Transducer surrounds

[Silver1omo]

After the last PE giveaway I'm considering to make a pair of surrounds using the HDN-8 or the DAEX58FP

Does anybody have experience with them or other transducers?
What is a good material to use?
A size?
A good method to wall mount?
Does anybody know how long is the stud in the HDN-8?

I was thinking flat 16"x22" 1/4" MDF painted (piroxilina) or covered with painted fabric (oil paint) and use a pair of C shaped pieces of metal (bended L) attached to the MDF with foamy "washers" to kind of damp the connection, and then screw to the wall.

Thanks in advance.

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

So I got a pair of DAEX58FP and I'm building a frame.
600mmx400mmx6mm MDF with a 3mm MDF "raiser" and the frame is 40mmx30mm ply on the sides and bottom. The top is cut in 45 degrees for a cleat.




I'll wait to have the pair assembled to attach them to a wall and test.

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

Both frames assembled:

Now I need to cut to length and drill the wall side of the cleat, drill the wall and then mount and see how bad/good they do.

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds


Mounted, perhaps tomorrow I can measure the FR.

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

Well, it is not pretty, 1m no gate:

4ms gate:


In any case, I guess that will be enough for surround effects.

[joeybutts]

Re: Transducer surrounds

interesting..... there was a guy on AVS who did an entire HT setup with transducers and claimed it an amazing experience. I don't recall any FR graphs or anything, but probably worth the search.....

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

I´ll take a look. In any case I won't be replacing my mains any time soon.

[lowpolyjoe]

Re: Transducer surrounds

Cool. Thanks for the info - the graphs especially.

My boss showed me some 'next gen' desktop speakers he saw. Looked like they must be based on transducers and I was kind of wondering what sort of sound you get out of those things. I was surprised to find that PE has several different transducers stocked. I haven't been able to convince myself to pick up a pair yet

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

So far I played some music on them and it sounds kind of muffled. Then 2 episodes of Vikings, I did not hear a problem in the surround effects.
So, I believe they will work ok as surrounds (the intended use) but definitely wont replace any of my real speakers.

Audissey crossed them at 70Hz.

[jmcinvale]

Re: Transducer surrounds

In my limited experience with tactile transducers (two installs) I find that suspended ceiling tiles (both 24" X 48" and 24" X 24") work quite nicely and have a very good fairly flat frequency response. Not sure if it can get 20-20 KHz, but is pretty close to that.

All you do is put one on the center of the top side of the tile. The two sided tape that comes mounted to the transducer is enough to hold them to the tile.

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

So I removed the transducers to sand and paint the frames. One of them died... Inspected and there was no continuity. The negative tab lead was broken. That wire is hair thin:

Soldered a strand of hookup wire and is working again.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have them back in the wall painted flat black. Then wait for the wife to paint them properly.

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

Back on the wall.

[Kristian_AUS]

Re: Transducer surrounds

Did you happen to experiment with any different materials?

[Silver1omo]

Re: Transducer surrounds

The experimentation came down to hold the transducer against cardboard, 6mm MDF, 12mm MDF and 6mm plywood. Different sizes and the shapes I had on hand.
So not really, pretty much used what I had on hand. It is not incredible bad, so I did not try something else.

Whenever my wife gives them a finish I will re-measure and see how much the paint affects the FR.

[Kristian_AUS]

Re: Transducer surrounds

It'll be interesting to see if there's a difference with paint, looking forward to seeing your results.

I was reading the Dayton "Understanding Exciters" paper, it'd be interesting to try one out with one of these panels: http://www.teklam.com/teklam_commercial_panels.html

I was surprised to read that glass is ok but less suitable than other materials, I guess its weight is a disadvantage.

I wonder what a 2 or 3 way speaker would be like using transducers and panels of different materials/sizes...