Speaking of Loudspeakers

[TheGoodTexan]

The Background
The reconstruction of my music room is nearing completion (flooded basement back in the fall… stripped it all back down to concrete, installed a drainage system, re-studded, drywall, new flooring and fixtures).

I grew up in the “hi-fi” and audiophile world, as my dad started his own electronics business in 1969, and was a dealer for all of the great American, British, European, and Japanese brands over the years… before he sold the business in 2008.

So.. as the music room comes together… I’ve got a friend who is a local professional engineer, and has all of his own equipment… he’s going to help me tune the room… place the speakers, etc.

The Point
Now I’ll finally have time to do some experimenting with my own loudspeaker designs again. And I really want to try a few different things, mostly having to do with exciters and transducers.

I want to find two identical acoustic guitar bodies with solid spruce top and affix transducers to them, and hang them from the ceiling to where the soundhole is at ear level when sitting. Yep, might need a nice tweeter to accompany it… maybe even place it IN the soundhole, for proper point/source alignment. And of course I’ve got more woofer/subwoofers than anyone who has ever lived. But what could reproduce the tonal range of acoustic instruments and vocals better than an acoustic instrument? I think it would sound nice and tight for drums and percussion too.

I also want to experiment with hanging a full, thin sheet of spruce from the ceiling and doing the same thing.

I’ve watched a ton of videos of folks experimenting with all sorts of materials… styrofoam and the like… and that seems fun too. But I can’t get away from the idea of using an acoustic guitar body as a speaker.

 

[1293]

An exciter project is on my to-do list for the cabin this summer.

 

[philosofriend]

If you put the tweeter in the guitar soundhole it will change the frequency of the airmass/port system.

Forty years ago I took a small speaker with a ripped cone and fixed it to a junk acoustic guitar. I fit a glue stick precisely between the dome of the speaker and the wood of the guitar. It sounded quite strange as an electric guitar speaker, the attack of each note was massively thick and woody.

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[2HBStrat]

Klipsch?

 

[TheGoodTexan]

Klipsch?

Yeah - big, BIG Klipsch fan here. I like the sound of the Heritage designs a lot - it's the sound I grew up on. We had a pair of Heresys in our home growing up since before I can remember. We also had LaScalas, Cornwalls, and KHorns. My father even talked to Paul Klipsch one time... circa 1980? on modifying KHorns... and did several mods of Mr. Klipsch's approval (which was a miracle).

Right now I use three first generation Heresys for music listening, LEFT/CENTER/RIGHT. I also have a set of Klipsch Reference series bookshelf speakers that I will be using for side-fill (about 1 foot behind the listener at ear level, on the left and right walls).

But my idea with the acoustic guitar bodies is not performance... as some people have misunderstood my idea (not here at the Bad Dog, but in other places). The idea is for music listening. It my mind, it just seems that using an exciter with an acoustic guitar body as the "speaker" has the potential to yield some interesting results.

It would be coo to find a couple of Seaguls or Epiphones or similar... with solid spruce top... to become the donor guitar. Most Seaguls are a bolt-on neck design, which might make things easier. Should be easy enough to try out my idea without destroying the donor guitar at first.

 

[2HBStrat]

Yeah - big, BIG Klipsch fan here. I like the sound of the Heritage designs a lot - it's the sound I grew up on. We had a pair of Heresys in our home growing up since before I can remember. We also had LaScalas, Cornwalls, and KHorns. My father even talked to Paul Klipsch one time... circa 1980? on modifying KHorns... and did several mods of Mr. Klipsch's approval (which was a miracle).

Right now I use three first generation Heresys for music listening, LEFT/CENTER/RIGHT. I also have a set of Klipsch Reference series bookshelf speakers that I will be using for side-fill (about 1 foot behind the listener at ear level, on the left and right walls).

But my idea with the acoustic guitar bodies is not performance... as some people have misunderstood my idea (not here at the Bad Dog, but in other places). The idea is for music listening. It my mind, it just seems that using an exciter with an acoustic guitar body as the "speaker" has the potential to yield some interesting results.

It would be coo to find a couple of Seaguls or Epiphones or similar... with solid spruce top... to become the donor guitar. Most Seaguls are a bolt-on neck design, which might make things easier. Should be easy enough to try out my idea without destroying the donor guitar at first.

I dated a girl in the 1970's whose father had a set of massive Klipsch's in his listening room. He only listened to big band music but what a sound! I wanted to crank some Cream or Allman Brothers but never got the chance to.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don't think the sound is the same inside and outside the guitar. The inside generates it, but it comes together outside.

In fact, A music-teaching friend heard his brother-in-law's Stradivarius. My friend and his classically trained wife agreed: Ten feet away it sounded like hell; twenty feet away it sounded like heaven.

 

[TheGoodTexan]

I don't think the sound is the same inside and outside the guitar. The inside generates it, but it comes together outside.

In fact, A music-teaching friend heard his brother-in-law's Stradivarius. My friend and his classically trained wife agreed: Ten feet away it sounded like hell; twenty feet away it sounded like heaven.

I don't disagree.

And that's why the actually listening will happen.. 12-15 feet away? Just like regular loudspeakers.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don't disagree.

And that's why the actually listening will happen.. 12-15 feet away? Just like regular loudspeakers.

An old boss of mine used to say, "That makes sense. Let's do it anyway!"

 

[scrapyardblue]

Pair of Klipsch in the rear supporting my featured Legacy Audio HD Studio monitors in my listening room. I'll never need anything else. Sorry, while smaller speakers, ernt none of the four fittin' inside any acoustic guitar.

 

[Pokey Tele]

"But what could reproduce the tonal range of acoustic instruments and vocals better than an acoustic instrument? I think it would sound nice and tight for drums and percussion too."

Since we're talking wild ideas here...
Try adding a guitar speaker/cab to the mix, especially a nice Alnico 12". I have an Emi 12" Redfang (not 10") that has wonderful punchy/tight mids and sparkle. It does just what you're asking for, I think.

I send a mono mix to the guitar speaker/cab for augmenting my stereo speakers. Just increase the bass and treble as needed for the stereo speakers to de-emphasize some of the mids the guitar speaker will add. (Although I ended up feeding a mono version of the same EQ'd signal to my guitar speaker/cab).

The stereo image is still intact and sometimes sounds better (more 3D)--even with (or because of?) the guitar speaker/cab being off to one side to fill out a nearly 180deg (like headphones) arrangement of the 3 speakers. YMMV and probably will because you know way more about high-end audio equipment than me ; )