Me Loves Khorns Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 It is science fair time for my 12 year old, Me Loves Heresy's. We were thinking something related to the audio world might be kinda fun. Does anyone have any ideas that would be age appropriate (my age, not his[] ) We don't have testing gear of any kind, but were wondering if there was anything that we could build, mod, or otherwise do that could be considered for a project... Thanks for any help or ideas. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcarlton Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 How about using RoomEQ Wizard? He can show how moving speakers can change the graphs, show how speakers reproduce sound, and create all kinds of neat and cool looking graphs. Best part...the program is free. While he's at it he can help optimize your listening area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerwoodKhorns Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Build some first order single frequency crossovers. You need some test tones, and handful of capacitors and inductors and a speaker. Show how the inductors and caps act as filters. Plug some numbers into equations to figure the frequency. Pretty easy, should be just right for a 12 year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Well, if you end up needing an amp to drive speakers of any kind the little Sonic Impact T-amp can be had for $20 or so. It will run on AA batteries and is actually a surprisingly impressive little amp. They can drive Heresy's or any Heritage in an impressive way. Also, sonic impact has got some stick on transducers which can make a speaker of almost anything. They actually sell these things stuck on cardboard pyramid shaped "speakers" that they call "portable". One other thought that is interesting, and might be demonstrated, is horn loading. The illustration of cupped hands being the first "horn" to the megaphone to the Klipschorn. There were little megaphones built in to the ancient greek theatre masks. It is an amplifier of some type, can't remember the name. Something like mechanical amp, but that doesn't sound right. Another possibility might be to compare and contrast digital and analog sound. If one could come up with some kind of interactive demonstration that involved an A/B comparison, which the observer could select and listen. There might also be some kind of health component. Kids playing ipods too loud on headphones will damage hearing. Some kind of info on various noises/sounds and the associated dbs, if there was some way of telling when the headphones are in the danger zone... even if it takes ten years, it's damage still. One other thing that has been in the news lately, and I've thought it interesting, devices that use sound frequencies heard by kids but not adults. Kids have cell phone rings their teachers can't hear. Also in the UK there was some store security device emitting these screeching HF sounds too high to bother adults, but it was used to keep the teens away. That could be fun to offer something that various age folks could interact with to hear what they can hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksonbart Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Try this on for size, one word; Volcano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1101 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 At one of my kids science fairs I saw a neat experiment that involved the movement of air. The kid had a bass drum, and just in front of the mouth of the drum a container of dry ice and water which made the usual fog. When she hit the drum it moved the fog in a coherent pattern that clearly showed how the bass drum moves air....and it was a pretty big pattern of movement eminating from that thing....it looked really cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Try this on for size, one word; Volcano somehow I knew he was going to say that. 12 years old, would he be able to understand and explain how the components in a crossover work? How about simplifying it to 'multiple driver speakers' and show how the entire frequency bandwith is divided into smaller sections so each speaker can specialize in low, mid, or high frequencies. Installing switches on the outputs of an exposed network would allow demonstration of woof, tweet, and mid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnik Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 I think coda posted this link before. What kid wouldn't love loud music and fire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 How about a cut-away Klipschorn? I can lend you my sawzall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me Loves Khorns Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 Loving all of the ideas, thanks for the responses. Fini, did you say you could send down a Khorn And a Sawzall?[] How do they keep the PVC from melting in the Ruben's tube? He said something about aluminum foil, but did not say how it was used... Not sure my bride would go for the fire though...[6] Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Hardy Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Buy a couple of inexpensive, moderate Qts drivers (maybe fullrange) from PartsExpress. Measure the basic Thiele/Small parameters for your drivers. Understand what they mean! Using a book such as Alden's "Speaker Building 201" design "optimum" vented and sealed boxes for the drivers. This gets one into the interesting physics of resonant systems. Simulate the response curves. Yeah, you can use canned s/w to do it, but it's more fun to set up a spreadsheet and do the sims yourself. Build the boxes. Measure the results with a Radio Shack SPL meter. If you want to, you can get into crossovers, too. Maybe build first vs. second order crossovers with the same drivers and compare by measuring SPL's My son did this as a project in 10th grade with the excellent Parts Express 269-469 4" fullrange "69 cent wonder " drivers. Unfortunately, those drivers are no longer available (although Madisound has an identical looking "Onkyo" driver that might?? be the same). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SET12 Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 It is science fair time for my 12 year old, Me Loves Heresy's. We were thinking something related to the audio world might be kinda fun. Does anyone have any ideas that would be age appropriate (my age, not his[] ) We don't have testing gear of any kind, but were wondering if there was anything that we could build, mod, or otherwise do that could be considered for a project... Thanks for any help or ideas. Paul Paul, You know there is a well known Audio Designer that did a Science Fair project when he was 12 yrs old and won it! He built a simple 2A3 amp and demonstrated some sound effects with it! That man was Dennis Had of Cary Audio which I have had the pleasure of meeting a number of times over the years, I even meet his son once. You might be able to demonstrate high efficiency loudspeakers in contrast to unefficient ones. Heck you might be able to dublicate what Dennis was doing in his project I would think he be honnored by that you might even try e-mailing him he is a very personable kind of guy I once brought a kit of his to an audio demonstration of his electronics line along with a phono stage that had a design issue which he solved the issue in seconds and he then called his son over and said to him look these guys are underground audio people! Dennis has great respect for DIY people which of course are his own roots! I got to say that if I had the opportunity with a 12 yr old son or daugther and if they were interested like my 10 yr old daughter is in building her own stereo amp. Its what I do! Alot of the simple math for a 2A3 is in the RCA RC-19 tube manual. I could also help with it as well. SET12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J M O N Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 How about a demonstration of how horns work and an explanation of their advantages? This could spurn the next generation of hornheads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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