3D printing desktop speakers. Thoughts?

[samysound]

My suggestion would be to print a pair of Revel Salon2's. Might as well go big.

might as well print a room with speakers integrated

At the MDF: New large-area, multi-material printer to advance research | ORNL

A second large-volume 3D printer recently installed at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) will be modified to print two different materials on one object, significantly advancing the materials research being performed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory...

www.ornl.gov

 

[pozz]

I had a long convo with a materials engineer about 3D printing. You can print quite dense and strong objects. The main issue is that the properties you design for and expect can be wildly deviant once off the press. Whether or not this matters depends on application.

General note. I have no advice other than to keep this in mind.

Edit: For reference: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/constant-directivity-2-way-à-la-geddes.18685/

 

[Blumlein 88]

Print something complex like the insides of a Magico speaker.

Magico Q5 loudspeakers Review, Part 2

Q5 background The Magico Q5s are heavy, extremely heavy now that I am no longer 25 years old. 420 pounds each, to be exact. When packed in crate, each is at least 500 pounds. Bringing them home was an adventure in itself. (See Part 1) Magico provided a great instruction on how to get the [...]

www.dagogo.com

Or do something unique in layers like this.

 

[samysound]

I had a long convo with a materials engineer about 3D printing. You can print quite dense and strong objects. The main issue is that the properties you design for and expect can be wildly off. Whether or not this matters depends on application.

General note. I have no advice other than to keep this in mind.

its is true that there can be a variability in the process. however you can characterize that and develop design allowables with consideration. more so a concern with critical structural components and fatigue. It is true that you cannot expect to get the same properties you would get from the equivalent wrought or cast form of the printed alloy. However there is growing data published for this as well...

 

[Madjalapeno]

I printed certain parts for my Linkwitz LXmini, the bits that relate to the tweeter - tube, standoff, part that holds the tweeter in the tube.
Cabinets etc. would likely have vibration issues I suspect? Using for complex molds makes sense though.

JonathanView attachment 161881

I did the same with mine. Printed a connector for the tube to the MDF, and a support for the upper mid-range, along with the speaker mounts.

I did fill the cavities with silicone though for maximum damping, and filled the surfaces with various paints/epoxies.

They replaced the B&W's.

 

[preload]

might as well print a room with speakers integrated

At the MDF: New large-area, multi-material printer to advance research | ORNL

A second large-volume 3D printer recently installed at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) will be modified to print two different materials on one object, significantly advancing the materials research being performed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory...

www.ornl.gov

Agree. Go big or go home. They have whole communities with 3-d printed houses. Might as well.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

The Node Hylixa is an ultra-high-end British speaker that utilizes a simulation tuned 3D printed design for optimal geometric (they mention the removal of corners to uneven reflections and use a conch or spiral for ideal sound projection) and material properties (an ultra-low resonance, ceramic-like SLS material). I would love to see an open-source 3D printed speaker applying all the lessons learned here and tuned to win big time on @amirm's measurement system. This video is fascinating on the whole design and the engineering and research that brought it to fruition:

 

[Burgunder]

To me you could go 2 ways with a 3D-printed project, either you go for a full printed enclosure with a more or less complex curved shape. But perhaps it's a little more convenient to just print the baffle which can have roundovers, cutout for drive units and perhaps a waveguide and then attach that to a more conventional enclosure. For speakers with at 5" or 6" woofer that should be doable.

 

[3D_Lover]

I want to ask you guys, I found this 3D model for speaker: https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/electronics/audio/jl-audio-e-sub-e110-gloss-black

Do you think it will be a good choice to try this one out to print or should I choose different model?

 

[tinnitus]

What are the benefits of this simple box.
You can build it with easy with shelfs.

 

[somebodyelse]

Isn't that model for pretty renders rather than 3d printing?

 

[SpeaKa]

Any idea on what might be an easyish design to start with? Has anyone here tried 3D printing a speaker before? I also thought after my first try I might use the 3D print to make a mold for some concrete speakers, which could look less cheap and probably sound better.

I guess there are quiet a lot full range speaker designs on thingiverse. But creating an own design is more interesting (although more challenging).

I recently designed this 2-way desktop speaker with two unusual drivers with glass diaphragms. It would be straightforward to use an active crossover and a 4-channel amplifier, but I tried to find a passive way (knowing, that EQing of a desktop speaker is quite easy using REW and Equalizer APO).

SO this was the plan:

And this is the result so far:

The crossover network:

Indoor Measurement:

End some extensive EQing

It was a long way. But it was worth it and I learned a lot. Vituix CAD is an excellent tool for simulating the passive crossover network to avoid waste of time and money.

 

[jmf11]

Hi,

It has been some time since your post, but could you give some info about your printing material and parameters?

How does the box behaves? Does it resonates?

Would you go again with enclosure printing?

 

[Matias]

Fresh video on this subject.

 

[SpeaKa]

Hi,

It has been some time since your post, but could you give some info about your printing material and parameters?

How does the box behaves? Does it resonates?

Would you go again with enclosure printing?

Sorry for the late reply, I missed the notfication by mail.

Material is PLA, nothing special. I would recommend to use PETG, as I would expect a better damping than PLA shows. The box resonates around 300Hz. Applying of at least 2mm of Aluminiumbuthylene helps to reduce the resonances significantly. In general I would design the next speaker with double walls, filling the room in between with a mixture of sand and epoxy or even with a mixture of sand and ultrasonic gel to add weight and see a better behaviour regarding resonances. Next step will be a partly printed speaker, using a standard IKEA Bamboo Box as enclosure.

 

[jmf11]

Thanks for this feedback SpeaKa. This is encouraging. I feel that 3D printing has really some potential for "boxes" front panels: chamfers, waveguides, recess, speaker openings... Hollow printing (double walls) and adequate filling should reduce printing time and improve mechanical behaviour. I don't have time now to explore, but I'm definitely curious.

 

[Jukka]

I'm in process of designing my first 3D printed speaker. I'm going forward with "solid," infilled walls. Did anyone have a recommendation for infill pattern? My guess would be that rather low fill percentage is adequate as long as the pattern is good. Minimizing parallel walls and having good stiffness against inside pressure changes.

 

[Behrend]

Minimum Infill to later fill up the cavities with dry sand.
The Sand will provide perfect dampening and it will still be structurally solid

 

[somebodyelse]

The video in post #2 has some measurements for a couple of infill densities with PLA vs. the same cabinet dimensions with a variety of woods. My thinking is like @Behrend's but that's informed guesswork rather than evidence based. I had wondered what a gyroid fill of the cabinet internal space would do, but found a paper suggesting a high-pass filter with lumpy pass band so probably not desirable.

 

[Jukka]

I have doubts about using any infill if attempting to fill up with any material after printing. I recognize the usefulness of filling up cavities, but I decided to go with 10 % Cubic infill and not do any fill ups at this point. This being my first 3D printed speaker I'm open for some adventure If the printed cabinets resonate, my first attempt to control that would be by damping them with such treatment that I've used with wooden cabinets before. I also plan to play with the cabinets internal geometry, this being a 3D print it should exploit the possibilities. I have yet to start printing, it turns out I need to have all parts at hand and measured before printing, because drilling holes to a printed cabinet is not an option.

-- Early version of the back plate internal surface. Attempting to diffuse internal sound waves to reduce cabinet ringing.