ES2260580T3 - COMBINED SPEAKER UNIT. - Google Patents

Abstract

A speaker unit comprising, in combination, a piston-driven diaphragm speaker (7) and a generally flat resonant panel speaker (1), characterized in that the resonant panel is held in a position relative to the diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons with an orientation such that an axis (AA) along the diaphragm (9) propelled by pistons is substantially in the plane of the resonant panel (3).

Description

Combined speaker unit.

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to units of speaker and, particularly, for use in "cinema" applications at home".

Background of the invention

A crucial aspect of film systems in Home is the nature and quality of sound reproduction. An important feature for good sound reproduction of home theater is the so-called "surround sound", it is say, the illusion that the reproduced sound comes from everywhere around the listener instead of specific discrete sources (it is say surround speakers). Conventionally, the Surround speakers are located behind and / or next to the spectator and generally comprise two diaphragm thrusters pistons that operate out of phase to produce radiation acoustic dipole "shaped like eight" feature (the thrusters may be in phase at base frequencies or may have a different low frequency propeller in the enclosure). Without However, said piston surround speakers Conventional have the disadvantages that tend to be expensive and they generally do not produce a totally convincing environment of surround profile for the listener.

German patent application DE 19955867 A1 describes a flat speaker system for bass reproduction. He system comprises a flat non-radioactive housing that has a front opening and enclosing a housing volume, a plate membrane inside the front opening and a transducer of bass attached to the housing and / or to the plate membrane so that The membrane forms a part of the outer wall of the housing.

Brief summary of the invention

The present invention is intended to provide a new type of speaker unit suitable for super compact disc Five-channel audio (SACD) and / or suitable for creating the surround sound reproduction for example for applications movie at home. The present invention is particularly intended to avoid the need to separate the surround speakers located behind the viewer of a home theater system. Without However, the present invention is not limited to SACD or applications. from home theater, or to surround sound in general, although said applications will be particularly suitable for the present invention.

Therefore, a first aspect of the present invention provides a speaker unit comprising in combination, a piston driven diaphragm speaker (it is that is, a speaker in which a diaphragm moves with a movement similar to a piston as a generally rigid whole for the minus a part of its operating frequency range) and a generally flat resonant panel speaker, characterized in that the resonant panel is retained in place with respect to the speaker of piston-driven diaphragm in an orientation such that an axis along the diaphragm that is propelled by pistons is substantially in the plane of the resonant panel.

Preferably the resonant panel speaker is locates with respect to the diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons (hereinafter referred to as the "speaker of diaphragm ") so that the emission of acoustic radiation from the diaphragm speaker is substantially not impeded by the resonant panel speaker. Advantageously, the resonant panel can be located above, below or behind the speaker of diaphragm. More preferably the panel is located behind the diaphragm speaker

Preferably the resonant panel speaker is it has to radiate sound simultaneously from both opposite main surfaces of the panel.

The present invention has the advantage that orienting the shaft of the piston driven diaphragm speaker so that it is substantially in the plane of the panel speaker resonant, the resonant panel speaker normally produces a acoustic radiation model usually with "eight shape" radiating sound from the two opposite main surfaces of the panel with the "null" radiation model generally coinciding with the axis of the diaphragm speaker. Therefore, the use of a resonant panel speaker in this orientation produces the type of acoustic radiation model generally necessary to Surround sound Additionally and more advantageously, the resonant panel speakers tend to produce acoustic radiation diffuse that is ideal for surround sound. These two Combined features mean that the panel speaker Resonant speaker unit in accordance with this invention generally provides a sound speaker system extremely effective envelope. The fact that the unit of speaker according to the present invention combine said speaker Surround sound with a diaphragm speaker (which works preferably as a monopole) has the tremendous advantage that separate surround speakers located behind the viewer / listener can be dispensed with and instead of one or more (preferably a pair) of speaker units according to the present invention located next to (or as part of) the Television (or other home theater screen) will provide both Image sound as surround sound.

A second aspect of the present invention Provides the use of two speaker units according to the first aspect of the present invention, to provide simultaneously both surround sound reproduction and Stereo sound reproduction. Panel speakers resonant preferably provide sound reproduction surround and piston driven diaphragm speakers preferably provide sound reproduction stereophonic.

A third aspect of the present invention provides an audiovisual system comprising a means of visual presentation and at least one (although preferably two) speaker units according to the first aspect of the present invention. Preferably, the audiovisual system is a system of home theater (or home entertainment). Preferably the Visual presentation medium comprises a television set. He visual display medium and speaker unit or units They can be combined into one unit.

Other preferred and optional features of The present invention is described below.

Brief description of the drawings

These and other characteristics, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be understood with reference to the following description, attached claims and attached figures in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of the relative positions and orientations of a panel speaker resonant and a diaphragm speaker of an embodiment of a unit speaker according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of a audiovisual system in accordance with the present invention in use; Y

Figure 3 is an exploded diagram of a preferred embodiment of a speaker unit according to the present invention

Detailed description of the invention

Figure 1 shows, schematically, a speaker unit 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprising a resonant panel speaker 1 and a diaphragm speaker 7. The example of resonant panel speaker 1 it comprises a generally flat resonant panel 3 that has 5 exciters attached to it. The exciters 5 (two of which are shown, although panel 3 can have exactly one exciter 5 or more than two exciters) are the speaker drivers of resonant panel 1, and cause panel 3 to resonate and therefore emit acoustic radiation.

The exciter or exciters 5 can generally understand any type of transducer, for example electromagnetic (i.e. moving bovine), piezoelectric or electrostatic. The panel 3 itself can be formed by any of a wide variety of materials, for example polymeric materials and / or fiberglass materials and / or Carbon fiber and / or cardboard materials (or similar). The panel 3 may comprise a single sheet of material or a plurality of layers (or other composite construction) and / or may include a core, for example bee panel construction or foam.

In this example, panel 3 is substantially flat (that is, a generally thin and flat panel). This has the advantage of the acoustic radiation patterns emanating from each main surface of panel 3 can be substantially equal each other (therefore, enhancing for example the nature of diffuse surround sound of sound reproduction).

Resonant panel speakers are often they are called "distributed mode" (DML) speakers because they generally work by exciting a plurality of modes vibrational distributed along the panel (the panel usually works fully in resonance). Panel speaker resonant for example can be substantially as described in International Patent Publication No. WO9709842.

Referring to the diaphragm speaker powered by pistons 7, the terms "pistonic speaker" and "piston driven diaphragm speaker" in this report descriptive refers to a speaker in which a diaphragm moves with piston type movement as a generally rigid whole for at least part of its operating frequency range (for example up to about 700 Hz). As such, the example of piston-driven diaphragm speaker 7 comprises a generally conical diaphragm 9 and a propeller 11 for the diaphragm 9. The propeller 11 can be an electromechanical transducer, by example a mobile bovine transducer although they can also be used Other types of thrusters.

The piston driven diaphragm speaker 7 preferably provides image sound reproduction (while the resonant panel speaker 1 preferably provides diffuse surround sound reproduction). Plus preferably, the diaphragm speaker 7 functions as a source monopole acoustics (and preferably the resonant panel speaker 1 works as an acoustic source of diffuse dipole). The speaker of diaphragm 7 preferably emits the acoustic output of the signal left / right of the stereo source.

Therefore, as shown for example in the Figure 2 and described further below, two are used speaker units 10 according to the present invention by a listener (or viewer of home theater system), with each of the two diaphragm speakers 7 of the two units 10 that emit stereophonic acoustic radiation in images and the two speakers of 1 resonant panel that emit sound acoustic radiation envelope (no images) diffuse.

As shown for example in Figure 1, the plane of the resonant panel 3 is in the same orientation as the axis A-A along which diagram 9 is propelled by pistons In fact, the A-A axis is in the same flat than the resonant panel 3. Preferably, the panel speaker resonant 1 is located with respect to the diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons 7 so that the emission of radiation acoustics from the diaphragm speaker 7 is substantially not prevented by the resonant panel speaker 1. Advantageously, the Resonant panel speaker 1 can be located above, by under or behind the diaphragm speaker 7. More preferably the resonant panel speaker 1 is located behind the speaker of diaphragm 7. As such, in Figure 1, the resonant panel 3 is locate on the back of the diaphragm speaker 7 so that the directional acoustic output (as indicated by the arrow D) of the diaphragm speaker 7 is not impeded by the resonant panel speaker 1.

The acoustic output of the panel speaker Resonant 1 is indicated by the arrows R. As can be seen,  the output of the resonant panel 3 is generally perpendicular to the of the diaphragm 9. However, the output of the resonant panel 3 is diffuse and dipole-shaped with the "null" centered on the A-A axis of the diaphragm speaker 7. By consequently, the panel speaker's diffuse dipole null resonant 1 will generally be centered on the listener / viewer if the diaphragm speaker 7 is directed towards the listener / spectator and the output of the resonant panel 3 will be perceived as surround sound environmental rather than the fact that the speaker units they are usually located only in front of the listener / viewer.

Preferably the resonant panel speaker 1 it is available to radiate sound from both surfaces simultaneously  main opposite of panel 3. A speaker unit 10 of according to the present invention has the advantage that orienting the plane of the resonant panel speaker 1 so that is generally in the same orientation as the speaker shaft of piston-driven diaphragm 7, the resonant panel speaker 1 usually produces an acoustic radiation model generally with "eight form" radiating sound from both surfaces main opposites of panel 3 with the "null" model of radiation generally coinciding with the axis of diaphragm 9 of the speaker 7. Accordingly, the use of a resonant panel speaker 1 in this orientation produces the type of radiation pattern Acoustic generally necessary surround sound. further  and more advantageously, the resonant panel speakers tend to produce diffuse acoustic radiation that is ideal for sound envelope These two characteristics in combination mean that the resonant panel speaker 1 of the speaker unit 10 of according to the present invention generally provides a Extremely effective surround sound speaker system. He fact that the speaker unit 10 according to the present invention combine said surround speaker 1 with a 7-diaphragm speaker (which preferably operates as a monopole) It has the great advantage that speakers can be dispensed with separate conventional surround sound located behind the spectator / listener, and instead put one or more (preferably a pair) speaker units 10 in accordance with the present invention located in positions adjacent to (or as part of) television (or other home theater screen) that will provide so much sound from image as surround sound, as further described forward in relation to Figure 2.

Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of an example of home theater system 12 according to the present invention System 12 comprises a set of television 13 (or other means of visual projection) and two units of speaker according to the present invention, such as speaker units 10 shown in Figure 1. The units of speaker 10 are located on each side of television 13 and are oriented so that your diaphragm 7 speakers are direct towards the listener / viewer 15. As described previously, this arrangement creates the perception of a sound environmental envelope for the viewer / listener, even though the speakers 10 are located only in front (and not behind or in the lateral) of the viewer / listener. The provision also creates Stereo sound of images, due to the speakers of Directional monopole diaphragm.

Each speaker unit 10 may comprise more of a diaphragm speaker powered by pistons 7 and / or more than one resonant panel speaker 1. For example, the speaker function of pistons 7 can be realized by a plurality of loudspeakers of pistons (for example each of these speakers dedicated to a respective frequency range). The diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons 7 for example can comprise a speaker compound of the type described in US Pat. No. 5,548,657.

For clarification purposes, Figure 1 omits an enclosure for the speaker unit 10. Preferably, a speaker unit 10 according to the present invention, comprises additionally an enclosure in which the resonant panel speaker 1 and the diaphragm speaker 7 are housed. Figure 3 is a diagram of Exploded view of a preferred embodiment of a speaker unit 14 in accordance with the present invention. In this embodiment, the speaker unit 14 comprises a resonant panel speaker 1 that it comprises a resonant panel 3 with an exciter 5 (in the form of a electromechanical transducer) attached to it, and a loudspeaker piston-driven diaphragm 7. The diaphragm speaker 7 it comprises a diaphragm 9 and an actuator 11. The speaker example of piston-propelled diaphragm 7 illustrated in Figure 3 it may be a composite speaker of the type described in the Patent of United States No. 5,548,657. The composite diaphragm speaker 7 it comprises a low frequency part that has the diaphragm 9 generally tapered shown and a high frequency part that It has a dome-shaped diaphragm (not shown) located at or adjacent to the neck of the conical diaphragm 9.

The speaker unit 14 shown in Figure 3 also includes an enclosure 17 in which the speaker is housed of resonant panel 1 and the diaphragm speaker 7. Enclosure 17 comprises a plurality of sections or panels assembled together around speakers 1 and 7. In the example shown, the enclosure 17 comprises two side panels 17a and 17b, a front panel 17c and a 17d rear panel. The various panels have boards (or others seals) 19 located between them to seal the enclosure. The boards (or other seals) 19 may be formed, for example, of foam polymeric and other polymeric sealing material. Resonant panel  3 is held in place in room 17 by a layer adhesive 21 (and / or by means of an adhesive tape not shown).

As can be clearly seen in Figure 3, enclosure 17 comprises two main parts. A first part 23 of enclosure 17 encloses (preferably completely encloses) the piston driven diaphragm speaker 7 other than front panel 17c that includes openings 25 through which propagates forward directed acoustic radiation emitted by the diaphragm speaker 7. A second part 27 retains the speaker of resonant panel 1 although it is open on the main sides opposite of it adjacent to the opposite main sides of resonant panel 3, to allow acoustic radiation Sideways emitted by resonant panel speaker 1 Spread substantially freely from the unit. The (or each one) exciter 5 is protected by small closing elements 29 located within the open sides of the second part 27 of the enclosure. A lead 31 can be connected to each of the speakers 1, 7 of unit 14 using terminal pins 33.

As such, the present invention provides a new speaker unit suitable for example for compact disc 5-channel super audio (SACD) and / or suitable for creating playback Surround sound for example for home theater applications. The present invention particularly avoids the need for different surround speakers located behind the Viewer of a home theater system. However, this invention is not limited (at least in its broadest aspects) to SACD or home theater applications, or surround sound in general, although such applications are particularly suitable for the present invention

The present invention has been described with a considerable detail referring to certain versions preferred thereof; however, other versions are possible. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims does not should be limited to the description of preferred versions contained in this document.

Claims (22)

1. A loudspeaker unit comprising, in combination, a piston propelled diaphragm speaker (7) and a generally flat resonant panel speaker (1), characterized in that the resonant panel is held in a position relative to the diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons with an orientation such that an axis (AA) along the diaphragm (9) propelled by pistons is substantially in the plane of the resonant panel (3). 2. A speaker unit according to claim 1, wherein the resonant panel speaker (1) is located with respect to the diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons (7) so that the emission of acoustic radiation since the diaphragm speaker is substantially not impeded by The resonant panel speaker. 3. A speaker unit according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the speaker of resonant panel (1) is located above, below or behind of the diaphragm speaker (7). 4. A speaker unit according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the speaker of resonant panel 1 is located behind the speaker of the diaphragm (7). 5. A speaker unit according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the panel (3) of the resonant panel speaker (1) comprises two surfaces main opposite of it, and the resonant panel speaker is willing to emit sound simultaneously from both opposite main surfaces of the panel. 6. A speaker unit according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the speaker resonant panel (1) comprises a resonant panel (3) and one or more exciters (5) arranged to excite the panel. 7. A speaker unit according to claim 6 wherein the or each exciter (5) comprises a transducer 8. A speaker unit according to any of the preceding claims wherein the speaker resonant panel (1) works as an acoustic dipole source diffuse. 9. A speaker unit according to claim 8, wherein the resonant panel speaker (1) Provides diffuse surround sound reproduction. 10. A speaker unit according to the claim 8 or claim 9 wherein a dipole null substantially coincides with the axis (A-A) in which The piston-driven diaphragm (9) is located. 11. A speaker unit according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the speaker of piston-driven diaphragm (7) works as a source monopole acoustics. 12. A speaker unit according to any of the preceding claims, comprising additionally an enclosure (17) in which the speaker is housed resonant panel (1) and the diaphragm speaker powered by pistons (7). 13. A speaker unit according to the claim 12, wherein the resonant panel speaker (1) and the Piston-powered diaphragm speaker (7) are housed in one and in the same single enclosure (17). 14. A speaker unit according to the claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the enclosure (17) it comprises a first part (23) that houses the diaphragm speaker propelled by pistons (7) and a second part (27) that houses the resonant panel speaker (1). 15. A speaker unit according to the claim 14, wherein the second part (27) of the enclosure (17) houses the resonant panel speaker (1) although it is open in the opposite main sides thereof adjacent to surfaces main opposites of the resonant panel, to allow the Acoustic radiation emitted from the resonant panel speaker is propagate in a substantially free way from the unit. 16. The use of two speaker units of according to any of the preceding claims, for simultaneously provide both surround sound reproduction as stereo sound reproduction. 17. The use according to claim 16, in which the resonant panel speakers 1 provide the Surround sound reproduction and diaphragm speakers Propelled by pistons 7 provide sound reproduction stereophonic. 18. The use according to claim 16 or claim 17, wherein the speaker units They comprise part of an audiovisual system. 19. The use according to claim 18, in which the audiovisual system includes a means of visual presentation (13) and speaker units are placed adjacent to the visual presentation medium. 20. The use according to claim 19, in which no surround sound speakers are used additional. 21. An audiovisual system comprising a visual display medium (13) and at least one speaker unit according to any one of claims 1 to 15. 22. An audiovisual system in accordance with claim 21, wherein the visual display medium (13) and the speaker unit or units are combined into one unity.