Something really cool to share...

JohnR · « **Reply #40 on:** 24 May 2007, 09:00 pm »

Quote from: Danny on 24 May 2007, 03:04 pm

I wonder if it would be helpful to create a regional circle here at Audio Circle just for this project. It would give the kids a good place to come to ask questions and even post information about their projects. It might also help drive interest and support. What do you think of this idea JohnR?

Sure, sounds like an interesting idea, we can do that without a problem. Would need to ensure concerns of teachers etc are addressed. Could also consider creating a separate site for them on our server.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #41 on:** 24 May 2007, 09:07 pm »

Wow, that would be really cool John, and would really help these kids.

Thanks,

S Clark · « **Reply #42 on:** 25 May 2007, 06:12 pm »

Update:

We are now up to 5 high schools that have signed on for this project, ranging from schools with more than 100 physics students to those with 6 to 8 students. My small high school now has 22 signed up out of a class of about 80- about 28%. The national percentage is around 7%

.

If we continue to get interest we could be looking at several hundred students building a hundred or so sets of speakers.

Several of the circle members have pledged support. Thanks to all those members. If any others are interested in participating, join in! The more the merrier (and the more kids we get excited about both science and music).

If we have this much interest in two days of phone calls, it could be scary how big this could be by the end of the summer.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #43 on:** 25 May 2007, 06:37 pm »

Wow, that is really cool.

Maybe we should take what I teach your kids when they come to my place, (crossover design 101) and put it to video tape.

Quote

If we continue to get interest we could be looking at several hundred students building a hundred or so sets of speakers.

That would be a long day of measuring, testing, and listening.

S Clark · « **Reply #44 on:** 25 May 2007, 07:27 pm »

Clearly we would have to have more volunteers, take the Clio lite system to the various schools to do a prelim round, and then have a Competition of Champions at an appropriate venue. The really large schools might need a Clio lite system of there own. I could see national coverage as a possibility. Who knows, we might even get Bose to sponsor the thing

HAL · « **Reply #45 on:** 25 May 2007, 08:33 pm »

If you want a portable CLIOlite setup, a laptop, RS-232 port, 12VDC/2Amp power supply and a M-Audio Transit will make a portable setup. This will calibrate with the standard CLIOwin Lite software. Just need a calibrated MIC-01 and you are set.

S Clark · « **Reply #46 on:** 25 May 2007, 08:48 pm »

HAL
What is an M Audio Transit? Where do I get one?

Scott

HAL · « **Reply #47 on:** 25 May 2007, 09:01 pm »

The M-Audio Transit is a USB powered Soundcard for the laptop You connect it to the CLIOwin SC-01 instead of the CLIOwin PCI audio card.

You need the 12VDC/2Amp power supply to run the SC-01.

Here is a link to the M-Audio website. I just googled it to find a good price. Got mine for about $80.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html

You can see more info about this setup at www.audiomatica.com under the CLIOwin information.

Hank · « **Reply #48 on:** 27 May 2007, 12:34 am »

Danny, this could mushroom into a great thing, BUT it could get too big for you to host teaching sessions every weekend. How about working with the initial 5 schools' students and document the process so it could be replicated. There may be dozens or scores or eventually hundreds of schools that want to participate, and that would be beyond your time capacity. But, you could teach the physics teachers of those schools how to do the measurement process. I envision that separate site on the server that would begin with a tutorial and a FAQ section. Then, as kids learned and built, they could post new questions, discuss among themselves, and post photos of their designs and finished speakers.
Whaddya think?

HAL · « **Reply #49 on:** 27 May 2007, 01:39 am »

How about a MS PowerPoint presentation with pictures on how to make nearfield and quasi-anechoic speaker measurements that the teacher could show the students to get them started with CLIO?

I have something similar that a friend and I did for a presentation on speaker measurements with another system.

Not as cool an idea as video, but a place to start.

Just and

Danny Richie · « **Reply #50 on:** 27 May 2007, 03:07 am »

Thanks guys.

We will definitely have to come up with a good plan.

S Clark · « **Reply #51 on:** 27 May 2007, 03:23 am »

It definitely looks like we are taking the next step, and Danny obviously can't personally test 100 pairs of speakers. However, with a portable system available to the involved schools, train each physics teacher on its usage, each school could pick its best 2 or 3 speakers to take to the area speaker championships. Winner takes the blue ribbon, donated drivers, scholarships, etc. Perhaps if enough golden ears volunteer more speakers could make the cut, go into an elimination round, to make the final group of 8. This would create more interest as more kids show up on a Sat morning in hopes that their speakers go all the way.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #52 on:** 27 May 2007, 03:46 am »

Train a group of physics teachers how to use a portable Clio system then let them pass it around. I'm game for it.

So HAL, can you make a power point presentation on how to use the Clio system?

Making it an area wide competition would be a blast too.

Quote

Not as cool an idea as video, but a place to start.

Maybe the video needs to be for the kids so that they can learn the effects of caps, resistors, and inductors.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #53 on:** 27 May 2007, 06:40 am »

Hey, some of us wouldn't mind checking out that disc, ourselves. aa

HAL · « **Reply #54 on:** 27 May 2007, 07:37 pm »

Quote from: Danny on 27 May 2007, 03:46 am

Train a group of physics teachers how to use a portable Clio system then let them pass it around. I'm game for it.

So HAL, can you make a power point presentation on how to use the Clio system?

Making it an area wide competition would be a blast too.

Quote
Not as cool an idea as video, but a place to start.

Maybe the video needs to be for the kids so that they can learn the effects of caps, resistors, and inductors.

Danny and Scott,

I can make one. How long have I got to put the Power Point presentation together?

Do you want CLIOwin 7.0 Lite, CLIOwin 7.0 Standard or CLIO 4.55 dos with the MIC-01? If you want the portable idea it has to be a CLIOwin 7.0 Lite or Standard system.

Would measuring a pair of X-LS be good as a starting point?

Do you want both nearfield and quasi-anechoic speaker measurement techniques? Do I need to make a full response plot with nearfield and QA spliced?

S Clark · « **Reply #55 on:** 29 May 2007, 03:49 am »

Hal, Danny, and all others interested in this project---

I can't answer yet as to which system we will get- got to raise the $$ first.

I will be out of the country for the next 3 weeks, but upon my return I'll start putting the details together to make this work. Thanks to all that have expressed support. I will update you around June 21.

S Clark

Danny Richie · « **Reply #56 on:** 4 Jun 2007, 01:42 am »

Hey Scott,

Andre at E-Speakers has generously volunteered to donate a complete SoundEasy measuring system. He has asked for an address to send it to. Here is his e-mail address: andre-p@e-speakers.com

Danny Richie · « **Reply #57 on:** 4 Jun 2007, 05:33 pm »

Steve Slater at Apex Jr. (http://www.apexjr.com/) contacted me this morning and is willing to donate several boxes of drivers that he has.

Thanks Steve!

Since Scott is going to be out of town for a while, any of you that would like to send drivers, crossover parts, testing equipment, etc. can send it to the GR Research address listed here:

GR Research Inc.
910 N. Jackson
Iowa Park, Texas 76367

I'll hold on to it until Scott returns and can post more info about where to send and when to send it.

Thank you all for your generous contributions to this endeavor.

NoOne · « **Reply #58 on:** 17 Jun 2007, 01:26 pm »

Danny/All,

This is a great thing your doing.

I think it will do a lot to help certain kids. I was one of those who wanted to do something first, then if I had a problem, go read....not the way they teach you in school to read first then try it

There is not enough hands on in schools today nor do they do enough to tie in learning to something that is enjoyable. Speaker building has to be one of the best things you can do in this area. Electronics, budgeting, project management, construction, wood working...it wraps everything up in a single item.

They have a program that is similar to this for college students called Formula SAE that is run by the auto companies where they build race cars and go through basically an accelerated car design process. I work in automotive and we can always tell the students who went through it versus those that did not.

Your doing a great thing and a good service to the future. Its obvious the school systems in this country are not getting much better and the personal hands on thing will serve a lot of them well.

S Clark · « **Reply #59 on:** 23 Jun 2007, 10:14 pm »

I am back from vacation so its time to make this thing happen. We had hoped to have a building rented for a central museum/science center but the plan fell through while I was gone-- therefore, we will organize this through my high school:

Jim Ned High School
Box 9
Tuscola, TX 79562
Attn: Scott Clark

For those of you that offered to send drivers, this is the place to send them. However, there is no problem sending stuff to Danny- I am certain that I will be headed to his place sometime this summer for a planning session and perhaps to generate data on the drivers.

For those that have offered $, make out checks to West Texas Science Center- Speaker project fund. I have told the involved physics teachers that this won't be free, but that I thought we could get significant help. In addition to drivers, caps, $, and stuff in general, some of you might like to act as mentors. A group of experience involved mentors willing to correspond by email with a student group would also help make this project work out better. If you are willing to donate your time, please email me or send me a PM so that I can put you on a Mentor List. You would be responsible for helping/advising 2 or three groups depending on how many volunteers we get.

As always, thanks for your involvement. As most of you know, our science education in America is at a low point, and the future consequences of a scientifically illiterate population should scare the devil out of all of us. If you can, contact a school near you and get their physics teachers to read this thread--get involved!