Loudspeaker baffle board extender

Abstract

A Loudspeaker Baffle Board Extender that functionally improves the sound quality of cabinet-type loudspeaker systems. The Extenders are located one to each side of a loudspeaker cabinet and may be built into the cabinet for pull-out / push-in, hinged for folding open or closed or an L-shaped structurally stiff material attached to the loudspeaker cabinet in a manner that enables easy installation and removal or opening or closing.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to sound reproduction, and, more particularly, to any type of presentation that utilizes audio loudspeaker cabinets as an audible sound source. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] As a professional musician and music studio Engineer, it was of interest why, when playing live amplified music (i.e.: electric guitar), I could stand just a few feet away from my loudspeaker cabinet yet have trouble hearing its emanating sounds if other musicians were on stage generating a combined volume above moderate volume levels. [0003] It occurred to me that the most “present” sounding loudspeakers I had ever heard were in professional music studios where the speakers (monitors) were literally mounted within a wall or soffit facing out toward the studio's control room where critical recording, mixing and engineering functions were performed. Acoustical Engineers and Acousticians often install loudspeakers directly into a room's wall or soffi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a Loudspeaker Baffle Board Extender that improves the sound quality of cabinet-type loudspeakers. This extender enhances the speaker's ability to produce high-quality sound and music. It can be built into the speaker's cabinet or used as an \"L-shape\" with one leg attached to the cabinet and the other leg acting as a baffle board extension. The extender increases the effective front baffle board radiation surface, resulting in better sound focus and less anomalies common to freestanding speaker cabinets. It also increases the percentage of direct radiating frequencies, reduces cancellation reflections, and improves the speaker drivers' efficiency. Overall, the Loudspeaker Baffle Board Extender provides a better listening experience for all loudspeakers."

Problems solved by technology

However, not all loudspeaker cabinets can be soffit mounted due to a room's design, space restrictions or the nature of the intended audio applications.

The resultant sound reflections then travel back to interfere with the direct sound from the speaker drivers, and further, they reflect back towards the listener.

Under such circumstances, certain frequencies can markedly drop in amplitude causing not only a loss of overall “sound power” emanating from the speaker cabinet, but also an undesirable alteration to the tonal balance (frequency balance) of the sound.

Moreover, these reflections traveling back to mix with the direct sound are also partially blocked by the Extenders.

Moreover, the addition of the Extenders tends to “break up” the surface of said said cabinet corners by adding the surfaces of the Extenders themselves.

Some speaker designers have attempted to increase the front baffle board surface area of their cabinet in an effort to obtain a general improvement in sound quality, however, in doing so, they have also increased the overall size of the cabinet, including the internal air volume behind the speaker drivers to an amount in excess of that recommended by the loudspeaker driver's designer / manufacturer, thus degrading the driver's performance.

No one has yet invented an extension device used in pairs to effectively increase the surface area of a loudspeaker cabinet's front baffle board without also altering any other aspect of the cabinet's size or design.

Moreover, no one has ever invented an baffle board extension device that is portable so working musicians and singers can easily install and remove them on loudspeaker cabinets designed for portability.

However, such efforts can easily place a cabinet at variance to the best location for the listener to receive quality sound.

For example, the speaker cabinet might have far less interaction with a room's surfaces if were to be located very close to a wall, but such a position can alter its frequency response and place it too far away from the listener to receive correct sound.

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