Vibration cancelling speaker arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10652638-B2
Application number	US-201716072030-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2017
Priority date	Jan 26, 2016
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

A speaker assembly for being mounted within a wall is provided. The speaker assembly has a housing and a plurality of transducers supported by the housing. Each transducer has a front radiation surface and a radiation rear surface adapted to radiate sound along a central axis. The transducers are arranged relative to each other so the central axes of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers intersect at a circumcenter defined between the plurality of transducers to substantially cancel vibrations from the plurality of transducers. A slot is formed adjacent of each of the transducers. The slot extending a depth dimension of the assembly between a slot opening for transmitting acoustic radiation from the plurality of transducers and a back wall of the housing, wherein the depth dimension is generally perpendicular to the central axes of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A speaker assembly for being mounted within a wall, the speaker assembly comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of transducers supported by the housing, each transducer having a front radiation surface and a radiation rear surface adapted to radiate sound along a central axis, wherein the transducers are arranged relative to each other so the central axes of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers intersect at a circumcenter defined between the plurality of transducers to substantially cancel vibrations from the plurality of transducers; and
a slot formed adjacent the plurality of transducers and extending in a depth dimension between a slot opening for transmitting acoustic radiation from the plurality of transducers and a back wall of the housing,
wherein the depth dimension is generally perpendicular to the central axes of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers and wherein the depth dimension is less than a transducer depth.

2. The speaker assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of slots, one of the plurality of slots formed along the front radiation surface of each of the plurality of transducers, wherein the rear radiation surfaces of each of the plurality of transducers are positioned adjacent each other.

3. The speaker assembly of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of transducers is positioned so that the rear radiation surface is disposed in the slot.

4. The speaker assembly of claim 1 , wherein the slot is defined along the front radiation surface of each of the plurality of transducers.

5. The speaker assembly of claim 1 , wherein the slot opening is shaped as an equiangular polygon having generally equal angles between each polygon-side, wherein one of the plurality of transducers is disposed along each polygon-side.

6. The speaker assembly of claim 1 , wherein the transducers are arranged in a radial array so the central axes of acoustic radiation are equiangular from each other.

7. The speaker assembly of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of transducers comprises an odd number of transducers.

8. The speaker assembly of claim 7 , wherein the slot opening is shaped as a triangle.

9. The speaker assembly of claim 1 , wherein the housing encloses at least one radiation surface of each of the transducers.

10. The speaker assembly of claim 9 , wherein the rear surface of at least one of the transducers is not sealed within the housing thereby defining an infinite baffle.

11. A speaker assembly comprising:
a frame; and
a plurality of transducers supported by the frame, each transducer having a central axis of radiation defined from at least one radiation surface,
wherein the frame defines a slot having a slot opening for transmitting the acoustic radiation from the plurality of transducers, the slot having a depth dimension extending between the slot opening and a back wall of the frame,
wherein the depth dimension of the speaker assembly is less than a transducer depth defined between the front radiation surface and the rear radiation surface of each of the transducers,
wherein the central axes of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers intersect at a center axis of the slot,
wherein the slot opening is defined in a plane generally parallel to the central axes of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers.

12. The speaker assembly of claim 11 , wherein the slot has a longitudinal center axis along which the central axes of acoustic radiation intersect, wherein the plane of the slot opening is generally perpendicular to the longitudinal center axis of the slot.

13. The speaker assembly of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of transducers comprises at least a first and second transducer, wherein the central axes of radiation of the first and second transducer are collinear.

14. The speaker assembly of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of transducers comprises a first pair of transducers and a second pair of transducers,
wherein the central axes of radiation of the first pair of transducers are collinear; and wherein
the central axes of radiation of the second pair of transducers are collinear and parallel to the central axes of radiation of the first pair of transducers.

15. The speaker assembly of claim 11 , wherein the slot is defined along a front face of each of the plurality of transducers.

16. The speaker assembly of claim 11 , wherein each transducer has a front radiation surface and a rear radiation surface, where the slot is positioned along at least one of the front and the rear radiation surface of each transducer.

17. A speaker system comprising:
a speaker frame for mounting to a wall about an opening;
a slot defined in the frame having a slot depth extending from a front frame opening to a back wall; and
a plurality of transducers mounted to the frame, each transducer having a central axis of radiation defined from at least one of a front radiation surface and a rear radiation surface, wherein the transducers are oriented so the central axis of acoustic radiation of each of the transducers intersects at a circumcenter defined between the plurality of transducers to substantially cancel vibrations from the plurality of transducers;
wherein the slot depth is less than a speaker depth between the front radiation surface and rear radiation surface.

18. The speaker system of claim 17 , wherein the speaker opening is defined in a plane generally parallel to the central axis of radiation of each of the transducers.

19. The speaker system of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the plurality of transducers is positioned so that at least one of rear radiation surface of the plurality of transducers is disposed in the slot.

20. The speaker assembly of claim 17 , wherein the transducers are arranged in a radial array so the central axes of acoustic radiation are equiangular from each other.

Assignees

• Harman Int Ind

Inventors

• Sterling Brian

Classifications

• H04R2201/021

  Transducers or their casings adapted for mounting in or to a wall or ceiling · CPC title

• H04R1/26

  Spatial arrangements of separate transducers responsive to two or more frequency ranges · CPC title

• H04R1/403

  loud-speakers · CPC title

• H04R5/02

  Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers · CPC title

• H04R31/006

  Interconnection of transducer parts (of diaphragm and outer suspension by moulding H04R31/003) · CPC title