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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: Diffraction and front baffle and cabinet design posted by chocolate_lover9999@yahoo.com on April 15, 2012 at 10:47:21:
Not every high performance speaker uses heavily rounded baffle edges simply because not every design needs them. Understanding the basics as to why response anomalies occur in the first place goes a long way to resolving the question for a particular design. Baffle width around a particular driver, the wavelengths the driver is producing, and whether or not the driver is centered on the baffle also affect the speaker's "diffraction signature" - not just the amount of radius at the baffle edges. One needs to keep in mind that a portion of the driver's wavefront travels along the baffle face and in doing so is reflected outward off the baffle. When the edge is encountered, instead of being largely reflected, it wraps around towards the back of the cabinet - producing a response drop off. The larger radii edges soften this transition and that is all they do. It is equally important to understand that with shorter wavelengths, the wavefront will have undergone several complete pressure/rarefaction cycles by the time it reaches the baffle edge. The phenomenon known in acoustics as "relaxation" causes a more noticeable drop off in amplitude with these short wavelengths so that by the time it reaches the baffle edge - there is very little "reflection" taking place regardless - so the edge diffraction effect is less severe. In addition, offsetting a tweeter from the baffle's vertical center line reduces the pressure drop occurring at a particular frequency associated with a fixed baffle width because the quarter wavelength distances on either side of the driver to the baffle edge are staggered. It's not a simple matter of felt, round over size, or baffle width - but everything taken into account. And as others have suggested, the affect of edge diffraction can be quite small - almost inaudible. If all of the above parameters are screwed up in the design, it can amount to a ripple in response of a noticeable amount ( several db) - particularly off axis. So one shouldn't get overly worked up about it but it should never be completely ignored either. Extreme approaches with extraordinary claims are a sign that someone either doesn't know what they're talking about or they are trying to create something that isn't really there.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Diffraction and front baffle and cabinet design - villastrangiato 05:06:04 04/16/12 (1)
- RE: Diffraction and front baffle and cabinet design - AudioSoul 09:30:32 04/16/12 (0)
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