Multi-driver in-phase bipolar array loudspeaker

Abstract

This loudspeaker system overcomes the disadvantages of prior art bipolar loudspeaker systems in which the front and rear-mounted driver(s) are connected with the same electrical phase. It compensates for the undesirable cancellation and reinforcement effects of prior art in bipolar loudspeaker design caused by the interaction of the front and rear acoustical output of the two drivers over certain frequency ranges. The introduction of a third side-mounted driver(s) to an enclosure whose depth exceeds its width when viewed from the front compensates for the usual cancellations and reinforcements of acoustic level that would normally occur in previous bipolar loudspeaker designs. This loudspeaker uses electronic, electrical and acoustical frequency-dividing networks to allow compensation of the acoustic level and the interaction of the front, rear and side-mounted driver(s) in such a way as to provide a nearly constant acoustic level over the entire operating range of the loudspeaker. The arrangement of the three drivers and their associated electronic, electrical and acoustical frequency-dividing networks allows the attainment of a loudspeaker with a bipolar radiating characteristic that does not possess the previously unavoidable peaks and dips in acoustical output caused by reinforcement and cancellation of the acoustic outputs from the front and rear-mounted driver(s). In this loudspeaker, the low-frequency range is covered by the side-mounted driver(s) and the upper frequency range is covered by the front and rear-mounted driver(s).