Monday, March 24, 2008

Schmacks Sub in Sketch Up

This is just a quick one with some pictures.

Before I made this horn, I made a Sketch Up model to see where all the panels went. When I started the model, I wasn't sure yet, but when I realised how few panels there are and that most are pretty easy to cut and position, I decided to go ahead. Here are two depictions of the interior, that make it easier to visualise the internals of this horn:



Next is what I believe is the standard, intended placement of this horn, in a corner.




Finally, this is the way I wanted to put it in my room. You can see it's put on its side. This makes no difference to the functioning of the horn, as the boundary loading is exactly the same. The footprint is a lot smaller though, so this positioning takes up less space.

2 comments:

emdude said...

The two last images shown are actually a bit confusing:

The first shows the speaker as the designer intended it to be placed, on legs, about 20 cm from the floor.

The second shows a mirror image of the first image. In other words it would have to have been built opposite to the one in the first image.

I realize it's neither here nor there as the speaker could have been built either way, but the second thing that occurs to me is that the clearance given by the 20 cm "legs" in the first image is NOT present in the upright wall placement in the second image as this is placed all the way into the corner. The only horn mouth opening is the small cutout given in the original design, not the additional 20 cm given by the legs in "normal" placement.

As I have a GREAT interest in building this design sometime in the future I would be very interested to know how well it worked out for you in either placement, wall or floor? Did it meet your expectations? Did you build one ore two? How did you finally place the speaker for best performance?

I am very intrigued by the extreme simplicity of Werner Schmack's designs but have to wonder if he was either aware of things most horn designers overlook, ignore, or consider important when they may not be. Or, if he was simply very frugal in the way he designed his horns at the time...maybe not quite post war Germany, but not all that many years removed.

Only direct experience can lead to answers. Any experiences in actual use you could share are greatly appreciated.

BTW: LOVE...really LOVE the Sketch Ups.

Ivo Tichelaar said...

Actually, when put in the upright position, the horn is left 20 cm off the wall. If you look carefully in the picture, you can recognise this (but I admit the picture isn't very clear).

I was very enthusiastic about it. It had subjectively low response, no apparent peaks in the frequency response, and it would disappear into the system sound quite well. It was also easy, cheap and quick to build, so a total success from my perspective!

I think that the designer wasn't cutting corners to spare material or labour. He is also the designer of the mainstream Schmackshorn, which is large, uses much material and is quite complicated to build (many different angles). Rather, this horn is typically built for bass use only and sound waves at low frequencies don't need reflectors etc. I think the designer knew his stuff. Of course, with the simulation power of today and sheer dedication, I bet you can design something else and it will behave differently/better. But this is a good design.