The present invention relates to a loudspeaker enclosure structure, more particularly to a barrel-shaped multidirectional loudspeaker enclosure structure including a barrel-shaped hollow housing, a loudspeaker fixed in the hollow housing, and a reflective cover having a front side fixed to a rear opening of the hollow housing, so as to enable the sound generated by the loudspeaker can not only propagate out of a front opening of the hollow housing, but also be transmitted to the space surrounding the hollow housing by way of a plurality of directional grooves arranged around the hollow housing and reach where it cannot if exiting only through the front opening.
With the rapid development of industrial technologies, multimedia products have been improved on a regular basis to provide more satisfaction to their users both visually and aurally. In order to make the most of acoustic resonance and generate the desired acoustic field, it is common practice to dispose a low-frequency loudspeaker and/or a high-frequency loudspeaker in an enclosure, whose internal cavity functions as a resonant cavity.
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As stated above, the two opposite side walls 111 of the hollow housing 11 of the conventional loudspeaker enclosure structure 10 extend linearly backward in a converging manner from the periphery of the opening 110 to the rear wall 112, and this configuration is intended mainly to enhance low-frequency resonance of the loudspeaker enclosure structure 10. More particularly, when transient vibration of the membrane of the low-frequency loudspeaker 120 generates a backward pushing force to the air in the hollow housing 11 (i.e., when the membrane of the low-frequency loudspeaker 120 is displaced backward), the air in the hollow housing 11 flows backward along the backwardly extending and linearly converging side walls 111, making the loudspeaker enclosure resonate at a low frequency. However, once the air flowing backward along the backwardly extending and linearly converging side walls 111 hits the rear wall 112, the air in the hollow housing 11 will bounce back toward the opening 110 due to the compressibility of air. Consequently, vibration of the membrane of the low-frequency loudspeaker 120 is adversely affected. To solve this problem, the cover 12 is formed with the bass reflex port 122, through which the rebounding air is allowed to exit.
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It can be known from the above that the conventional loudspeaker enclosure structures are still flawed in design and fail to provide satisfactory sound effects. Therefore, the issue to be addressed by the present invention is to design a loudspeaker enclosure structure which not only can prevent the air rebounding in its hollow housing from impacting vibration of the membrane of a low-frequency loudspeaker, but also can prevent sound wave cancellation which may otherwise occur if all the sound waves propagate outward through the same opening on the front side of the hollow housing and which, if occurring, will impair sound quality. It is also desirable that the loudspeaker enclosure structure enables multidirectional transmission of sound and hence a wider range of sound propagation than the prior art (i.e., allowing the sound to reach where it cannot if exiting only through the opening on the front side of the hollow housing). In a nutshell, the loudspeaker enclosure structure is expected to precisely provide the desired frequency range or acoustic field.
In view of, and in order to overcome, the foregoing drawbacks of the conventional loudspeaker enclosure structures, the inventor of the present invention conducted extensive research and numerous tests by applying years of practical experience in the related field into practice. Finally, a barrel-shaped multidirectional loudspeaker enclosure structure was successfully developed as a solution to the aforementioned problems of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a barrel-shaped multidirectional loudspeaker enclosure structure which essentially includes a hollow housing, a loudspeaker, and a reflective cover. The hollow housing is a barrel-shaped housing whose outer surface is concavely provided with a plurality of directional grooves. The directional grooves are evenly arranged along the circumferential direction of the hollow housing and each extend from the front end to the rear end of the hollow housing. The loudspeaker is fixed in the hollow housing so that the sound generated by the loudspeaker can propagate out of the front end of the hollow housing through a front opening of the hollow housing. The reflective cover has a front side fixed to a rear opening of the hollow housing. Moreover, the front side of the reflective cover is concavely provided with an annular reflective groove adjacent to the periphery of the reflective cover. The hollow housing has a receiving space therein which is in communication with each directional groove through the reflective groove. Therefore, the sound generated in the receiving space by the loudspeaker will be transmitted in a directional manner to the space surrounding the hollow housing by way of the directional grooves arranged around the barrel-shaped housing body. In particular, the sound thus transmitted will reach where it cannot if exiting only through the front opening.
Another object of the present invention is to provide the foregoing loudspeaker enclosure structure, wherein the loudspeaker enclosure structure further includes an amplifying horn. The amplifying horn is a hollow tube having an amplification opening and an installation opening at its front and rear ends respectively, wherein the amplification opening has a greater inner diameter than the installation opening. Also, an amplification duct is formed in the amplifying horn and communicates with the amplification opening and the installation opening. The amplifying horn is installed on the hollow housing in such a way that the front end of the amplifying horn is fixed at the front opening of the hollow housing while both the installation opening and the amplification duct extend into the receiving space. The installation opening is provided so that the loudspeaker can be fixed thereat, thus allowing the sound generated by the loudspeaker to pass sequentially through the amplification duct and the amplification opening before coming out of the front end of the hollow housing.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide the foregoing loudspeaker enclosure structure, wherein the reflective cover is fixed at the rear opening of the hollow housing in a position-adjustable manner. More specifically, the gap between the reflective cover and the rear end of the hollow housing can be adjusted so that the sound generated in the receiving space by the loudspeaker can be reflected at different angles and propagate out of the hollow housing (to an area inaccessible to the sound if the sound exits only through the front opening) via different spaces while passing sequentially through the reflective groove and the directional grooves.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide the foregoing loudspeaker enclosure structure, wherein the outer surface of the hollow housing is concavely provided with at least one positioning groove which is adjacent to the middle section of the hollow housing and which extends along the circumferential direction of the hollow housing. Thus, a plurality of like multidirectional loudspeaker enclosure structures can be connected together and fixed to an external object (e.g., the ceiling of an opera house or the supporting frames on an open-air concert stage) by at least one connecting element working in conjunction with the at least one positioning groove of each loudspeaker enclosure structure.
A further object of the present invention is to provide the foregoing loudspeaker enclosure structure, wherein the amplifying horn is provided therein with at least one connecting frame corresponding in position to the amplification duct. The at least one connecting frame is provided so that a second loudspeaker can be mounted thereon. The second loudspeaker has a smaller diameter and generates a higher-frequency sound than the aforesaid loudspeaker.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide the foregoing loudspeaker enclosure structure, wherein the at least one connecting frame is mounted with a compression/deflection cover. The distance between the compression/deflection cover and the inner wall of the amplifying horn is less at the end of the compression/deflection cover that is adjacent to the amplification opening (i.e., the end farther from the loudspeaker) than at the end of the compression/deflection cover that is adjacent to the installation opening (i.e., the end closer to the loudspeaker). This ensures that the sound waves generated by the loudspeaker will be compressed by the compression/deflection cover and the inner wall of the amplifying horn and therefore transmitted to a greater distance than without the compression/deflection cover.
The structure as well as a preferred mode of use, further objects, and advantages of the present invention will be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of some illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention discloses a barrel-shaped multidirectional loudspeaker enclosure structure. Referring to
The amplifying horn 22 is a hollow tube and has an amplification opening and an installation opening 221 at its front and rear ends respectively, wherein the inner diameter of the amplification opening is greater than that of the installation opening 221. An amplification duct 222 is formed in the amplifying horn 22 and is in communication with the amplification opening and the installation opening 221. The loudspeaker 3 is fixed at the installation opening 221 so that the sound generated by the loudspeaker 3 can pass sequentially through the amplification duct 222 and the amplification opening before exiting the front end of the hollow housing 21. To protect the loudspeaker 3 from dust and other foreign matter, the front end of the hollow housing 21 in this embodiment is further provided with a front cover plate 24 (e.g., a screen) which corresponds in position to the front opening 212. The front cover plate 24 serves to block entry of dust and other foreign matter into the hollow housing 21. In the first preferred embodiment, the amplifying horn 22 is integrally formed with the hollow housing 21; hence, the amplification opening of the amplifying horn 22 is the front opening 212 of the hollow housing 21. Nevertheless, the loudspeaker enclosure structure 2 of the present invention is by no means limited to this configuration. For example, the amplifying horn 22 and the hollow housing 21 may be designed as two or even more separate elements, provided that, once the amplifying horn 22 is installed on the hollow housing 21, the front end of the amplifying horn 22 is fixed at the front opening 212 of the hollow housing 21, with the installation opening 221 and the amplification duct 222 of the amplifying horn 22 extending into the receiving space 211.
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The reflective cover 23 is a disc-shaped element whose front side is concavely provided with an annular reflective groove 231 adjacent to the periphery of the disc-shaped element. The front side of the disc-shaped element is fixed at the rear opening 213 of the hollow housing 21 such that the receiving space 211 is in communication with each directional groove 214 through the reflective groove 231. Hence, the sound generated in the receiving space 211 by the loudspeaker 3 will be reflected by the reflective groove 231 and transmitted in a directional manner (i.e., through the directional grooves 214) to a space surrounding the hollow housing 21 but not in front of the hollow housing 21. The sound generated by the loudspeaker 3 can thus reach a space inaccessible to the sound if the front opening 212 were the only exit. It should be pointed out that the hollow housing 21 or the reflective cover 23 may be modified in design according to practical needs so that the reflective cover 23 is position-adjustably fixed at the rear opening 213 of the hollow housing 21. For instance, an adjustment mechanism (not shown) is provided in the hollow housing 21 to enable adjustment of the gap between the reflective cover 23 and the rear end of the hollow housing 21. This allows the sound generated in the receiving space 211 by the loudspeaker 3 to be reflected at different angles and be transmitted through different spaces while propagating out of the hollow housing 21 (i.e., to a space inaccessible to the sound if the sound exits only through the front opening 212) via the reflective groove 231 and then the directional grooves 214 formed on, and arranged along the circumferential direction of, the barrel-shaped housing body.
According to the above description, the multidirectional loudspeaker enclosure structure 2 of the present invention is so designed that not only can the sound generated from the front end of the loudspeaker 3 be directly and precisely projected to the front end of the hollow housing 21 through the amplification duct 222 and the amplification opening, but also the sound generated in the receiving space 211 from the rear end of the loudspeaker 3 can be precisely transmitted in an indirect and directional manner (i.e., through reflection of the reflective groove 231 and the directional design of the directional grooves 214) to a space that cannot be reached by the sound output from the amplification opening. In other words, the structural design of the present invention enables both the front and rear ends of the hollow housing 21 to reflect, compress, concentrate, and release the sound generated by the loudspeaker 3, thereby effectively increasing the distance of sound propagation and the power of thump and punch, so as for the loudspeaker enclosure structure 2 of the present invention to precisely provide the desired frequency range or acoustic field.
In the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in
In the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention, referring back to
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While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
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