RICHARD H. SMALL
Editor's Note: Part I of Vented-Box Loudspeaker Systems /B relative to the displacement at zero frequency, and
appeared in the June issue, that the principal effect of enclosure losses is to increase
the displacement near /B, i.e., reduce the sharpness of
6. DISPLACEMENT-LIMITED POWER RATINGS the notch.
Diaphragm Displacement
Acoustic Power Rating
The vented-box system displacement function given
by Eq. (14) isa low-pass filter function which has a Assuming linear large-signal diaphragm displacement,
notch at ]_ contributed by the numerator and an ultimate the 'steady-state displacement-limited acoustic power .rat-
Cutoff slope of 12 dB per octave at high frequencies, ing PAR of a loudspeaker system, from [12, eq. (42)], is
The 'behavior of this function is examined at the end
of Appendix 1; PaR = --4_rap fs4VI_2 (36)
The normalized diaphragm displacement magnitude c k_ 2 IX(]to) ]max 2
IX(jto)] is plotted in Fig. 17 for 'a few common align- where ]X(jto)lm_x is the maximum magnitude attained by
ments. For convenience, the frequency scale is normal- the displacement 'function and VD is the peak displace-
ized to/'B- Note that the effect of moving from the C4 ment volume of the driver diaphragm, given by
alignments toward the QB3 alignments (i.e;, increasing a)
.is to reduce the diaphragm displacement near and above VD = SD Xmax (37)
For the vented-box system, Eq. (15) gives k_ = 1. The m _---C4, k=0.5
displacement-limited acoustic power rating of the vented- 'o
boxsystemthenbecomes ....2'
c
For SI units, the value of 4_rapo/CJXis(k0 Ima?
0.424. X QL =------_
B4 '
-20
Power-Rating Constant QB3, B=4 _-
I I _ III
Eq. (38) may be written in the form .2 .3 .5 .7 I 2 3 5
PaN(VB) = kp fa4 VD2 (39) f/fB
where ke is a power-rating constant given by Fig. 17. Normalized diaphragm displacement of vented-box
system driver as a function of normalized frequency for sev-
47rap0 1
kp -- -- . (40) eral typical alignments (from simulator).
C (f3/f_) 4]X(J t-0) [max 2
The value of 1'8//s is already established for any align- ments, the passband and wideband values of kc, the ratio
ment in the C4-B4-QB3 range. But from Fig. 17, IX(jo0 [ of ,maximum displacements for passband- and wideband-
has two maxima. The first occurs outside the system drive conditions, and the degree to which the driving
passband; this has a value of unity and is located at signal spectrum may extend below system cutoff before
zero frequency for the QB3, B4, and moderate C4 align- the displacement exceeds the passband maximum (see
Tents but slightly exceeds unity and is located below J_ Fig. 17).
for the extreme C4 alignments. The second maximum With this value of kc, Eq. (39) becomes
occurs within the system passband, above f_, and is al-
ways smaller than the first. Pamw) = 3-0fa 4 Vo 2' (41)
There are thus two possible values for kp, one if the
This relationship is generally applicable to all vented-bo x
system driving signal is ,allowed to have large-amplitude
components at frequencies well below cutoff, and an- alignments for which the system passband includes the
other, which is substantially larger, if the signal is re- major components of the program signal spectrum.
stricted so that alt significant spectral components are Whenever the signal and 'alignment properties are ac-
curately known, a more exact relationship may be ob-
within the system passband.
Fig. 18 is a plot of the values of kp for each of the tained with the help of Fig. 18 or by using Eq. (38)
above driving conditions as a function of the alignment directly.
parameters k and B for systems with lossless enclosures.
The crosses in Fig. 18 indicate the values of ke for a Power Output, Cutoff Frequency, and
few selected alignments with QL ----5. The effect of this Displacement Volume
relatively severe amount of enclosure loss on kp is nag- Eq. (41) is illustrated in Fig. 19. Pa_ is expressed in
ligible for the QB3 alignments but gradually increases as both watts (left scale) and equivalent sound pressure
the extreme C4 alignments are approached. For these
alignments, kp is slightly reduced for the passband-drive
case but slightly increased for the wideband-drive case. .___+__, PASSBAND
no I I _ STEADY-STATE
Program Acoustic Power Rating 7 I
I I
In most program applications, a portion of the driving 5 *l I I i I ",g_,
signal spectrum lies below the system passband. The [ IPROORAMI '_'_....L
10 * / //_- 120
I
,OO(3C_
_/ ,/f-- from the form obtained by dividing Eq. (39)by Eq. (26):
// / ,,. = (43)
g_ 1 _/y_/'_O/_O_
./ / // / / / / r 110 m.O. zX In practice, the values of P_t_ and m0are much more
/ / Et n important; these would normally be specified or cai(u-
/ _ ._3_/,, r / - 100 --' lated first. PE_ is then obtained directly from these
//_' ._ o bers as indicated by Eq. (42). P_ describes onlynUm'the
/ ,_ . x amount of nominal power which may be absorbed from
.01 : _,/ f _,/. _,_ _,,,. _ ea an amplifier if thermal design of the voice-coil permits.
level (SPL) at 1 meter [3, p. 14] for 2_r-steradian free- 7. PARAMETER MEASUREMENT
field radiation conditions (right scale). This is plotted
as a function of ]a for various values of VD (note 1 The direct dependence of system performance char-
cm a = 10 -6 ma). The SPL at 1 meter given on the right- acteristics on system parameters provides a simple means
hand scale is a rough indication of the SPL produced in of assessing or predicting loudspeaker system performance
the reverberant field of an average listening room for a from a knowledge of these parameters. The important
radiated acoustic power given by the left-hand scale [3, small-signal parameters can be found with satisfactory
p. 318]. For particular listening environments such as accuracy from measurement of the voice-coil impedance
large halls, the reference just cited gives methods for of the system and its driver.
computing the acoustic power required to obtain a spe- The voice-coil impedance function of the vented-box
cifiedSPL. systemis givenby Eq. (16). A plot of the steady-state
Fig. 19 represents the approximate physical large-dig- magnitude [Zvc(jco) I of this function against frequency
nal limitation of vented-box system design. It may be has the shape illustrated in Fig. 20; the measured im-
used to determine the maximum performance tradeoffs pedance curve of a practical vented-box system has this
(Px_ versus ia) for a given voice-coil/suspensi0n design same characteristic shape.
or to find the minimum value of VD which is required The impedance magnitude plot of Fig. 20 has a mini-
to meet a given specification of fa and P_. mum at a frequency near fB (labeled/_) where the im-
Power ratings calculated from Eq. (41) or Fig. 19 pedance magnitude is somewhat greater than R_. The
apply only for "typical" program material which does additional resistance is contributed primarily by en-
not drive the system hard at frequencies below cutoff, closure losses and is designated RR_ on the plot axis.
For other circumstances the applicable rating may be There are two maxima in the impedance plot, located at
higher or lower. Even where the condition of passband frequencies below and above [_t. These are labeled /_
drive iS met with regard to the intended program mate- and [_r. At these frequencies, the magnitudes of the im-
rial, the vented-box system is clearly vulnerable to ex- pedance maxima depend on both driver losses and en-
traneous signals _such as turntable rumble and subsonic closure circuit losses and are seldom equal.
control tones. These normally inaudible signals may pro- Where only normal enclosure losses are present, the
duce audible harmonics or cause noticeable modulation basic system parameters and the total enclosures loss
distortion [21]. In cases where such signals are particu- QB may be found with satisfactory accuracy using the
larly troublesome and cannot otherwise be eliminated, method developed by Thiele in [10]. The indicated value
the use of a closed-box design or one of _hehigher order of QB may then be used to check the measurement ap-
amplifier:assisted vented-box alignments described by Proximations. Thiele's method is based on an initial as-
Thiele [10], [20] may provide relief, sumption of negligible enclosure losses and may be sum-
marized as follows. The relationships are derived in
Electrical: power Rating Appendix 2.
1) Measure the three frequencies f/_,/_, and IR where
The displacement-limited electrical power rating PDR the impedance magnitude is maximum or minimum. The
of the vented-box system is obtained by dividing the accurate identification of these frequencies may be aided
acoustic power rating Eq. (38) by the system reference by measuring the impedance phase; if this passes through
efficiency Eq. (25). Thus, zero at the appropriate maxim um or minimum, the fre-
'9o i _lm the resonance frequency for which Q_e and QBs have
_' rr been measured and [sB is the resonance frequency in
the enclosurefound from Eq. (44). Usuallyif the driver
parameters are measured on a test baffle of suitable size,
RE+RBM /__ _J the two resonance
valuesf frequencies
Q_sandQEsbythe are almost identical and
ratife/feB'where]sis
J rM the correctionis not required.
RE 1
6) Calculate Qrs from
R_ + Ra_
nitude must be located as carefully as possible. Exper- r_- (48)
ience with many systems and ex,periments with the analog R_
circuit simulator have shown that where the frequencies Then, using the corrected values of Q_s and Q_ts ob-
of zero phase and maximum or minimum magnitude do tained above, determine the total enclosure loss Qa from
not coincide, the latter always provide more accurate the relationship
values of the system parameters. Bypass any crossover h I 1
networks
signal smallfor enough
this measurement,
so that both and keep and
voltage the current
measuring
sig- Qa=__[ _ QEs (r_--1 ) - Q_s ]. (49)
nals are undistorted sinusoids. For the following calcu-
The term I/Q_a can usually be neglected.
lations, assume that ]B = J_t-2 8) The accuracy of the approximation fa _--J_ on
2) Calculate feB, the reson'ance frequency of the which the above method is based may be checked by
driver for the air-load mass presented by the enclosure, calculating the approximate error introduced by the en-
from the relationship closure losses. Assuming that leakage losses are dominant
fL/ti in effect and that /_ is the measured frequency of zero
---- .. (44) phase, the error correction factor is
/sB lB
3) Calculate the compliance ratio a from the relation- Je
__= / aQB2 -- h2 (50)
ship f_t _ aQt_2 -- 1
-- (fii + fa) (/ii- lB) (f_ + fL) (fa- fL) (45) This factor is usually quite cl'ose to unity. If it is signifi-
f_fL 2 cantly different {rom unity, it may be used to correct
If the enclosure contains little or no lining material, the the value of fa used in the above calculations to obtain
driver compliance equivalent volume V_s may be calcu- better accuracy in the calculated parameter values.
lated in terms of the enclosure net volume V_. The re- The estimation or measurement of driver large-signal
lationship is, from Eqs. (9), (10), and (33), parameters is discussed in [22,forSee.all 6]. important
With values determined system
V_s = _ VB. (46) parameters, system performance may be .determined from
the relationships given in earlier sections. The system
4) Calculate the tuning ratio h from
frequency response may be calculated manually or using
h = lB/feB. (47) a digital computer but is most easily obtained by intro-
5) Remove the driver from-the enclosure, measure the ducing the design
lator. The system ofparameters
a simple to an 'analog
simulator circuitforsimu-
suitable this
driver parameters rs, Q_ts, and QBe by the method of purpose will be published in the future.
[12, Appendix], a and correct the driver Q values if neces-
8. VENT REQUIREMENTS
2 In [32, Appendix 4] Benson shows that if a large voice-
coil inductance (or crossover inductance) is present, the The vent of a vented-box system must provide the
measured value of f_ is lower than the true value of f_, necessary small-signal enclosure resonance frequency fa;
while f,. and f_ are negligibly affected. A much better approx- it must also provide the maximum required large-signal
hnation to fe is obtained by carefully blocking the vent aper-
ture and measuring the resonance frequency fo of the result- volume velocity without excessive losses or generation
lng closed-box system [22]. Then, from [32, eq. (A4-6)], [e = of spurious noises.
(i_' + iR_ -- fo_)_. Because this relationship is true, fo can be The second requirement can be satisfied by adjusting
used directly in place of [B in Eq. (45) to determine the sys- the vent area to a value which prevents the vent air
tern complianceratio, velocity from exceeding a specified limit. An experimen-
tally determined limit which avoids excessive noise gen-
s Again, if the driver voice-coil inductance is large, Benson
[32, Appendix 2] shows that the accuracy of determination of eration is about 5% of the velocity of sound, provided
the Q values is improved if fs in [12, eq. (17)] is replaced by that the inside of the vent is smooth and that the edges
the expression hi_. are rounded off with a reasonable radius. This velocity
500- ! _<'_/'I J J tions for one open end and one flanged end are included
300.. 10 10 _,,._-o.d._), // ? in the construction of the chart. For intermediate vent
"_ [,,_,_/1 //i _ areas the chart may be interpolated graphically.
200. :7 _" // / For some proposed systems a satisfactory vent design
:5 20 _ _1 '*;'_/// / / enclosures when a tow value of ]B is desired. Also, tubu-
100 '3 30 !_ ___ / cannot be found. This is particularly the case for small
70 _ _- _"-_>_ I J ''_ / lar vents for which the length is much greater than the
50 _2_ 50 _ 0[_,,
_ ,_ / ,_ diameter tend to act as half-wave resonant pipes, and
30 ' t 100 _' / In these cases it is better to use a drone cone or passive
20 :.7 70 _.._
**_2 ,il/._p / radiator
any noisein generated
place of at
thethe
ventedge
[2],is [23]. Systemsamplified.
selectively of this
d2o_ // type will be discussed in a later paper.
:.5 200 _'oo_ .._
10 ..3 ----F'T_I 2 ... _ _ 9. DIAPHRAGM-VENT MUTUAL COUPLING
7 ,.2
5 SV_ Mutual Coupling Magnitude
2 3 4inches6 8 10
L v,
20 The acoustical analogous circuit of a lossless vented-
box system, modified to include mutual coupling [2], [6],
Fig. 21. Nomogram and chart for design of ducted vents. is presented in Fig. 22. The mutual coupling components
are inside the dashed lines. (The mutual coupling resist-
ance [2] is equal to the radiation load resistance and
limitation generally ensures acceptable losses as well, is thexeforeneglected [4], [12].)
provided that the vent is not unduly obstructed. The acoustic mutual coupling mass Mxu has a maxi-
The alignment, response, and power rating data of mum magnitude when the diaphragm-vent spacing is a
this paper combine to yield a relationship between vent minimum. A practical minimum spacing between the
area and maximum vent velocity for any given system, centers of diaphragm and vent is about 1.5a, where a is
For program power ratings this relationship reduces to the diaphragm radius. Using this value, and assuming
a simple approximate formula for vent area which limits radiation conditions of a 2,r-steradian free field, the maxi-
the peak vent velocity, at maximum rated power input mum value of M_a is about 0.13/a [2]. This value is
and at the frequency of maximum vent velocity, to 4_/5% reduced for a 4_r-steradian free-field load [6].
of the velocity of sound. This formula, which is accurate For a 12-inch driver with an effective diaphragm ra-
within _10% for the entire C4-B4-QB3 range of align- dius of 0.12 m, the mechanical equivalent M_]_ of the
ments, is acoustic mass MA_d has a maximum value of 2.2g. The
Sv_O.a/Bv_ (51) mechanical diaphragm mass M.uD for 12-inch drivers
or variesfromabout20g for oldertypesused in largeen-
dv _ (/BVD) % (52) closures to more than 100g for newer types designed for
use in compact enclosures. Thus the mutual coupling
v_here Sv is the area of the vent in m e or d v is the diam- mass may ,have a magnitude of from 2 to 8% of the
eter of a circular vent in meters; VD must be expressed total moving mass of the driver when all of the dia-
in ma and ]B in Hz. Because the noise generated depends phragm air-load mass is accounted for [3, pp. 216-217].
on factors other than velocity (e.g., edge roughness), The effect of these values of mutual coupling mass
and because the annoyance caused by vent noise is sub- was investigated using the analog circuit simulator. A
jective, this formula should be regarded as a general "lossless" system aligned for a B4 response was eom-
guide only, not as a rigid rule. pared to the same circuit with the driver and vent
Once the area of the vent is determined, the length masses reduced by the amount of the mutual coupling
must be adjusted to satisfy the first requirement, i.e., cor-
rect enclosure tuning. There are many popular formulas
and nomogramsfor doing this. Using Thiele's formulas I
[10, eqs. (60)-(65)], the nomogram and chart of Fig. 21 RAT CAS MAS I -MAM -MAM
were constructed to simplify the calculation process for _ I_-_'"'_
.444 JOURNAL
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