Most loudspeakers today are still made using sheet material cut and joined into rectangular boxes simply because of the cost. At Vivid Audio we made the decision, from the outset, that our products should not be compromised by such values and sought out manufacturing materials and techniques that would afford us complete freedom to design enclosures which give the best results.
Acoustics Introduction
In a classic series of experiments back in the 1930s, Dr. Harry Olsen mounted a small full range driver in a number of wooden shapes, all having an approximately equal size. He clearly showed that the smoothest response was obtained when the enclosure was a large sphere. He showed equally clearly that one of the worst shapes is a rectangular prism.
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Carbon Fibre Peripheral Stiffening RingDeveloped over twenty years ago by technical director, Laurence Dickie, the use of a carbon fibre peripheral stiffening ring to increase the frequency of the first break-up mode has since been at the heart of all Vivid Audio dome drivers. Subsequently refined, optimised and patented, the technique offers an almost twofold improvement in performance over the ordinary metal dome. |
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Acoustically Designed CabinetsIn order to understand better why the Vivid Audio philosophy of using enclosures with rounded contours leads to an improved performance when compared to those with sharp corners we have to look at how sound behaves in the two cases. First let's look at the way the rounded enclosure helps with the high frequencies. |
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Catenary Dome ProfileAt Vivid Audio we believe in using pistonic drivers for every part of the spectrum because we have found, though experience and experiment, that no matter how well controlled it may be, cone breakup is always audible as a colouration of the sound. |
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Highly Aligned ChassisVivid Audio chassis are made from pressure die cast aluminium and have a unique construction in which the twelve supporting struts have an unusually narrow aspect ratio and are aligned in such a way as to present a minimum of obstruction. |
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Highly Vented FormerPerforated formers are well known but have the disadvantage of causing audible noise as the air rushes through the small holes. If the number of holes is increased to the point where the hole area approaches half that of the total it turns out that the resonance is moved right out. |
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Vivid Audio Filter NetworksFor a set of drivers to blend together seamlessly into a whole it is essential that their individual acoustic responses adhere accurately to certain defined filter shapes. We have chosen fourth order Linkwitz-Riley filters because of their ideal phase and summation characters through each crossover point which also yield symmetrical dispersion patterns. |
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Tapered Tube LoadingIn the early days of the quest for resonance and reflection free drivers it became abundantly clear that in order to fully complement the transparency of reproduction from a well-designed dome transducer something had to be done to remove any hint of cabinet colouration. |
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Reaction Cancelling Compliant Mount“Every action produces an equal and opposite reaction”. This simple Newtonion law of motion applies to all mechanical systems from rockets engines to loudspeaker motors. So when a current flows through the coil of a loudspeaker driver a force acts both upon it and the magnet surrounding it. |
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Reaction Cancelling PortsIt is not usually appreciated that the air rushing in and out of the port in a vented loudspeaker also results in a small reaction force on the cabinet in the same way as a rocket moves in the opposite direction to that of the exhaust gases. |
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Reflex Tapered Tube LoadingFor some time now it has been recognised that fibre filled exponentially tapered tubes can deliver a performance which is very nearly that of an ideal enclosure. One which can contain the rear radiation from the drivers without any of the further resonant modes which plague ordinary loudspeaker cabinets. |
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Super Flux MagnetsThe use of radial magnets is still quite unusual in loudspeakers because of the difficulty in magnetizing in situ and the consequent need for novel ways of introducing live magnets into the steel assemblies. However the benefits are manifold. |
