Advanced Speaker Designs for the Hobbyist & Technician [Illustrated] [Paperback]

J. B. Hall (Author), Ray Alden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

This manual shows the electronics hobbyist and the experienced technician how to create high-quality speaker systems for the home, office or auditorium. Every part of the system is covered, from the driver and crossover network to the enclosure itself. The reader should be able to build speaker systems from the parts lists and instructions provided, or can actually learn to calculate design parameters, system responses and component values with a scientific calculator or PC software. They can also learn how to measure driver parameters and predict system responses for greater precision.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Prompt Pubns; Revised edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0790610701
• ISBN-13: 978-0790610702
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,877,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Value, April 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Durban, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Speaker Designs for the Hobbyist & Technician (Paperback)

For a book of its size and length, it is pact with information on how to measure and calculate various parameters relating to speaker design. The book is based on a high school course offered by the author in the USA. Therefore this book is ideal for persons with reasonable high school mathematics backround. Calculations are stressed and done step by step, in tutorial fashion. Explanations of driver parameters is excellent.

One draw back was the poor print quality of the book. Besides this, it is an excellent gateway book to the world of loudspeaker engineering.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent information, clearly written, March 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Advanced Speaker Designs for the Hobbyist & Technician (Paperback)

I started as an interested greenhorn in building speakers and, were not for this book, probably would remain so today. There seems to be only two directions in which one can head in order to build excellent speakers. One way is to use a book by an experienced author that supplies well-designed projects. However, the usefulness of such a book is limited by time. The world of speakers is in continual flux with items such as drivers constantly changing, thus rendering this type book soon-to-be obsolete. The other direction enables one to deal with new parts, but requires them to either evaluate some high school level equations or alternatively use a computer program. "Advanced Speaker Designs" uses the second approach, guiding a person through both equations and computer techniques with whatever level of handholding the reader wishes. If someone has forgotten how to work with equations using exponents or logarithms, the book will direct them through each step on a scientific calculator. All-in-all, there are about six important equations in each of the two critical chapters on box design. After awhile, even someone who has forgotten high school math can quickly push buttons on their calculator to get the answers with confidence in their technique. The same applies to the section on speaker computer programs. Unfortunately, books that use a "Speaker-Building for Dummies" approach give mediocre results at best. This book aims for you to produce a higher level of speakers.

There are two problems that must be solved to design a really good set of speakers. First is to figure the size (and shape) of a speaker cabinet in order to get quality bass. Secondly, to design a crossover network (using capacitors, inductors and resistors) to send the correct electrical signals to each driver (low frequencies to the woofer, highs to tweeter, etc.) Both of these issues are dealt with head-on in this book. The numerical characteristics of a speaker, known as the driver's "T/S parameters," are needed to calculate the cabinet. They are carefully explained and, if need be, a way to measure them is shown in the first two chapters. After that, two chapters show how to use these numbers in equations that will make a blueprint for either a sealed box or a vented box. Also shown is how to know which type box a particular woofer is better suited. As a supplement, if you are forced to use an old cabinet of predetermined size, this book shows you how to use the woofer in-hand. Two items are out-of-date in this book; the computer program featured in Chapter 5 and the speaker projects in Chapter 8, (the Radio Shack speakers are out-of-date). However the discussions in both chapters, such as inputting speaker data and the use of impedance-compensation networks, give insights into how to use current computer programs and techniques for designing a good pair of speakers.

Although the book is really geared towards the serious beginner, advanced ideas appear in the two chapters on "Subwoofers" and "Crossovers." In "Subwoofers," there are explanations for using two woofers in "isobaric push-pull" configuration and for using multiple interconnections of dual voice coil woofers (I have never seen this in another book.) In "Crossovers," one finds an explanation of how to control the acoustic radiation pattern of a speaker using the D'Appolito driver geometry. The equations for first-order, second-order and third-order crossovers for two-way speaker systems, as well as their phase-vector diagrams and filter rates, are shown in detail. Three-way systems are not treated in great detail, as the book explains why it is so difficult to get good results for this case. Nonetheless, a computer program is demonstrated and recommended for three-way crossover needs. On the second page of the appendix, sources for speaker and crossover parts are given from specialized companies. This book gives a walloping dose of speaker building in only 125 pages. It will develop your ability to produce excellent designs, but only if you are willing to stay the course.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful for equations, but limited, February 26, 2001

By 

"thepancakeman" (Bloomington, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Speaker Designs for the Hobbyist & Technician (Paperback)

I haven't gotten to any other speaker design books yet, so I can't compare it to others. But for someone with no experience (i.e. me. ;-) it seemed like a good overview. One of my major complaints is he will follow an equation (most of which are very useful) with an entire page of how to program this equation into your "scientific calculator." If you don't know how to take a square root with a calculater without explicit instructions, this isn't the book for you in the first place! Plus an entire chapter dedicated to "Top Box" software, which I haven't actually seen, but the specs require an x286 computer with DOS 3.3. In other words--it's ancient.

He also throws out all of the specs variables by name but doesn't really clarify where they come from. Not terribly clear on this topic.

And don't plan on using chapter 8--all of his designs are built from Radio Shack drivers which are no longer available.

But gripes aside, I feel it was a decent book with a lot of information for the number of pages (although perhaps not the price) and I feel somewhat prepared to tackle my first project. However, I'm also going to pick up another book or two!