[ericlp151]

New change for 3D printed speakers?  Looks pretty amazing to me.

[Phil A]

Looks pretty amazing to me as well

[RDavidson]

That's an interesting thought. One could conceivably build 3D printed bookshelf speaker cabinets full scale, today, with virtually no limits regarding geometric complexity (internally or externally).

[mresseguie]

This is an exciting possibility.

Does anyone have any idea how much it might cost to print a full scale speaker cabinet(such as the models in the above photo)?

Does anyone know how such cabinets would sound?

I imagine a lot of damping materials would need to be added, but that's just a guess.

[RDavidson]

This is an exciting possibility.

Does anyone have any idea how much it might cost to print a full scale speaker cabinet(such as the models in the above photo)?

Does anyone know how such cabinets would sound?

I imagine a lot of damping materials would need to be added, but that's just a guess.

There are very few 3D printing processes/machines that I'm aware of, that can print speakers like those in the pics at full scale. I believe the transportation industry uses large scale SLA machines to build full scale prototype pieces. Alternatively, one could 3D print the large speakers in small sections and glue them together somehow......but tgat sort of defeats the point.

The primary advantage to 3D printing is the ability to build things as a single piece, in ways that trying to build the same complex design by hand would be EXTREMELY difficult and time consuming. For example, if someone wanted to, they could design the speakers to have a spider web inner structure to give the cabinets strength and redirect sound waves. With 3D printing it'd be very easy. But to do something like this any other way would be VERY difficult.

3D printing can be very expensive, but as with anything else, the process has advantages. For bookshelf sized speakers, the size of KEF LS50's for example, it could cost $1000's to make just one cabinet. Keep in mind some hand finishing work has to be done also.

There are materials that are very hard and can withstand 1000's of pounds of pressure. There are also soft durometer materials, like rubber. Some machines can build parts with 2 materials simultaneously. One could conceivably build the cabinet out of a hard material and give it a soft port (KEF LS50 example again) as one part, not 2 assembled pieces. Or one could build the speakers to gave a hard outer surface and soft inner, or even sandwich soft material between 2 layers of hard material.

The possibilities with 3D printing are virtually limitless, except for scale. There are few large format machines. My guess is that the machines the auto industry uses cost in the millions of $ as small format professional SLA machines are commonly in the $100k's.

[Vapor Audio]

Google "China 3D printed house" ... it's coming.  They're building entire cities with 3D printing. 

3D printers will be used to make speaker cabinets, and soon.  I've been looking into it myself, and have talked to a few people that have access to large format machines.  They can print with all kinds of plastics, but not only that, they can print with metal, stone, and wood as well.  For me, it's not just jumping into it and making a cabinet, but first getting a better understanding of the full capabilities so whatever we design/build will be optimized to take full advantage of those capabilities.  I don't see any downside.  A resonance free cabinet can easily be made by utilizing different materials and wall thicknesses, and the vast savings in skilled labor would in theory bring prices down significantly. 

[Wind Chaser]

Google "China 3D printed house" ... it's coming. They're building entire cities with 3D printing.

3D printers will be used to make speaker cabinets, and soon.  I've been looking into it myself, and have talked to a few people that have access to large format machines.  They can print with all kinds of plastics, but not only that, they can print with metal, stone, and wood as well.

That's what I call a mental blow job.

[Norman Tracy]

http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Printed-Speaker-Enclosures-With-Lights/

[Vapor Audio]

That's what I call a mental blow job.

I have no idea what that means 

[Vapor Audio]

Very, very cool!

[GentleBender]

Google "China 3D printed house" ... it's coming.  They're building entire cities with 3D printing. 

3D printers will be used to make speaker cabinets, and soon.  I've been looking into it myself, and have talked to a few people that have access to large format machines.  They can print with all kinds of plastics, but not only that, they can print with metal, stone, and wood as well.  For me, it's not just jumping into it and making a cabinet, but first getting a better understanding of the full capabilities so whatever we design/build will be optimized to take full advantage of those capabilities.  I don't see any downside.  A resonance free cabinet can easily be made by utilizing different materials and wall thicknesses, and the vast savings in skilled labor would in theory bring prices down significantly.

What would you do to fill the void of all that sanding and buffing?!

[DaveC113]

I don't see any downside. 

It's still too expensive.

[RDavidson]

Yup. Prices of anything but smaller speakers is going to be INSANELY expensive.
If you're looking to make cost-no-object speakers, then I can see how the 3D printing process could possibly be competitive with current cost-no-object speakers. Note, 3D prinitng won't really lessen the amount of hand finishing enough to offset the process / material cost of the raw 3D printed cabs.

[Vapor Audio]

Yup. Prices of anything but smaller speakers is going to be INSANELY expensive.
If you're looking to make cost-no-object speakers, then I can see how the 3D printing process could possibly be competitive with current cost-no-object speakers. Note, 3D prinitng won't really lessen the amount of hand finishing enough to offset the process / material cost of the raw 3D printed cabs.

Why are you guys saying it's so expensive?  The people I've talked with how shown me otherwise.  Sure it would be more than a MDF box with right angles, even considering labor/finishing cost.  But compared to how we're doing things now, I see potential for huge cost savings without any performance hit.

[Phil A]

The Chinese house mentioned earlier (I Googled it) cost $5k.  While it certainly isn't a mansion, it is quite an accomplishment at the price point.  So I am also not sure why people are dismissing this as expensive and I'm sure that with another year or two it will come down as with any new technology.

[charmerci]

New change for 3D printed speakers?  Looks pretty amazing to me.

Those look about 5" tall to me.

[RDavidson]

Why are you guys saying it's so expensive?  The people I've talked with how shown me otherwise.  Sure it would be more than a MDF box with right angles, even considering labor/finishing cost.  But compared to how we're doing things now, I see potential for huge cost savings without any performance hit.

Hmmmm......this makes me think that there is a pretty big differential in price when building things on a small machine versus large. Using my earlier example of KEF LS50's, perhaps if one were to build several cabinets at the same time on a large machine, versus building the same size cabinets on a farm of smaller machines, the large machine would be advantageous assuming a certain number of cabs built. Same would likely be true of building large items. Do you know what process you are looking into? There are a few different ones, but SLA is probably the most common particularly for making precise / finished products.

[RDavidson]

The Chinese house mentioned earlier (I Googled it) cost $5k.  While it certainly isn't a mansion, it is quite an accomplishment at the price point.  So I am also not sure why people are dismissing this as expensive and I'm sure that with another year or two it will come down as with any new technology.

Speaking of using 3D printing to build things besides consumer products.......
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3047350/this-robot-can-3-d-print-a-steel-bridge-in-mid-air

[Jason T]

If they can 3d print a working glock that functions perfectly im pretty sure a speaker enclosure will be simple.
There is a medical equipment mfg company here in Tucson that has a large scale 3d printer. I'll throw a few ideas at their manager and see what he says.

[Phil A]

Speaking of using 3D printing to build things besides consumer products.......
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3047350/this-robot-can-3-d-print-a-steel-bridge-in-mid-air

Really cool!