Oblate spheroid 3D printed near field speaker

[arunvenkats]

Hi Folks,

I am building a 3D printed oblate spheroid desktop speaker for a 3" full range driver (Fountek FE85 3"). Based on Thiele parameters, the design is a 1.9L ported system. Would love to hear feedback and suggestions before I commit to the print. That's a long 1 day 12 hours print per speaker! The goal is to have a high quality near field speaker for low and medium volume listening. Need very good mid and highs. Good bass (only 3") is a plus which I hope to get through the ported design.

Some background: I recently built a proper 3 way system (with MDF) from scratch and I was very happy with it. It had exceeded all my expectations. I have a 3D printer and I wanted to experiment with builds which could only be done with 3D printing and hoping to get a really good desktop, near-field listening pair. My first choice was to build a spiral transmission line speaker but I could not find any 1"or 2" drivers here. Anything bigger, my printer won't accommodate the size. So I moved on to try a teardrop speaker. But again for a 3" speaker the size was uncomfortable. Ended up trying to build an oblate spheroid speaker now.


Regards,
Arun

 

[Yelamanchili manohar]

Hi Folks,

I am building a 3D printed oblate spheroid desktop speaker for a 3" full range driver (Fountek FE85 3"). Based on Thiele parameters, the design is a 1.9L ported system. Would love to hear feedback and suggestions before I commit to the print. That's a long 1 day 12 hours print per speaker! The goal is to have a high quality near field speaker for low and medium volume listening. Need very good mid and highs. Good bass (only 3") is a plus which I hope to get through the ported design.

Some background: I recently built a proper 3 way system (with MDF) from scratch and I was very happy with it. It had exceeded all my expectations. I have a 3D printer and I wanted to experiment with builds which could only be done with 3D printing and hoping to get a really good desktop, near-field listening pair. My first choice was to build a spiral transmission line speaker but I could not find any 1"or 2" drivers here. Anything bigger, my printer won't accommodate the size. So I moved on to try a teardrop speaker. But again for a 3" speaker the size was uncomfortable. Ended up trying to build an oblate spheroid speaker now.


Regards,
Arun

Looks lovely . For ideas on installtion or isolation, do check out the Eclipse TD series speakers.

 

[arunvenkats]

Looks lovely . For ideas on installtion or isolation, do check out the Eclipse TD series speakers.
View attachment 88674

Thanks Manohar!

 

[mahaaprasaad]

My first choice was to build a spiral transmission line speaker but I could not find any 1"or 2" drivers here.

You can look for used/old harman kardon soundsticks which are having very good 1" line array drivers or Bose tiny cubes and reuse the drivers for experiment if they found suitable...

 

[arunvenkats]

You can look for used/old harman kardon soundsticks which are having very good 1" line array drivers or Bose tiny cubes and reuse the drivers for experiment if they found suitable...

Thanks for the suggestion @mahaaprasaad

 

[Sumanta]

Hi Folks,

I am building a 3D printed oblate spheroid desktop speaker for a 3" full range driver (Fountek FE85 3"). Based on Thiele parameters, the design is a 1.9L ported system. Would love to hear feedback and suggestions before I commit to the print. That's a long 1 day 12 hours print per speaker! The goal is to have a high quality near field speaker for low and medium volume listening. Need very good mid and highs. Good bass (only 3") is a plus which I hope to get through the ported design.

Some background: I recently built a proper 3 way system (with MDF) from scratch and I was very happy with it. It had exceeded all my expectations. I have a 3D printer and I wanted to experiment with builds which could only be done with 3D printing and hoping to get a really good desktop, near-field listening pair. My first choice was to build a spiral transmission line speaker but I could not find any 1"or 2" drivers here. Anything bigger, my printer won't accommodate the size. So I moved on to try a teardrop speaker. But again for a 3" speaker the size was uncomfortable. Ended up trying to build an oblate spheroid speaker now.


Regards,
Arun

Dear Arun,
Can you consider the possibility of making a folded TL instead? May be a two way even if printing cost and time does not blow the roof! Size will be small only for sure.

 

[arunvenkats]

Dear Arun,
Can you consider the possibility of making a folded TL instead? May be a two way even if printing cost and time does not blow the roof! Size will be small only for sure.

When you have your own printer, cost is very low. A good quality 1 Kg spool is around ₹1,200. It's time to print which is the problem though. Mostly it is start and forget till it finishes. But uninterrupted power supply is the problem. There are good times when we do not have a power failure for weeks but sometimes it happens twice a week! A long print can restart, but it is never the same as a continuous print.

Actually I wanted to do some more audacious design like the spiral transmission line, but as I mentioned I could not source small drivers. But I am now hooked to this. Will definitely attempt a folded TL soon.

 

[kaushik]

Lovely concept.. Make sure you add a layer thinfoam to avoid pLA resonance ( plastic like sounds)

 

[arunvenkats]

So, I finally settled for a smaller sealed unit. Still an oblate spheroid though. Had trouble with my printer beyond a certain height. So decided to make a smaller one first. They have come out pretty nice.

Currently working on an enclosure for a peerless 3.5" woofer which will complement these 2 fountech 3" full range as a bass extension. Not calling it a subwoofer because it really isn't! That enclosure is a ported one. Will drive them through a small 2.1 amplifier board.

 

[arunvenkats]

So, I finally settled for a smaller sealed unit. Still an oblate spheroid though. Had trouble with my printer beyond a certain height. So decided to make a smaller one first. They have come out pretty nice.

Currently working on an enclosure for a peerless 3.5" woofer which will complement these 2 fountech 3" full range as a bass extension. Not calling it a subwoofer because it really isn't! That enclosure is a ported one. Will drive them through a small 2.1 amplifier board.

 

[Sumanta]

So, I finally settled for a smaller sealed unit. Still an oblate spheroid though. Had trouble with my printer beyond a certain height. So decided to make a smaller one first. They have come out pretty nice.

Currently working on an enclosure for a peerless 3.5" woofer which will complement these 2 fountech 3" full range as a bass extension. Not calling it a subwoofer because it really isn't! That enclosure is a ported one. Will drive them through a small 2.1 amplifier board.

Superb!

Looking at it, I am thinking of using coconut shell with modelling clay on internals or external surfaces. They will be standing on HDPE pole (working as TL). A search for two same size coconuts is a task though .

Thanks for burning the flash bulb for me @arunvenkats .

 

[Kannan]

View attachment 88873
So, I finally settled for a smaller sealed unit. Still an oblate spheroid though. Had trouble with my printer beyond a certain height. So decided to make a smaller one first. They have come out pretty nice.

Currently working on an enclosure for a peerless 3.5" woofer which will complement these 2 fountech 3" full range as a bass extension. Not calling it a subwoofer because it really isn't! That enclosure is a ported one. Will drive them through a small 2.1 amplifier board.

Great effort. Looks so good

 

[arunvenkats]

Superb!

Looking at it, I am thinking of using coconut shell with modelling clay on internals or external surfaces. They will be standing on HDPE pole (working as TL). A search for two same size coconuts is a task though .

Thanks for burning the flash bulb for me @arunvenkats .

Thanks!

Thinking about it, it is perfectly similar to a coconut shell. Never thought about it that way!

Regards,
Arun

 

[arunvenkats]

Great effort. Looks so good

Thanks! Ended up sounding pretty good too.

 

[kaushik]

Fill with pva+plasterof paris mix to avoid plastic pla resonance

 

[arunvenkats]

Fill with pva+plasterof paris mix to avoid plastic pla resonance

I am using it for low-med volume listening only. And that too, with small 3" full range drivers. Wanted to experiment before I went the plaster of Paris route. It's not bad at all. I think the oblate spheroid shape is helping.