Planar loudspeaker system
OwnerStanley L. Marquissinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A planar loudspeaker system having an elongated and substantially planar enclosure, configured to house tweeter, midrange, and a pair of upper and lower woofer diaphragms in its median, longitudinal section. A pair of woofer labyrinths, acting as quarter-wave transmission lines, extends throughout the remainder of the enclosure's volume. The labyrinths vent the substantially in-phase backwaves forwardly, toward the listener, through a pair of shared ports in the mid-frontal region of the enclosure. An electro-magnetic drive unit, employing bar magnets, pole pieces and thin encapsulated moving coils, all of elongated and symmetrical configuration, is also disclosed. Three versions of the drive unit are shown, each being adapted to provide a distributive driving force to the planar diaphragms of the loudspeaker.
Claims14
A planar loudspeaker system comprising:
- a. an elongated, substantially planar enclosure, having a front wall and a parallel rear wall, said front and rear walls being spanned by peripheral walls;
- b. an elongated, planar tweeter diaphragm;
- c. upper and lower planar woofer diaphragms;
- d. diaphragm housing means within a median longitudinal portion of said enclosure defining an elongated aperture in said front wall, said diaphragm housing means including:
- (1) a tweeter housing along one long side of said aperture, said tweeter housing having closed side walls extending forwardly from said rear wall, and having a tweeter opening adjacent said front wall;
- and, (2) upper and lower woofer housings along the other long side of said aperture, said upper and lower woofer housings having side walls extending forwardly from said rear wall, and having a respective upper woofer opening and a lower woofer opening adjacent said front wall;
- e. upper and lower woofer labyrinths, defined by the volume exterior to said diaphragm housing means and interior to said planar enclosure;
- f. upper and lower woofer vents within said respective side walls of said upper and lower woofer housings, said woofer vents being in communication with a respective portion of said upper and lower woofer labyrinths;
- g. a pair of woofer labyrinth ports in the median portion of said front wall, on opposing sides of said elongated aperture, said labyrinth ports being in communication with the atmosphere;
- h. means for mounting said tweeter diaphragm, and said upper and lower woofer diaphragms, within a respective said tweeter opening, upper woofer opening, and lower woofer opening;
- i. cooperating coil and magnet means, interposed between said diaphragm housing means and said tweeter and woofer diaphragms, for driving said diaphragms in fore and aft pistonic movement in response to an electrical signal impressed upon said coil means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.