WO2003067928A1 - Loudspeaker room interface surround sound speaker system - Google Patents

Loudspeaker room interface surround sound speaker system Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2003067928A1
WO2003067928A1 PCT/SG2002/000262 SG0200262W WO03067928A1 WO 2003067928 A1 WO2003067928 A1 WO 2003067928A1 SG 0200262 W SG0200262 W SG 0200262W WO 03067928 A1 WO03067928 A1 WO 03067928A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
speaker
listening area
positive
driver
facing
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/SG2002/000262
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Fei Foo Samuel Lok
Original Assignee
Fei Foo Samuel Lok
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Fei Foo Samuel Lok filed Critical Fei Foo Samuel Lok
Priority to AU2002347756A priority Critical patent/AU2002347756A1/en
Publication of WO2003067928A1 publication Critical patent/WO2003067928A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04S—STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS 
    • H04S3/00—Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R5/00—Stereophonic arrangements
    • H04R5/04—Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2420/00—Details of connection covered by H04R, not provided for in its groups
    • H04R2420/03—Connection circuits to selectively connect loudspeakers or headphones to amplifiers

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a surround sound speaker system for enhancing the spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes.
  • the invention provides a method of enhancing the sound of an existing stereo system and a kit for enhancing a stereo speaker system using the method.
  • the invention provides a surround sound speaker system for enhancing the spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes located in a listening area having a front, a rear, and left and right sides, said surround sound speaker system having: a left side speaker box for location on the left side of said listening area about half way between the • front and the rear of said listening area, left side switching means for selectively switching a speaker driver of the left side speaker box to a pair of the left positive, left negative, and right positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of an amplifier of said stereo system, to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals from the left positive, left negative and right positive channels; a right side speaker box for location on .the right side of said listening area about half way between the front and the rear of said listening area, right side switching means for selectively switching a speaker driver of the right side speaker box to a pair of the right positive, right negative and left positive of the speaker outputs of channels of said amplifier, to allow alternative selective pair connections of signals from the right positive, right negative and left positive positive
  • the invention also provides a method of enhancing spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes located in a listening area having a front, a rear, and left and right sides, said method involving locating a further left speaker box on the left side of a listening area about half way between the front and rear of the listening area, the speaker driver of the further left side speaker box being selectively connectable to a pair of the left positive, left negative and right positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of an amplifier of said stereo system, through a switching means to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals from the left positive, left negative and right positive channels; locating a further right side speaker box on the right side of said listening area about half way between the front and rear of said listening area, the speaker driver of the further right speaker box being selectively connectable to a pair of the right positive, right negative, and left positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of said amplifier through further switching means to allow alternative selective pair connections of signals from the right positive, right negative, and left positive channels; and locating a rear
  • Embodiments of the present invention provide a cost effective solution to providing enhanced spatial listening experience.
  • the listeners should perceive more of the reverberance and ambience of the original recording because of the use of the additional speakers, their configuration and placement.
  • Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the surround sound speaker system of the preferred embodiment
  • Figure 2 shows a first selectable connection of the left and right speaker boxes of the surround sound system
  • Figure 3 shows a second selectable connection of the left and right speaker boxes .
  • Figure 1 illustrates how the surround sound speaker system of the preferred embodiment is connected to an existing amplifier 1 in the listening area 2 .
  • the amplifier 1 is connected to existing left front and right front speaker boxes which are not illustrated for the sake of clarity of representation.
  • the existing speakers are located toward the front 4 of listening area 2.
  • the front 4, left side 5, right side 6, and rear 7 of the listening area 2 are defined relative to a listening position 3 where a person should place themselves in order to enjoy the best spatial sound experience .
  • the surround sound speaker system consists of a left side speaker box 15 for location on the left side 5 of the listening area 2 about half way between the front and the rear 7 of the listening area; a right side speaker box 16 for location on the right side 6 of the listening area about half way between the front 4 and rear of the listening area 2; and a rear speaker box 17 for location to the rear 7 of the listening area, about half way between the left side 5 and right side 6.
  • Speaker boxes 15, 16, 17 are connected to the existing channel outputs of the amplifier 1.
  • these outputs are referred to as the left positive (L+) 10, the left negative (L-) 11, the right negative (R-) 12, and right positive (R+) 13 channels .
  • the left and right side speaker boxes are each connected to three of the four amplifier channels 10, 11, 12, 13 to enable alternative settings to be chosen to provide the optimum listening experience.
  • the left side speaker box 15 is connected to the right positive channel 13, the left positive channel 10 and the left negative channel 11 of the amplifier 1 by appropriate cabling.
  • Left side switching means is contained within the left side speaker box 15 for connecting these channels to the positive and negative terminals of the speaker drivers.
  • speaker driver is used to refer to the device which is used to turn the electrical signals from the amplifier into sound waves and which may take any suitable form for doing so.
  • a typical speaker driver consists of a diaphragm and a voice coil for driving the diaphragm.
  • the right side speaker box is connected to the L+ channel 10, R+ channel 13 and R- channel 12 and contains right side switching means. Further details of how the left and right side switching means are used to form different connections are contained below.
  • Each of the left and rear right side speaker boxes 15, 16 have connection selecting switches 20a, 20b to enable the different connections to be selected.
  • the left side speaker box has a L+ channel output
  • each speaker box 15, 16 and 17 contains at least two speaker drivers, with at least one speaker driver facing in each of one of a first and second direction.
  • a single speaker driver is illustrated, facing in each of the two different directions.
  • the speaker drivers facing in the two different directions are arranged in mirrored relationship to the other about a plane of symmetry midway between the speaker drivers .
  • the first selectable connection is an out-of- phase series connection of the drivers.
  • a first speaker driver 26 of the left side speaker 15 faces the front 4 of the listening area.
  • the positive terminal 32 of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the L+ channel 10 of the amplifier 1.
  • the negative terminal 33 of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the negative terminal of second speaker driver 27 which faces the rear of the room, and the positive terminal of second speaker driver 27 is connected to the left negative channel of the amplifier 1.
  • the right side speaker 16 is connected with third speaker driver 29 facing. the front of the listening area and fourth speaker driver 30 facing the rear of the speaker area.
  • the right side speaker is wired with the R+ terminal 37 of the third:- speaker connected to the R+ terminal 13 of the amplifier, the negative terminal 38 of third speaker driver 29 wired to the negative terminal 40 of fourth speaker driver 30, and the positive terminal 39 of the fourth speaker driver 30 wired to the R- channel 12 of the amplifier 1.
  • a second selectable connection is shown in Figure 3 which is a series different signal connection.
  • the positive terminal 32 of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the L+ channel 10 of the amplifier.
  • the negative terminal of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the positive terminal 34 of second speaker driver 27 and the negative terminal 35 is connected to the R+ channel 13 of the amplifier 1.
  • the right side speaker is selectively connected using the right side switching means in an analogous manner so that the positive terminal 37 of third speaker driver 29 is connected to the right positive channel 13 of the amplifier 1, the negative terminal 38 of third speaker driver 29 is connected to the positive terminal 39 of fourth speaker driver 30 and the negative terminal 40 of fourth speaker driver 30 is connected to the L+ channel 10 of amplifier 1.
  • the rear speaker 17 is connected to the L+ 10 and R+ 13 channels of the amplifier 1.
  • the rear speaker box has at least two speaker drivers facing one in one direction and the other in another direction so that one faces generally towards the right side of the listening area and one faces generally towards the left side 5 of the listening area. That is the plane of symmetry between the speaker drivers facing in different directions is oriented generally transverse to the front of the listening area.
  • the positive terminal of the speaker driver facing the right side 6 of listening area 2 is connected to the R+ channel of the amplifier.
  • the positive terminal of the speaker driver facing the left side 5 of the room is connected to the L+ channel 10 of amplifier 1.
  • the negative terminals of the two or more speaker drivers of the rear speaker 17 facing in opposite directions are connected to one another.
  • angle ⁇ is chosen to be 60°. This leads to there being an angle of 30° between the plane in which each speaker driver is located and the plane of symmetry between a pair speaker drivers contained within the same speaker box. In other embodiments, ' other angles may be acceptable such that angles in the range of 10° and 70° relative to the plane of symmetry may be acceptable in some embodiments.
  • the right side and left side speaker boxes are arranged such that the speaker drivers are angled towards the left side 5 and right side 6 of the listening area respectively.
  • the rear centre speaker box 17 is arranged such that the speaker drivers are angled away from the rear of the listening area 7.
  • the arrangement may be reversed or altered such that, for example, the left and right side speaker boxes 15, 16 are arranged so that the speaker drivers 26, 27, 29, 30 angle out from the sides of the listening area and the speaker drivers of the rear speaker box angle into wal 1.
  • the present invention provides a method for enhancing spatial surround sound by properly locating speaker boxes within the area 2.
  • the invention could be supplied of a kit comprising left 15, right 16 and rear 17 speaker boxes 17 can be supplied as a kit together with instructions for using them in accordance with the method of the invention.
  • both the left and right side speaker boxes are provided with a volume control 21 which allows the volume to be adjusted separately from the amplifier .
  • LED 22 is provided in order to allow a user to tell whether the speaker is operating and flashes dynamically according to signal strength. Although not provided in the preferred embodiment, similar volume adjustment may be provided for the rear speaker 17 if desired .

Abstract

A surround sound system for enhancing a stereo system that has existing front left and right speakers having: a left speaker box (15) on the left of a listening area, left switching means (20a), for selectively switching a driver of the left speaker box to two of the left positive (10), left negative (11), or right positive (13) outputs of said stereo system amplifier (1), to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals; a similar right speaker box (16) and switching means (20a) on the right of the listening area; and a rear speaker box (17), and driver thereof being connectable to the left (10) and right (13) outputs positive channels of said amplifier (1), whereby all of said speaker boxes are inter-connectable to provide a spatial surround sound field, and wherein different spatial surround fields can be obtained by switching the switching means (20a) and (20b).

Description

LOUDSPEAKER ROOM INTERFACE SURROUND SOUND SPEAKER SYSTEM
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surround sound speaker system for enhancing the spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes. The invention provides a method of enhancing the sound of an existing stereo system and a kit for enhancing a stereo speaker system using the method.
A number of systems have been proposed which attempt to improve the listening experience, most of these systems, such as dolby surround sound, require complicated processing equipment and cannot be added to an existing stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes .
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an alternative surround sound speaker system.
Disclosure of the Invention
Accordingly, the invention provides a surround sound speaker system for enhancing the spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes located in a listening area having a front, a rear, and left and right sides, said surround sound speaker system having: a left side speaker box for location on the left side of said listening area about half way between the • front and the rear of said listening area, left side switching means for selectively switching a speaker driver of the left side speaker box to a pair of the left positive, left negative, and right positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of an amplifier of said stereo system, to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals from the left positive, left negative and right positive channels; a right side speaker box for location on .the right side of said listening area about half way between the front and the rear of said listening area, right side switching means for selectively switching a speaker driver of the right side speaker box to a pair of the right positive, right negative and left positive of the speaker outputs of channels of said amplifier, to allow alternative selective pair connections of signals from the right positive, right negative and left positive channels; and a rear speaker box for location to the rear of said listening area, a speaker driver thereof being connectable to the speaker outputs of the left and right positive channels of said amplifier, whereby all of said speaker boxes are, in use, interconnectable to provide a spatial surround sound field in said listening area, and wherein different spatial surround fields can be obtained by switching said left side switching means and said right side switching means to provide different pairs of connections of the loud speakers of the left side speaker box and the right side speaker box.
The invention also provides a method of enhancing spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes located in a listening area having a front, a rear, and left and right sides, said method involving locating a further left speaker box on the left side of a listening area about half way between the front and rear of the listening area, the speaker driver of the further left side speaker box being selectively connectable to a pair of the left positive, left negative and right positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of an amplifier of said stereo system, through a switching means to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals from the left positive, left negative and right positive channels; locating a further right side speaker box on the right side of said listening area about half way between the front and rear of said listening area, the speaker driver of the further right speaker box being selectively connectable to a pair of the right positive, right negative, and left positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of said amplifier through further switching means to allow alternative selective pair connections of signals from the right positive, right negative, and left positive channels; and locating a rear speaker box to the rear of said listening area, and connecting a speaker driver of the rear speaker box to the speaker outputs of the left and right positive channels of the amplifier, and connecting all of the speaker boxes to provide a spatial surround sound field in said listening area, wherein different spatial surround sound fields can be obtained by switching said switching means and said further switching means to provide different pairs of connections of the further left side speaker box and the further right side speaker box.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a cost effective solution to providing enhanced spatial listening experience. With the system of embodiemnts of the invention in place, the listeners should perceive more of the reverberance and ambience of the original recording because of the use of the additional speakers, their configuration and placement.
Brief Description of the Drawings
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in relation to the following drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the surround sound speaker system of the preferred embodiment;
Figure 2 shows a first selectable connection of the left and right speaker boxes of the surround sound system; Figure 3 shows a second selectable connection of the left and right speaker boxes .
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Figure 1 illustrates how the surround sound speaker system of the preferred embodiment is connected to an existing amplifier 1 in the listening area 2 .
The amplifier 1 is connected to existing left front and right front speaker boxes which are not illustrated for the sake of clarity of representation. The existing speakers are located toward the front 4 of listening area 2. The front 4, left side 5, right side 6, and rear 7 of the listening area 2 are defined relative to a listening position 3 where a person should place themselves in order to enjoy the best spatial sound experience .
The surround sound speaker system consists of a left side speaker box 15 for location on the left side 5 of the listening area 2 about half way between the front and the rear 7 of the listening area; a right side speaker box 16 for location on the right side 6 of the listening area about half way between the front 4 and rear of the listening area 2; and a rear speaker box 17 for location to the rear 7 of the listening area, about half way between the left side 5 and right side 6. Speaker boxes 15, 16, 17 are connected to the existing channel outputs of the amplifier 1. Herein, these outputs are referred to as the left positive (L+) 10, the left negative (L-) 11, the right negative (R-) 12, and right positive (R+) 13 channels .
As shown in Figure 1, in the preferred embodiment, the left and right side speaker boxes are each connected to three of the four amplifier channels 10, 11, 12, 13 to enable alternative settings to be chosen to provide the optimum listening experience. Thus the left side speaker box 15 is connected to the right positive channel 13, the left positive channel 10 and the left negative channel 11 of the amplifier 1 by appropriate cabling. Left side switching means is contained within the left side speaker box 15 for connecting these channels to the positive and negative terminals of the speaker drivers.
Herein the term "speaker driver" is used to refer to the device which is used to turn the electrical signals from the amplifier into sound waves and which may take any suitable form for doing so. A typical speaker driver consists of a diaphragm and a voice coil for driving the diaphragm.
Similarly, the right side speaker box is connected to the L+ channel 10, R+ channel 13 and R- channel 12 and contains right side switching means. Further details of how the left and right side switching means are used to form different connections are contained below. Each of the left and rear right side speaker boxes 15, 16 have connection selecting switches 20a, 20b to enable the different connections to be selected.
The left side speaker box has a L+ channel output
23 and the right speaker box has a R+ output. These outputs are connected to the rear speaker 17. While it is preferred that these L+ and R+ of output connections 23,
24 are used to connect the amplifier to the rear speaker via the left and right side speakers 15, 16 respectively, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that it is possible to connect the rear speaker 17 directly to the amplifier.
In the preferred embodiment, each speaker box 15, 16 and 17 contains at least two speaker drivers, with at least one speaker driver facing in each of one of a first and second direction. In the embodiments shown in Figures 2, and 3 a single speaker driver is illustrated, facing in each of the two different directions. However it will be appreciated that depending on the speaker characteristics, in order to provide an appropriate sound output there may be a plurality of speaker drivers on each side of the speaker box. Irrespective of the number of speaker drivers, it is preferred that the speaker drivers facing in the two different directions are arranged in mirrored relationship to the other about a plane of symmetry midway between the speaker drivers .
The first selectable connection is an out-of- phase series connection of the drivers. In this connection, a first speaker driver 26 of the left side speaker 15 faces the front 4 of the listening area. The positive terminal 32 of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the L+ channel 10 of the amplifier 1. ' The negative terminal 33 of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the negative terminal of second speaker driver 27 which faces the rear of the room, and the positive terminal of second speaker driver 27 is connected to the left negative channel of the amplifier 1.
As also shown in Figure 2 the right side speaker 16 is connected with third speaker driver 29 facing. the front of the listening area and fourth speaker driver 30 facing the rear of the speaker area. The right side speaker is wired with the R+ terminal 37 of the third:- speaker connected to the R+ terminal 13 of the amplifier, the negative terminal 38 of third speaker driver 29 wired to the negative terminal 40 of fourth speaker driver 30, and the positive terminal 39 of the fourth speaker driver 30 wired to the R- channel 12 of the amplifier 1.
A second selectable connection is shown in Figure 3 which is a series different signal connection. In this position the positive terminal 32 of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the L+ channel 10 of the amplifier. The negative terminal of first speaker driver 26 is connected to the positive terminal 34 of second speaker driver 27 and the negative terminal 35 is connected to the R+ channel 13 of the amplifier 1.
The right side speaker is selectively connected using the right side switching means in an analogous manner so that the positive terminal 37 of third speaker driver 29 is connected to the right positive channel 13 of the amplifier 1, the negative terminal 38 of third speaker driver 29 is connected to the positive terminal 39 of fourth speaker driver 30 and the negative terminal 40 of fourth speaker driver 30 is connected to the L+ channel 10 of amplifier 1.
Irrespective of the switching of the left and right side channels, the rear speaker 17 is connected to the L+ 10 and R+ 13 channels of the amplifier 1. As with the left and right side speaker boxes, the rear speaker box has at least two speaker drivers facing one in one direction and the other in another direction so that one faces generally towards the right side of the listening area and one faces generally towards the left side 5 of the listening area. That is the plane of symmetry between the speaker drivers facing in different directions is oriented generally transverse to the front of the listening area. The positive terminal of the speaker driver facing the right side 6 of listening area 2 is connected to the R+ channel of the amplifier. Similarly, the positive terminal of the speaker driver facing the left side 5 of the room is connected to the L+ channel 10 of amplifier 1. The negative terminals of the two or more speaker drivers of the rear speaker 17 facing in opposite directions are connected to one another.
It will be apparent that in each of the speaker boxes, the speaker drivers are at an angle. It is believed that these angles lead to optimum sound translation within the room by summation and cancellation of sound waves. In the preferred embodiment angle α is chosen to be 60°. This leads to there being an angle of 30° between the plane in which each speaker driver is located and the plane of symmetry between a pair speaker drivers contained within the same speaker box. In other embodiments, ' other angles may be acceptable such that angles in the range of 10° and 70° relative to the plane of symmetry may be acceptable in some embodiments.
In the illustrated embodiment, the right side and left side speaker boxes are arranged such that the speaker drivers are angled towards the left side 5 and right side 6 of the listening area respectively. Similarly, the rear centre speaker box 17 is arranged such that the speaker drivers are angled away from the rear of the listening area 7.
In other embodiments, in order to improve the spatial surround sound of the listening area, it is possible that the arrangement may be reversed or altered such that, for example, the left and right side speaker boxes 15, 16 are arranged so that the speaker drivers 26, 27, 29, 30 angle out from the sides of the listening area and the speaker drivers of the rear speaker box angle into wal 1. It will be apparent that the present invention provides a method for enhancing spatial surround sound by properly locating speaker boxes within the area 2. It is also apparent that the invention could be supplied of a kit comprising left 15, right 16 and rear 17 speaker boxes 17 can be supplied as a kit together with instructions for using them in accordance with the method of the invention.
It will be noted that both the left and right side speaker boxes are provided with a volume control 21 which allows the volume to be adjusted separately from the amplifier .
LED 22 is provided in order to allow a user to tell whether the speaker is operating and flashes dynamically according to signal strength. Although not provided in the preferred embodiment, similar volume adjustment may be provided for the rear speaker 17 if desired .
These and various modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and should be understood as falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. A surround sound speaker system for enhancing the spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes located in a listening area having a front, a rear-, and left and right sides, said surround sound speaker system having: a left side speaker box for location on the left side of said listening area about half way between the front and the rear of said listening area, left side switching means for selectively switching a speaker driver of the left side speaker box to a pair of the left positive, left negative, and right positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of an amplifier of said stereo system, to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals from the left positive, left negative and right positive channels; a right side speaker box for location on the right side of said listening area about half way between the front and the rear of said listening area, right side switching means for selectively switching a speaker driver of the right side speaker box to a pair of the right positive, right negative and left positive of the speaker outputs of channels of said amplifier, to allow alternative selective pair connections of signals from the right positive, right negative and left positive channels; and a rear speaker box for location to the rear of said listening area, a speaker driver thereof being connectable to the speaker outputs of the left and right positive channels of said amplifier, whereby all of said speaker boxes are, in use, interconnectable to provide a spatial surround sound field in said listening area, and wherein different spatial surround fields can be obtained by switching said left side switching means and said right side switching means to provide different pairs of connections of the loud speakers of the left side speaker box and the right side speaker box.
2. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the left and right speaker boxes contains a plurality of speaker drivers, with at least one speaker driver facing in one different direction and another speaker driver facing in a different direction.
3. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 2, wherein one direction of said, two different directions is generally towards the front of the listening area and another direction is generally towards the rear of the listening area.
4. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said speaker drivers facing in each of said two different directions, are arranged in mirrored relationship to one another.
5. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 4, wherein a plane of symmetry between said speaker drivers facing in each of said two different directions is arranged to be approximately parallel to the front of said listening area.
6. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said speaker drivers facing in said two different directions are both oriented at an angle of between 10° and 70° relative to a plane of symmetry between said speakers.
7. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said speaker drivers are both oriented at an angle of approximately 30° relative to said plane of symmetry.
8. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said speaker drivers are angled towards a side of the listening area.
9. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said speaker drivers are angled away from a side of the listening area.
10. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 2, wherein each speaker driver has a positive and a negative terminal, and the speaker drivers are connected in out-of-phase series connection, wherein: the positive terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the negative channel of the speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area; the positive terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the left negative channel of the amplifier; the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the negative channel of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area; and the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the right negative channel of the amplifier.
11. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 2, wherein each speaker driver has a positive and a negative terminal, and the speaker drivers are connected in a series difference signal connection, wherein: the positive terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the positive terminal of the speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area ; the negative terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier; the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area; and the negative terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier .
12 - surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rear speaker box contains a plurality of speaker drivers with at least one speaker driver facing in one direction and another speaker driver facing in a different direction.
13. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said speaker drivers of said rear speaker racing in different directions are arranged in a mirrored relationship.
"- A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 13 wherein a plane of symmetry between said speaker drivers facing in each of said two different directions is arranged transverse to the front of said listening area.
15. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said speaker drivers of said rear speaker box facing in two different directions are oriented at an angle of between 10° and 70° relative to a plane of symmetry between said speaker drivers.
16. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim IS, wherein said speaker drivers of said rear speaker box are oriented at an angle of approximately 30°.
π ' A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said speaker drivers of said rear speaker box are angled so as to face the rear of the listening area.
18 • A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 15/ wherein said speaker drivers of said rear speaker box are angled so as to face the front of the listening area.
9. A surround sound speaker system as claimed in claim 12, wherein each speaker driver of said rear speaker box has positive and negative terminals, and the rear speaker is connected with: the positive terminal of the rear speaker .driver or speaker drivers facing the right side of the listening area connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier, the positive terminal of the rear speaker driver of speaker drivers facing the left side of the listening area connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier, and the negative terminal of the rear speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the left of the listening area connected to the negative terminal of the rear speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the right of the listening area.
20. method of enhancing spatial surround sound from a stereo system that has existing front left and right speaker boxes located in a listening area having a front, a rear, and left and right sides, said method involving locating a further left speaker box on the left side of a listening area about half way between the front and rear of the listening area, the speaker driver of the further left side speaker box being selectively connectable to a pair of the left positive, left negative and right positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of an amplifier of said stereo system, through a switching means to allow alternative selective pair connections of output signals from the left positive, left negative and right positive channels; locating a further right side speaker box on the right side of said listening area about half way between the front and rear of said listening area, the speaker driver of the further right speaker box being selectively connectable to a pair of the right positive, right negative, and left positive of the speaker outputs of the channels of said amplifier through further switching means to allow alternative selective pair connections of signals from the right positive, right negative, and left positive channels; and locating a rear speaker box to the rear of said listening area, and connecting a speaker driver of the rear speaker box to the speaker outputs of the left and right positive channels of the amplifier, and connecting all of the speaker boxes to provide a spatial surround sound field in said listening area, wherein different spatial surround sound fields can be obtained by switching said switching means and said further switching means to provide different pairs of connections of the further left side speaker box and the further right side speaker box.
21- A method as claimed in claim 20., wherein each further speaker box contains a plurality of speaker drivers, with at least one speaker facing one direction and another speaker facing in a different direction so that the speakers facing each of the two different directions are arranged in mirrored relationship around a plane of symmetry, and said method involves locating said further left and right side speaker boxes with the plane of symmetry approximately parallel to the front of said listening area.
22. A method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said speaker drivers facing in said two different directions are oriented at an angle of between 10° and 70° relative to said plane of symmetry and said method involves locating said speaker box so that said speaker drivers are angled towards the sides of the listening area.
23- A method as claimed in claim 22 wherein said speaker drivers facing in said two different directions are both oriented at an angle of between 10° and 70° relative to a plane of symmetry between said speaker . driver, and said speaker drivers are arranged to be angled out away from said sides of said listening area.
24 • A method as claimed in claim 207 wherein' each speaker driver has a positive and a negative terminal and the method involves connecting the speakers in out of phase series connection, wherein: the positive terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the negative channel of the speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area; the positive terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the left negative channel of the amplifier; the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the negative channel of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area; and the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the right negative channel of the amplifier.
25
A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein each speaker driver has a positive and a negative terminal, and the method involves connecting the speaker drivers in a series different signal connection, wherein: the positive terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the positive terminal of the speaker facing the rear of the listening area; the negative terminal of the left speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier; the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the right positive channel of the amplifier; the negative terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the front of the listening area is/are connected to the positive terminal of the right speaker driver or drivers facing the rear of the listening area; and the negative terminal of the right speaker driver or speaker drivers facing the rear of the listening area is/are connected to the left positive channel of the amplifier.
2°- A method as claimed in claim 20 therein the rear speaker box contains a plurality of speaker drivers with at least one speaker driver facing in one direction and another speaker driver facing in a different direction and arranged in mirror relationship to one another about a plane of symmetry, and said rear speaker box is arranged with said plane of symmetry transverse to the front of said listening area.
27
A kit comprising further left and right speaker boxes and a rear speaker box which may be connected using the method of claim 20 in order to enhance the spatial surround sound from the stereo system that has existing front and left right speaker boxes.
PCT/SG2002/000262 2002-02-04 2002-11-11 Loudspeaker room interface surround sound speaker system WO2003067928A1 (en)

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SG0200372-1 2002-02-04
SG200200372A SG93925A1 (en) 2002-02-04 2002-02-04 Loudspeaker room interface surround sound speaker system

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US8542854B2 (en) 2010-03-04 2013-09-24 Logitech Europe, S.A. Virtual surround for loudspeakers with increased constant directivity
US9264813B2 (en) 2010-03-04 2016-02-16 Logitech, Europe S.A. Virtual surround for loudspeakers with increased constant directivity

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US5301237A (en) * 1991-11-14 1994-04-05 Fosgate James W Surround sound loudspeakers
US5497425A (en) * 1994-03-07 1996-03-05 Rapoport; Robert J. Multi channel surround sound simulation device
WO2000072589A1 (en) * 1999-05-22 2000-11-30 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Home entertainment system audio handling.

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US5301237A (en) * 1991-11-14 1994-04-05 Fosgate James W Surround sound loudspeakers
US5497425A (en) * 1994-03-07 1996-03-05 Rapoport; Robert J. Multi channel surround sound simulation device
WO2000072589A1 (en) * 1999-05-22 2000-11-30 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Home entertainment system audio handling.

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8542854B2 (en) 2010-03-04 2013-09-24 Logitech Europe, S.A. Virtual surround for loudspeakers with increased constant directivity
US9264813B2 (en) 2010-03-04 2016-02-16 Logitech, Europe S.A. Virtual surround for loudspeakers with increased constant directivity

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SG93925A1 (en) 2003-01-21

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