[SharkyRivethead]

Now that I have someones attention, I was hoping to get some input from some of ya about a project. Any and all feedback will be most greatly appreciated.  Keep in mind I don't have any drivers selected nor crossovers worked out yet. Just a speaker design concept.

 I have a floor standing speaker design in mind.  It will be shaped like a pyramid. With one surface facing the wall to the rear (referred to as rear surface) and the other 2 surfaces coming to a point, facing the listener. (these 2 will be referred to as front surface)
 
 The rear surface will is where the sub will be mounted. Towards the bottom, within it's own chamber. The front surface will house the mids that will feed a multi channel baffle that will cover a major portion of the 2 surfaces. (think of Gecko flat panel speakers)  The idea is to create a sound stage that has no focal point, but one large sweet spot. One should not be able to pick up where the sound is coming from.
 
 Now, think about the pyramid on the back of the old dollar bill. The tip of the speaker will stand about 6"s above the base/rest of the speaker. Using 3 Plexiglas, pillar type mounts.  What I wanted to do is mount the tweeter within the base facing up. Then mount some sort of deflecting material to the top portion, angling it towards the listener. The idea is to 1) hide the driver, 2) create a way to disperse the high frequency waves so the sound does not come from a direct source. I know the bandwidth is much tighter for the higher frequency, thus making it important when your mounting a tweeter or arranging your speakers in a room. 

 This will be the first time I have ever tried to make a speaker system from scratch. Please excuse the lack of terminology on my part.

[*Scotty*]

 From your description it sounds like you would like to duplicate the sound produced by the Shahainian Obelisk. Dick Shahinian pioneered poly-directional dynamic loudspeakers over thirty years ago. Your "mirror" will produce a specular reflection if it is placed close to the tweeter resulting in the sound appearing to come the "mirrors"  location. The tweeter will not be sonically invisible it will merely move its apparent location. It would help if your mirror had a curved surface instead of a flat surface. Here are images of the Shahainian Obelisk  This type of design has a large diffuse soundstage without pin point localization of performers or instruments within the sound stage as well as no specific point of origin for the sound. There will not actually be any sweet spot at all,pretty much wherever you are will have about the same sound. The original Ohm F loudspeakers that used the Walsh driver excelled at this type of performance.
While the sound of this type of loudspeaker design is not my particular cup of tea I can understand the appeal of this kind of performance. When it is well done there are compelling qualities to music presented in this fashion.
Scotty
 
     See links http://shahinianacoustics.com/   http://shahinianacoustics.com/Obelisk.htm

[laserman]

I owned a pair of Ohm F's for a while 1974-75 and thought they were wonderful and regretted selling them.

Check out the manufacturer of these speakers for some ideas of what you are trying to do.



Duevel makes some amazing soundstage producing speakers

[jimdgoulding]

Mirage uses this "omi" design in their home theater systems.  I have a pair of discontinued ones one with 1" tweets and 6.5" mid/woofs both firing up and being dispersed out ala Dueval tho the tweeter is over the mid/woof and share the same deflector.  Better in room dispersion for multiple listeners, I think is the goal. 

[SharkyRivethead]

 You guys are awesome. I was beginning to think that maybe my idea was a little to radical for anyone to take seriously. I'm drawing up my concept designs if anyone is interested in seeing them.

 I know I have a long way to go. I need to learn about making my own crossovers and...well...pretty much everything that has to do with this. I've done home theater installations as a hobby/side jobs, but have never taken this route before. I have had this itching to make my own speakers for some time.

[SharkyRivethead]

 When I was younger, I made this speaker that had a single driver. It was mounted in a box that was fired upwards (it was a single stereo driver) through a tube that surrounded the driver. At the other end of the tube I had something similar to those wood Duevel speakers. It was ugly but it worked. It was designed to create a larger sound stage for in ceiling installations.

 I've seen a couple programs on parts express, that are for speaker designing. Has anyone ever used them? Got any suggestions?

[laserman]

Here is one site to get you started

http://www.speakerbuilding.com/

[SharkyRivethead]

 Here is a rough draft of what I was considering as my next project. Note there are no dimensions, nor is the drawing to scale, or is there anything technical. Also, I am no artist by any means. So please, be gentle on my drawing skills. I was hoping to get some feedback. I value constructive criticism.

 I've opted to use another method to disperse the highs. The mirror method was not conducive to the project and it's aesthetics. At this moment I'm working on the dimensions, and what type of drivers I'm going to use. Also note...

 The passive radiator is subject to change as well as the bass ports. The intention is to have these set up as 2 channel listening only. I have not decided to have internal/mono amp setup or powered by a system. That decision will effect the design outcome. Pertaining to space allocation and such.

 Thanks to everyone and their help thus far.  Sharky.


ps...The part that got cut off said..." Metalic 1/2 sphere for tweeter driver dispersement"

[SharkyRivethead]

 Right now, I'm using a 3 way cross over for my prototype. I pulled it from another speaker set. It will get the job done for now. What I want to do is build some custom x-overs. 

  I'm going to use a bi-wire setup for the speakers. The top posts will feed the High/Mid pass cross over and the bottom will feed into a Low pass cross over. Has anyone ever seen this done? I've only seen bi-wiring done with 2 way speakers. That being said, it's not saying much.  I was thinking about using an internal amp to power the sub driver. But have decided to go against this for complications and not wanting to design a amp for this application. I figure if I use an external amp it will provide far less problems in the design.