

andromedaaudio said:
absolutely .

Tom

Rodney Gold · Feb 11, 2016

Those must have taken days to print
I investigated 3d printing for making masters for moulds that we use for casting resin and low temp melting point metal objects
Resolution , even with a 20 micron printer wasnt good..
But time!!!! to do the smoothest resolution statue of Rodins the thinker , 4" tall.. 14 hours!!! Would have still needed many hours of clean up to get perfectly smooth surfaces..
Went back to my CnC mills etc ...
his Robot is ubercool tho...

FrantzM · Feb 11, 2016

Seriously . What would be the benefit of a 3-D printer compared to a decent CNC in speaker enclosure making?

Rodney Gold · Feb 11, 2016

You can do internal structures you cant with a CnC mill/router

andromedaaudio · Feb 11, 2016

As to the question about the materials used , i am not exactly sure , i just stated to him the enclosure had to be stiff /thick enough/ non resonant and weight does matter " often " so it aint a problem soundwise if they are on the heavy side , they will only benefit
What mix he exactly used is not known to me but i will ask , the bass enclosure is made out of 2 layers of material , the mid and tweeter section one layer
Soundwise its in a way a budget trickle down version of my XPE design , a big woofer for a full range reproduction and large soundstage .
Natural full range sound , FR response is +- 2db ranging from 500 hz - 11 kHz with a -5 db point of 22 hz and 22 kHz .
It surprised me very positively , so it did him , we watched Avatar with the convergent combo in control ,, what a blast , they can be driven very hard without strain .
one benefit is that you can model in such a way that you have a baffle less speaker creating exeptionally spatial sound , which was quite obvious from the start .
Secondly its easy to experiment with different kinds of (polymermixes) , also volumechanges /shapechanges can be done just by programconfiguration , so there is a lot of freedom there

The woofer section is bass reflex

andromedaaudio · Feb 11, 2016

tw mid snowman by andromeda61, on Flickr

treitz3 · Feb 11, 2016

FrantzM said:
Seriously . What would be the benefit of a 3-D printer compared to a decent CNC in speaker enclosure making?

Hi Frantz. There is a vast difference between the two. With the 3D printer, you can shape a speaker any way you want, have separate enclosures within one enclosure that is perfectly sealed and the internal bracing can be incorporated into the design itself. The bracing wouldn't be an add on accessory after the fact, it would be part of the speaker enclosure.

It would allow for internal bull nose corners, custom shaped bevels and thicknesses that can vary where the designer would want them. It may take some time to build the enclosure but when it is done, drilling holes to attach the speakers, speaker connections and footers or base would be the only thing left to do besides wiring it all up, adding fill and installing the crossover components. You can even make it to where the crossover mount is internally built into the design.

Basically, it's a game changer that has a great potential to open up new doors in speaker design.

Tom

andromedaaudio · Feb 11, 2016

Treitz says it very well , its a very efficient way of constructing objects , you just need metal inserts for the units , x over plate , bass reflex channel is also printed and so are the feet ( with added rubber )
Part of the X over bolted inside , they arent the most expensive duelunds or mundorfs but the musiccaps sound just fine , imo

filter snow man by andromeda61, on Flickr

amirm · Feb 11, 2016

With the flexibility comes limitation in filament material. Whatever you use must be meltable and then become solid at room temperature. While you can make composite material to modify the basic properties of plastic, it is still limiting in many applications. I think it is very neat that he has built this prototype but I don't think it is a revolutionary way to build real loudspeakers. Prototyping, yes.

andromedaaudio · Feb 11, 2016

I agree i was sceptic as well to the idea , the first prototype was made out of only 1 layer of material , a bit leightweight for the energy of a 12 inch woofer .
I have started years ago making LS out of wood, mdf /layers of mdf / well braced etc later i moved to HPL ( phenolic resin composite) , 40 mm braced.
So i know how a completely dead /stiff LS body atributes to the sound , after testing under power with very bass heavy material i heard no enclosure contribution , nor was much physical vibration present when a finger was put on the casing
There is off course a point in which the hearing is unable to detect loudspeaker housingvibration contribution , where is that point ?? somebody tell me
In this design it works very well and it wasnt a limiting factor after all design wise

treitz3 · Feb 17, 2016

Hello and good evening to you, andromedaaudio. Limited minds seem to disregard the advances of new technology. There are many different ways to stiffen the enclosure, internally, externally and within said composite. Every speaker ever made has loudspeaker housing contributions. Different types of aluminum's, steel or steel alloys, mixed metallurgy's, coreboard, Plexiglas, OSB, plywood, concrete, Delrin, MDF, hard woods, raw or veneered particleboard, glass, acrylic, stone, titanium, carbon along with a plethora of other materials all have a different impact. All of them also have their very own and perhaps more importantly, unique design challenges. Some of those challenges are no longer a challenge with 3D printing. In some cases, many challenges are no longer a challenge. The doors are just now opening up to this new 3D technology.

I am personally glad to see someone here on the WBF helping to pioneer this new technology.

Tom

3 D printed loudspeaker

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