Speaker Basket

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016309262-A1
Application number	US-201615194885-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2016
Priority date	Sep 18, 2014
Publication date	Oct 20, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments for a speaker basket of a speaker assembly are provided. The speaker basket A speaker basket may include a central opening through which a speaker sub-assembly may be mounted and a conductive material that includes: (i) a central portion molded within the speaker basket, (ii) an input portion configured to be coupled to an output of an audio source, and (ii) an output portion configured to be coupled to an input of the speaker sub-assembly.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A speaker basket comprising:
a central opening through which a speaker sub-assembly may be mounted; and a conductive material comprising: (i) a central portion molded within the speaker basket, (ii) an input portion configured to be coupled to an output of an audio source, and (ii) an output portion configured to be coupled to an input of the speaker sub-assembly.

2 . The speaker basket of claim 1 , wherein the input portion of the conductive material comprises a flat portion configured for contacting a conductive portion of a printed circuit board.

3 . The speaker basket of claim 1 , wherein the output portion of the conductive material comprises a hook-shaped structure conducive to conductively coupling to a wire lead of the input of the speaker sub-assembly.

4 . The speaker basket of claim 1 , wherein the conductive material is a first conductive material, wherein the output of the audio source is a first output of the audio source, and wherein the speaker basket further comprises:
a second conductive material comprising a central portion molded within the speaker basket and an input portion configured to be coupled to a second output of the audio source.

5 . The speaker basket of claim 1 , wherein the conductive material is a first conductive material, wherein the input of the speaker sub-assembly is a first input of the speaker sub-assembly, and wherein the speaker basket further comprises:
a second conductive material comprising a central portion molded within the speaker basket and an output portion configured to be coupled to a second input of the speaker sub-assembly.

6 . The speaker basket of claim 1 , wherein the speaker sub-assembly comprises a voice coil and a speaker cone having an inner rim and an outer rim, wherein the inner rim is configured to be coupled to the voice coil, and the outer rim is configured to be coupled to the speaker basket via a surround.

7 . The speaker basket of claim 1 , wherein the speaker sub-assembly comprises a magnetic structure and a voice coil magnetically suspended about a central portion of the magnetic structure.

8 . A method comprising:
forming a conductive material comprising: (i) an input portion, (ii) a central portion, and (iii) an output portion; and molding a speaker basket about the central portion of the conductive material such that the input portion of the conductive material is positioned to be coupled to an output of an audio source and the output portion of the conductive material is positioned to be coupled to an input of a speaker sub-assembly, wherein the speaker basket comprises a central opening through which the speaker sub-assembly may be mounted.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein forming the conductive material comprises:
forming the input portion of the conductive material to have a flat portion configured for contacting a conductive portion of a printed circuit board.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein forming the conductive material comprises:
forming the output portion of the conductive material to have a hook-shaped structure conducive to conductively coupling to a wire lead of the input of the speaker sub-assembly.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the conductive material is a first conductive material, wherein the output of the audio source is a first output of the audio source, and wherein the method further comprises:
forming a second conductive material having (i) an input portion, (ii) a central portion, and (iii) an output portion; and wherein molding the speaker basket comprises: molding the speaker basket about the central portion of the second conductive material such that the input portion of the second conductive material is positioned to be coupled to a second output of an audio source.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the conductive material is a first conductive material, wherein the output of the audio source is a first output of the audio source, and wherein the method further comprises:
forming a second conductive material having (i) an input portion, (ii) a central portion, and (iii) an output portion; and wherein molding the speaker basket comprises: molding the speaker basket about the central portion of the second conductive material such that the output portion of the second conductive material is positioned to be coupled to a second input of the speaker sub-assembly.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the speaker sub-assembly further comprises a voice coil and a speaker cone having an inner rim and an outer rim, and wherein the method further comprises:
coupling the inner rim of the speaker cone to the voice coil; and coupling the outer rim of the speaker cone to the speaker basket via a surround.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the speaker sub-assembly comprises a magnetic structure and a voice coil magnetically suspended about a central portion of the magnetic structure.

15 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
printing a circuit board comprising traces routed to couple an audio input of the circuit board to an audio output of the circuit board; and coupling the speaker basket to the circuit board such that the input portion of the conductive material is conductively coupled to the audio output of the circuit board.

16 . A speaker array comprising:
a printed circuit board (PCB) comprising conductive routing coupling an output of an audio source to an output of the PCB; a speaker basket comprising a central opening and a conductive material, the conductive material comprising: (i) a central portion molded within the speaker basket, (ii) an input portion conductively coupled to the output of the PCB, and (iii) an output portion; and
a speaker sub-assembly mounted through the central opening of the speaker basket, wherein an input to the speaker sub-assembly is conductively coupled to the output portion of the conductive material.

17 . The speaker array of claim 16 , wherein the speaker sub-assembly comprises a voice coil and a speaker cone having an inner rim and an outer rim, wherein the inner rim is configured to be coupled to the voice coil, and the outer rim is configured to be coupled to the speaker basket via a surround.

18 . The speaker array of claim 16 , wherein the output of the audio source is a first output of the audio source, wherein the output of the PCB is a first output of the PCB, wherein the conductive routing is a first conductive routing, wherein the PCB further comprises second conductive routing coupling a second output of the audio source to a second output of the PCB, wherein the speaker basket is a first speaker basket, wherein the speaker sub-assembly is a first speaker sub-assembly, and wherein the speaker array further comprises:
a second speaker basket comprising a central opening and a conductive material, the conductive material comprising: (i) a central portion molded within the second speaker basket, (ii) an input portion conductively coupled to a second output of the PCB, and (iii) an output portion; and a second speaker sub-assembly mounted through the central opening of the second speaker basket, wherein an input to the second speaker sub-assembly is conductively coupled to the output portion of the conductive material of the second speaker basket.

19 . The speaker array of claim 18 , wherein the first output of the audio source is configured to output audio content in a first frequency range, and wherein the second output of the audio source is configured to output audio content in a second f

Assignees

• Sonos Inc

Inventors

• Popken Ian
• Ferraro Anthony
• Little Richard Warren
• Holley Brandon

Classifications

• B29D12/00

  Producing frames · CPC title

• H04R9/06 Primary

  Loudspeakers · CPC title

• H04R9/04

  Construction, mounting, or centering of coil · CPC title

• H04R31/006 Primary

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

• H04R3/14

  Cross-over networks · CPC title