Ideas for Speaker Enclosures Now in Voice Coil March 2024

Voice Coil March 2024 focuses on speaker enclosures with a unique directory of innovative material ideas, followed by an always insightful patent review, where James Croft revisits the pivotal Dinaburg invention. For Test Bench, this month Vance Dickason characterizes the SIG180-4 6.5” woofer from Dayton Audio’s Signature Series, and a midbass shallow-profile 6.5” driver, the Stereo Integrity TM65 mkIV.

Discussing speaker enclosures, this article examines all the different options for plastic applications and the implications for loudspeaker driver design in general. Enclosure characteristics, construction features, advantage comparisons between wood and wood particle board cabinets, and production techniques are some of the topics explored. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2022.

Swedish fashion tech brand Happy Plugs introduced the new Air 1 Zen true wireless earbuds to their family at an extremely competitive price point of $79.99 USD. There is nothing special about the new product, which features an extremely similar design to Apple's AirPods Pro - case and all - if it wasn't for the fact that it offers antimicrobial technology - meaning, using materials that inhibit the growth of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, or mold.

In this report, Klasco once again shares his knowledge with loudspeaker enclosures and reports on the progress in enclosure materials and technologies in 2020. And if someone has interesting things to share about wood enclosures, composites, plastics, improved plastic-based formulas, ABS/PA (polyimide), thermoset and thermoplastic resins, bulk-molded and sheet-molded thermosets and more, it's certainly Mike Klasco. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, March 2020.

The March 2020 edition of Voice Coil is now available online and in print. In this edition, Vance Dickason gets hands-on with the Audio Precision APx500 Flex Audio Analyzer, Mike Klasco writes about Loudspeaker Enclosure Materials, and James Croft explores a new patent of a novel orientation of a cardioid speaker design. And in Test Bench, Dickason characterizes a home audio transducer from Eastech's Punktkilde line, the cosmetically pleasing AUGWL0016-JN02 6.5” midbass driver.

In the first part of this article, Mike Klasco discussed the contribution of the enclosure on perceived overall product quality as well as sonic clarity. This second part of the article looks closely at material testing, evaluation and manufacturability, and other more recent approaches to enclosure materials, including Thermosets and Thermoplastics, Bulk-Molded and Sheet-Molded Thermosets. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2019.

In this article for Voice Coil, Mike Klasco (Menlo Scientific, Ltd.) reviews and looks ahead at all the materials and design approaches for loudspeaker enclosures. This article discusses enclosures using wood, MDF, plastic, plastic composites, moldable materials, coatings and pairings for those materials, while also looking at new cutting-edge bio-plastics materials. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, March 2019.

Voice Coil May 2019 features an overview of Asian speaker manufacturing outside of China, with a detail portrait country by country. Mike Klasco reports on Loudspeaker Enclosure Materials, focusing on new and improved material alternatives. James Croft reviews a new patented design from Harman to improve reproduction in boundary-coupled systems, and in Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes two new 1” compression drivers, one from Celestion, and another from SB Audience, a new brand from SB Acoustics targeting pro audio applications. All this and the usual Industry Watch updates, now ready to download!

Voice Coil March 2019 is now available and this issue focuses on the vital, but seldom addressed, topic of loudspeaker enclosure materials. Mike Klasco reviews and looks ahead at all the materials and design approaches for loudspeaker enclosures, and the edition also includes a complete directory for sourcing vendors in this area. James Croft reviews a Coaxial Centerbody Point-Source (CCPS) Horn Speaker System patent, and Vance Dickason characterizes three new tweeters on Test Bench.

Choosing the correct speaker enclosure can be the difference between decent sound and excellent sound. As Mike Klasco and Steve Tatarunis explain in the September 2012 issue of audioXpress, “No matter how much effort was spent on the drivers’ design, …