EP3453185A1

EP3453185A1 - Speaker assembly with three-dimensionally disposed multiple speakers

Info

Publication number: EP3453185A1
Application number: EP16720848.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mustafa KUCUKKURU; Gizem MISIRLI; Ridvan YUKSEL; Caglar Henden; Emrah Mustafa HOSCOSKUN
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2016-05-06
Filing date: 2016-05-06
Publication date: 2019-03-13
Also published as: TR201706574A2; WO2017190802A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a speaker assembly with three-dimensional directional multiple speaker units so as to provide a sound system in the form of a speaker box having multiple speaker units. More particularly, the present invention relates to a speaker assembly having a plurality of planar major surfaces and comprising a plurality of speaker units disposed within said major surfaces. A first major surface first speaker unit (1 ) and a first major surface second speaker unit (2) being effective are disposed within a first surface (5). A second major surface speaker unit (4) is disposed within a second surface (6) and an intermediate surface speaker unit (3) is disposed within a third major surface of the speaker assembly neighbouring said first and second surfaces (5, 6) and disposed thereinbetween.

Description

SPEAKER ASSEMBLY WITH THREE-DIMENSIONALLY DISPOSED MULTIPLE SPEAKERS

The present invention relates to a speaker assembly with three-dimensional directional multiple speaker units so as to provide a sound system in the form of a speaker box having multiple speaker units.
In general, speakers may be preconfigured to apply certain predefined sound enhancement blocks being presented to the user in order for increasing the sound quality by way of enabling the user to select a sound preset. This approach does not yield completely satisfactory results for the unique reason that each of these predefined enhancement blocks basically aim to increase the sound quality for only one type of audio content.
It is to be noted that a variety of parameters play an important role in the audio performance of home based theatre systems such as location of the audio players, volume level, balance of the speakers and bass equalization.
The audio systems typically allow the user to manually set up the above-mentioned parameters through a controller on a control unit of the audio system. However, such fine-tunings and adjustment of the parameters can be complex and difficult especially for the so-called technically non-competent people as well as older persons. A speaker system configured to have predetermined voice directions with respect to different frequency ranges can provide an enhanced audio quality and performance by which equal predetermined minimum levels of sound pressure levels can be obtained.
A prior art publication in the technical field of the present invention may be referred to as US2009092275, which discloses a sound box with a long flat body and a long first voice face at front. Both sides of the first voice face incline separately to from a second voice face. A first speaker unit places inside the sound box including a left speaker and a right speaker that is placed separately at the left end and right end of the first voice face. A second speaker unit places inside the sound box including a left speaker and a right speaker that is placed separately at the left side and right side of the second voice face.
The present invention provides speaker assembly with three-dimensional directional multiple speaker units as defined by the characterizing features in Claim 1.
Primary object of the present invention is to provide a speaker assembly with three-dimensional directional multiple speaker units.
The present invention proposes a speaker assembly with a plurality of planar major surfaces neighbouring one another consecutively along the transversal side faces of the speaker assembly and while a first surface accommodates first major surface first speaker unit and first major surface second speaker unit, the second surface in opposite direction to the first surface and parallel thereto accommodates a second major surface speaker unit. Finally, a third surface as an intermediate surface between the first and second surface and having the same longitudinal dimension with said first and second surfaces accommodates an intermediate surface speaker unit.
Accompanying drawings are given solely for the purpose of exemplifying a speaker assembly whose advantages over prior art were outlined above and will be explained in brief hereinafter.
The drawings are not meant to delimit the scope of protection as identified in the claims nor should they be referred to alone in an effort to interpret the scope identified in said claims without recourse to the technical disclosure in the description of the present invention.
Fig. 1 demonstrates a general isometric view of a speaker assembly according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 demonstrates another general isometric view of the speaker assembly according to the present invention.
Fig. 3 demonstrates front side view of the speaker assembly according to the present invention.
Fig. 4 demonstrates cross-sectional view taken along line E-E of Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 5 demonstrates lower side view of the speaker assembly according to the present invention.
Fig. 6 demonstrates cross-sectional view taken along line F-F of Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 7 demonstrates cross-sectional view taken along line C-C of Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 8 demonstrates rear side view of the speaker assembly according to the present invention.
Fig. 9 demonstrates enlarged view of detail D of Fig. 7 according to the present invention.
Fig. 10 demonstrates an exemplary electrical circuit of the speaker assembly according to the present invention.
Fig. 11 demonstrates a schematic circuit diagram of the speaker assembly according to the present invention.
The following numerals are assigned to different part numbers used in the detailed description:

First major surface first speaker unit
First major surface second speaker unit
Intermediate surface speaker unit
Second major surface speaker unit
First surface
Second surface
Bass reflex port
Speaker assembly air outlet port

The present invention relates to a speaker assembly effectuating sound performance optimization. Typically, a plurality of speaker units outputs sound waves as will be delineated hereinafter. The speaker assembly of the invention is typically configured as a generally rectangular prism sound box having a first surface (5) and a second surface (6) as two major surfaces in opposite sides.
As is known to the skilled worker, although each note being played contains higher frequency harmonics, lower frequencies are omnidirectional. According to the invention, partly directional and directional sounds respectively in mid-range and higher frequencies are supplied to separate speaker units, namely the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) and the second major surface speaker unit (4).
The first major surface first speaker unit (1) and the first major surface second speaker unit (1) are typically effective in producing low frequency sounds from 200 Hz to 7 kHz. The intermediate surface speaker unit (3) is designed to produce sounds from 550 Hz to 10 kHz and the second major surface speaker unit (4) reproduces high-frequency signals from 2500 Hz to 20 kHz.
The advantageous aspect of the primary embodiment of the invention lies in that the second surface (6) and the first surface (5) respectively accommodates the second major surface speaker unit (4) producing high-frequency directional sounds and the first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) producing non-directional low frequency sounds. Therefore, two major surfaces of the speaker assembly forming opposite side surfaces thereof accommodate lower and higher frequency speaker units within generally parallel opposite side surface of the assembly.
On the other hand, according to the present invention, a third major surface of the speaker assembly neighboring said first and second surfaces (5, 6) and disposed thereinbetween accommodates said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) radiating mid-frequency sounds.
As higher frequency sounds have more directionality and are more likely to be absorbed by surrounding surfaces, the second major surface speaker unit (4) of the speaker assembly effectively radiates the sound within the frontal zone of the assembly. As omnidirectional lower frequency sounds reflect between walls and ceilings back and forth in a room, first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) are disposed within the first surface (5) of the speaker assembly.
The speaker assembly typically comprises an electrical circuit to drive multiple speaker units as seen in Fig. 10. First major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) effectively produce sounds from 200 Hz to around 2 kHz and then lose their acoustical efficacy in the range of 500 Hz-2 kHz. In this frequency range, mid-frequency sounds are generated through capacitor C1 by means of intermediate surface speaker unit (3) and sound generation is solely undertaken by said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) starting from 2 kHz. The first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) and the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) facing different effect zones and being connected with reverse polarities (Fig. 11), the common frequency range being used by both said first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) and said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) during transition from lower to mid-range frequencies, they do not affect and absorb/cancel sound production activity of the other speaker(s) in the common frequency range.
Likewise, as the impedance of C1 increases, starting from 4 kHz and the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) loses its efficacy around 5 kHz, high-frequency sounds are generated through capacitor C2 and the second major surface speaker unit (4) becomes functional. Therefore, the electrical circuit acts as a frequency splitter RC high-pass filter and the respective speaker units become functional in the dedicated frequency ranges.
According to the invention, the bass reflex port (7) is covered with a relatively thin and non-reflecting material to direct sound waves in the direction of the speaker assembly air outlet port (8). Likewise, the inner walls of the speaker assembly enclosure are covered with a relatively smooth material to prevent sound waves from reflecting from the internal walls to reach diaphragms of the first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2).
In a variation of the invention, the electrical isolation between the first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) and the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) is improved by means of an inductance element as seen in Fig. 10.
In a nutshell, the present invention proposes a speaker assembly having a plurality of planar major surfaces and comprising a plurality of speaker units disposed within said major surfaces.
In one embodiment of the invention, said speaker assembly has a first surface (5) and a second surface (6) in the form of two major surfaces forming opposite side surfaces of the speaker assembly.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a first major surface first speaker unit (1) and a first major surface second speaker unit (2) being effective in producing low frequency sounds are disposed within said first surface (5).
In a further embodiment of the invention, second major surface speaker unit (4) being effective in producing high frequency sounds is disposed within said second surface (6).
In a further embodiment of the invention, an intermediate surface speaker unit (3) being effective in producing mid-range frequency sounds is disposed within a third major surface of the speaker assembly neighbouring said first and second surfaces (5, 6) and disposed thereinbetween.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the speaker assembly is configured as a generally rectangular prism sound box having the front surface (6) and the rear surface (5) as two major surfaces extending in parallel with respect to each other in opposite sides.
In a further embodiment of the invention, said first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) are electrically isolated from said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) through a first capacitor.
In a further embodiment of the invention, said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) is electrically isolated from said second major surface speaker unit through a second capacitor.
In a further embodiment of the invention, said first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) and the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) are connected to each other with reverse polarities.
In a further embodiment of the invention, a bass reflex port (7) of the speaker assembly is covered with a non-reflecting material to direct sound waves in the direction of a speaker assembly air outlet port (8).
In a further embodiment of the invention, inner walls of the speaker assembly enclosure are covered with a substantially smooth material to prevent sound waves from reflecting from the inner walls to reach diaphragms of the first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2).
In a further embodiment of the invention, resistances of the first major surface first speaker unit (1) and first major surface second speaker unit (2) are powered through an inductance element.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the first and second surfaces (5, 6) as well as the intermediate surface as a third surface are three neighbouring transversal side planar surfaces of the rectangular prism for speaker assembly.
According to the present invention, the second surface (6) and the first surface (5) accommodating the second major surface speaker unit (4) producing high-frequency directional sounds and the first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) producing non-directional low frequency sounds are respectively positioned in the front and rear surfaces to enable effective distribution of sound waves depending on their directionality. Further, the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) thereinbetween advantageously utilizes a third surface to form an intermediate effect area different than the first two effect area and along another major surface geometrically corresponding to the structure of the first and second surfaces (5, 6). In other words the first and second surfaces (5, 6) as well as the third surface are three neighbouring transversal side planar surfaces of the rectangular prism for speaker assembly.
The present invention defines three neighbouring faces with different directionality properties while the rearward face accommodates non directional and the forward face accommodates directional sound waves. In this configuration, the intermediate surface is assigned to accommodate a third speaker generating partially directional sound waves. The reverse polarization of different speaker unit electrical elements is advantageous in that a better electrical isolation is provided.

Claims

A speaker assembly having a plurality of planar major surfaces and comprising a plurality of speaker units disposed within said major surfaces characterized in that;

said speaker assembly has a first surface (5) and a second surface (6) in the form of two major surfaces forming opposite side surfaces of the speaker assembly,

a first major surface first speaker unit (1) and a first major surface second speaker unit (2) being effective in producing low frequency sounds are disposed within said first surface (5),

second major surface speaker unit (4) being effective in producing high frequency sounds is disposed within said second surface (6) and,

an intermediate surface speaker unit (3) being effective in producing mid-range frequency sounds is disposed within a third major surface of the speaker assembly neighbouring said first and second surfaces (5, 6) and disposed thereinbetween.
A speaker assembly as in Claim 1, characterized in that the speaker assembly is configured as a generally rectangular prism sound box having the front surface (6) and the rear surface (5) as two major surfaces extending in parallel with respect to each other in opposite sides.
A speaker assembly as in Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) are electrically isolated from said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) through a first capacitor.
A speaker assembly as in Claim 3, characterized in that said intermediate surface speaker unit (3) is electrically isolated from said second major surface speaker unit through a second capacitor.
A speaker assembly as in Claim 4, characterized in that said first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2) and the intermediate surface speaker unit (3) are connected to each other with reverse polarities.
A speaker assembly as in any preceding Claim, characterized in that a bass reflex port (7) of the speaker assembly is covered with a non-reflecting material to direct sound waves in the direction of a speaker assembly air outlet port (8).
A speaker assembly as in any preceding Claim, characterized in that inner walls of the speaker assembly enclosure are covered with a substantially smooth material to prevent sound waves from reflecting from the inner walls to reach diaphragms of the first major surface’s first and second speaker units (1, 2).
A speaker assembly as in Claim 1, characterized in that resistances of the first major surface first speaker unit (1) and first major surface second speaker unit (2) are powered through an inductance element.
A speaker assembly as in Claim 2, characterized in that the first and second surfaces (5, 6) as well as the intermediate surface as a third surface are three neighbouring transversal side planar surfaces of the rectangular prism for speaker assembly.