PORTABLE GREAT DIAMOND SPEAKER

Just thinking aloud:

What if you could have a nearly three foot wide diamond speaker you could pop into a suitcase?

I don't know if I can swing such a build in time for the Houston gig, but perhaps for future ones.

In mind, I'm taking from the folding table leaf concept, and applying that to flip out dog-ear corners that would fold out from a central square via piano hinges, and lock in place the way a table leaf would from behind. A thin, stretchy dark fabric would slip over the front of the speaker, and be held in place via an elastic band, or Velcro in back of the speaker.

I know some of you prefer speakers without baffles, but to protect the cone from travel damage, and to get more bass, and mid tones projected forward, and to guard against cancellation effect, I will be, reluctantly, building a baffle box around the cone, as well as placing the same material inside it as that found inside small amps.

The baffle box will also serve as the location for the hard mount point for the stand, as well as a place to install a small 20Wmini amp.

During travel configuration, the corners would fold forward to protect the front of the speaker cone.

The speaker would mount onto a mic stand.

It won't be a s gussied up as the great diamond speaker in my studio is. It'll look more like Thorwald's speaker when finished, in terms of colour, and size.

Thoughts, suggestions?

3' wide, I assume from point to point.  Folding the corners in would reduce the area by half, but would only reduce the maximum dimension by the square root of 2 (=1.414).  And a speaker in a closed baffle will sound quite a bit different than one in an open baffle.

If you care more for the sound than the look, then you could go for a smaller 3D open back box baffle that would accomplish much the same thing as the traditional larger 2D diamond baffle.  A 3D baffle would protect the back of the speaker, and would give you a place to mount the amplifier and attach the stand mount.  For a road type project I'd probably also recess the front to protect the front of the speaker, though this will lead to some diffraction of high frequencies.  You could instead mount the speaker on the rear of the baffle board, though this will also lead to a certain amount of HF diffraction.

The minimum dimension for 'a' obviously depends on the radius of the speaker.

Going this route pretty much gives you a guitar amp actually.

@dewster: Yeh, I'm pretty much leaning toward the 3D baffle. The speaker being used is an 8" type common to 20-25W practice amps. So, yeh, the housing baffle would, from the side, resemble a small guitar amp. The recessed front is doable, but, I may not set the soundboard quite as far back as depicted in the drawing you provided.

Thomas, I'm curious, what is the brand and model number of the 8" speaker?

@dewster: I'm currently using a speaker from an RMS 100 amp. That speaker is a Jensen C8R 8Homes type.

Thomas, if you are interested in high fidelity you might google "open baffle hi fi speakers" and the like.  Though, since you are playing an electronic instrument through it, a guitar speaker might be your best bet.  They're pricier, but have you considered neodymium models?  Might be a bit lighter for traveling.  I've bought many drivers from parts-express.

@dewster: I've not had much time to look into those alternatives, but when the opportunity presents it's self, I do intend to upgrade a bit. Lighter is always good, so is better quality. However, at the moment, I'm just using the diamond as a basic monitor, and the high quality mix goes out to the audience. thanks for the Parts Express link. I'll make a shortcut to it.