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Article: How Horns Work Revisited by Dr Geddes


WMcD

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"They realized that by mounting a loudspeaker in a tube, the motion of the loudspeaker would act as a waveguide, effectively transforming a small amount of input (air) into a large amount of output (sound). Drs. Bose and Short discovered that a waveguide could match the mechanical properties of a loudspeaker for efficient operation over a wide range of notes. "

Hilarious. They rediscovered horn theory about 100 years after the fact. The so-called waveguide described is just an attempt at front-loaded transmission line, and probably not a very good one at that. It's really just a mass of air coupled to the driver to drop the resonance down, the essence of ye olde acoustic labrynith.

OK, Bose. Keep rediscovering and mis-interpeting old, discarded technology, add a dollop of wishful thinking and wrap it in a cute little package. Write psuedo-sci-babble to make it "read well". Repeat as necessary.

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Very interesting, thanks Gill. Gedde's acoustic lever (Patent 6,782,112) reminds me of an approach KEF has used.

From my reading of the article, and the response, the argument seems to me to break into two parts:

If you are interested in frequencies where the mouth of the device is comparable to, or larger than, the lowest wavelength of interest, waveguide theory should be your guide. (i.e., midrange and tweeter horns)

If you are interested in frequencies where the mouth of the device will be small in comparison to the lowest wavelength of interest, horn theory should be your guide. (i.e., bass horns)

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"Hilarious. They rediscovered horn theory about 100 years after the fact.
The so-called waveguide described is just an attempt at front-loaded
transmission line, and probably not a very good one at that. It's really
just a mass of air coupled to the driver to drop the resonance down,
the essence of ye olde acoustic labrynith."

The Bose wave products most resemble the half-square antenna used by ham radio people.

It's a good idea and I wish I had thought of it (first).

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thanks...I will follow up after Mardi Gras! I built a EM loop out of copper pipe, just under 1 meter in diameter, to use with my SW radios....we have incredible QRM here...it helps, but I I have to have the loop right next to the radio so I can turn the tuning knob, also, the loop has to be seated in a wooden cradle to keep it upright on my desk. When not in use it hangs on the wall.

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