Panel speakers (was:Re: Been quiet lately... too much DIY ?)

[Peter Snow]

Hi Andrew,

Actually what I had in mind was the electrostatic type of arrangement
but somehow breaking it up into many smaller logical units that could be
driven independently.  Thus you would have your flat panel across the
sound stage but within the panel sounds could be localized according to
which parts of the grid were fed a particular sound.  I'm not sure you
could do this with single left and right inputs though. Or if you did,
you would probably need some kind of audio analyzing and multiplexing
system to direct the sounds to the correct coordinates on the grid.

Cheers,

Peter


IXQY at aol.com wrote:
> 
>  On the subject of speaker imaging, I wrote:
> 
> >  Speaking of speakers (and "accurate" sound source positioning)...
> >
> >  In my teens I had an idea of a single flat panel speaker that would hang
> > across the full width of your "listening" wall. This speaker would replace a
> > matched stereo pair of speakers and would be able to have sounds emanate
> from
> > any point/points across it's surface.
> 
>  psnow at magma.ca (Peter Snow) commented:
> 
> >   Seems to me you
> >  > could build a large version of this and drive portions of it both
> >  > horizontally and vertically from different sources to get the spatial
> >  > effect.
> >  > Any takers?  I can supply a roll of chicken wire to get you started
> >  > :)!
> 
>  dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca (Doug Tymofichuk) then wrote:
> 
> >  >
> >  You could build a wall of these or maybe even magneplaner
> >  type speakers and pan between them. But this multi-speaker
> >  approach is not applicable to most listeners, and hence is
> >  of limited interest to me compared to moving sounds
> >  spacially with a limited number of speakers (like two). And
> >  so far this appears to be impractical.
> 
>   That's true, however..  Since electrostatic speakers tend to have sound
> emanate from most of panel surface, this would weaken the "single point"
> localization aspect of the design.
> 
>  If there was a way to design a working model, a single panel with two inputs
> (L & R ch) possibly with an intermediate signal processor would be best to
> maintain compatibility with every audio system out there in the world. If
> this single point X/Y imaging panel speaker could be designed, this single
> panel could be offered in various sizes to complement different size
> walls/rooms and allowable space.
> 
>  I guess this could be considered a single speaker "home" version of that
> auditorium with speakers throughout the interior walls/ceiling. I seem to
> remember an article in Audio magazine about this auditorium in the 80's (?).
> 
>  Andrew Sanchez