plan s for constructing a speaker that used the SAFE (Symmetrical Air Friction Enclosure ) princ iple (U .S . patent no.
4.168.761. other patent s pending) to obtain good sound from
a small encl osure . Thi s article deal with a companion subwoofer using the SAFE principle that provides extended bass
resp on se from a relatively small enclosure .
The heart of the system is an 8- or lO-inch speaker in a
cabinet with a volume of under six cubic feet. It uses no special de vice s . such as passive radiato rs, to increase the effective size of the spea ker. and the SAFE design provides an
e xtremel y rigid enclo sur e.
The SAFE principle
The SAFE princ iple is an outgrowth of the lab yrinth-type
enclosure invented by Benjamin Olney in the 1930's. A
lab yrinth-type enclosure is simply a long tube placed behind
a spea ker and into wh ich the low-frequ enc y back wave from
th e spea ker is prop agat ed. The length of the tub e is used to
R-E TESTS IT
LEN FELDMAN
CONTRIBUTING HI-FI EDITOR
WE PUT AN EIGHT INCH SAFE SUB-
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66
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MINIMUM
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down . Also, the effective length of the tube and the free-air
resonance of the speaker are chose n so that the speaker is
da mped at its free-air-resonance frequency, avoiding objection able excess output at that frequency.
Th ere are, however, two other factors that can be used to
incr ease air friction, and there by the effective length of the
lab yrinth . The se factors are what's involved in the SAFE
principle . First, the interna l surface area-not the length-of
the tube can be increased : second, the back-wave path can
be made longe r by increasing the number of bend s in it.
A SA F E enclosure uses a number of small chambers in
se ries (see Fig. 1) to both increase the internal surface-area
a nd to insert more bend s in the path of the speake r backwave . Th e small chambers are constru cted by alternating
two type s of partiti ons within the tube as shown in Fig. 2.
The first type co mpletely block s the tube, except for a square
hole in its center. The second is smaller and is centered so
that the area between it and the inside perimet er of the tube
is equ al to that of the hole in the first type. This forces the
back-wave from the spea ker to be alternately spread out and
combined as it passes through the tube . (It is obvious that
thi s design incre ase s the internal surface-area of the tube and
2
3
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FIG. 2-SPEAKER BACK-WAVE is alternately combined and separated as it passes through and around SAFE enclosure's baffles.
67
FIG. 6-S'MPLIFIED CUTAWAY VIEW of enclosure showing mounting details of first and second behind-the-speaker partitions.
PARTS LIST-ENCLOSURE
Qty.
Size (inches)
Description
2
2
1
1
1
15V2 x
15% x
15V2 x
15V2 x
13V2 x
5
5
40
(f)
a
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is
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68
17 x34 x 3/4
15% x 3/.1
17 x 3/.1
15% X V2
15% x %
13% X V4
1 x 1 x 13/.1
12
% x 3/.1
12
% x 3/.1 X 14V2
15V2 X 7 x %
15V2
"
First behind-the-speaker
partition
15V2 X 8 x %
Second beh ind-the-speaker
partition
6V2 X 1 x 1
2
Mounti ng strips for f irst beh indthe -speaker partit ion
Speaker-JB L LE8T (8-in ch) or LE10A (1O-inch) or sim ilar
Miscellane ous : Two binding posts, screws, hot-melt glue and
glue gun , aco ust ic insulation, crossover network, etc .
FIG. S-PARTITION MOUNTING STRIPS for the fron t are shown in (a), rear
are shown in (b ), left side are shown in (c) and right side are shown in (d) .
FIG. 11-SIDE VIEW of even-numbered partition mounted atop odd -numbered part it ion using partition mounting strips. Each st rip is loc ated as
sh own in Fig. 10 and measure s 1 x 1 x 1'Y4 inches.
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69