Many years ago Toshiba had some globe speakers that sounded quite good.
Basically they had multiple drive units moundted in a shape a bit like a
dodecahedron and covered over with a global mesh. The main construction was
di cast aluminium. You needed a bass bin as I recall, but they sounded quite
good. I wondered if anyone had continued with this type of idea since it
kind of turned the traditional directional stereo speaker idea upside down
so to speak.
Brian

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Brian Gaff wrote:

-----------------------

Many years ago Toshiba had some globe speakers that sounded quite good.
Basically they had multiple drive units moundted in a shape a bit like a
dodecahedron and covered over with a global mesh. The main construction was
di cast aluminium. You needed a bass bin as I recall, but they sounded quite
good. I wondered if anyone had continued with this type of idea since it
kind of turned the traditional directional stereo speaker idea upside down
so to speak.


** This pic shows the forerunner to the Bose 901 - the Bose 2201.

http://www.davidsgallery.info/DaveTu...odel_2201.html

The enclosure was shaped like one eighth of a sphere, with 22 x 5 inch drivers mounted on what looks like a curved aluminium baffle. Max height is 25 inches, making the internal volume about 3 cu.ft or 80 litres, plus each 2201 was self powered (50W amplifier) and equalised.

Owners could place one box in each corner of a room, next to the floor or ceiling. Other arrangements were possible too, if cost were no object.

FYI: 22 x 5 inch drivers have a cone area equal to 2 x 15 inch woofers.

Not surprisingly, the 2201 was a poor seller and Dr Bose was persuaded by sales folk to build the 901 instead, as a far cheaper, user friendly alternative.




.... Phil

Well obviously cannot see the picture, but was impressed with the old
Toshibas, though they were not self powered, standard 8 ohm units. Quite
heavy, either mounted on ceiling posts or floor standing monopoles a bit
like stand fans.

As I say, they did need bass enhancement to really sound rich.
I was a little worried about their longevity though as the cones and
suspension looked like some kind of plastic foam.

They were described as long throw, which for some reason I though amusing
considering the fact that it needed two people to move one.
Brian

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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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"Phil Allison" wrote in message
...
Brian Gaff wrote:

-----------------------

Many years ago Toshiba had some globe speakers that sounded quite good.
Basically they had multiple drive units moundted in a shape a bit like a
dodecahedron and covered over with a global mesh. The main construction
was
di cast aluminium. You needed a bass bin as I recall, but they sounded
quite
good. I wondered if anyone had continued with this type of idea since it
kind of turned the traditional directional stereo speaker idea upside down
so to speak.


** This pic shows the forerunner to the Bose 901 - the Bose 2201.

http://www.davidsgallery.info/DaveTu...odel_2201.html

The enclosure was shaped like one eighth of a sphere, with 22 x 5 inch
drivers mounted on what looks like a curved aluminium baffle. Max height is
25 inches, making the internal volume about 3 cu.ft or 80 litres, plus each
2201 was self powered (50W amplifier) and equalised.

Owners could place one box in each corner of a room, next to the floor or
ceiling. Other arrangements were possible too, if cost were no object.

FYI: 22 x 5 inch drivers have a cone area equal to 2 x 15 inch woofers.

Not surprisingly, the 2201 was a poor seller and Dr Bose was persuaded by
sales folk to build the 901 instead, as a far cheaper, user friendly
alternative.




.... Phil

Brian Gaff wrote:

----------------------

Well obviously cannot see the picture,


** That's way I provided a concise, verbal description for you.


As I say, they did need bass enhancement to really sound rich.


** As you fit more woofers to the same enclosure, the box resonance goes up and up so to compensate the internal volume must also.

Having only 4 litres of enclosure per driver, the Bose 2201 likely rolled of sharply below 110Hz and needed 12dB or more of bass boost at 50Hz to sound flat.

But having 22 drivers makes low frequency efficiency quite high, over 100dB SPL per watt at a guess.


..... Phil

I don't think we thought of the maths back in the 70s when the toshes were
about.
Of course it is hard at a show in a kind of plywood and chipboard box to
get good sound in the first place.
I was rather intrigued by the recently all the rage Sonos brand as they are
obviously self powered and wireless enabled but also have a system where you
use you mobile phone to tweak the frequency response to assumedly get a
good sound at the listening position. Does this really work or is it yet
another gimmick to justify their high cost?
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Phil Allison" wrote in message
...
Brian Gaff wrote:

----------------------

Well obviously cannot see the picture,


** That's way I provided a concise, verbal description for you.


As I say, they did need bass enhancement to really sound rich.


** As you fit more woofers to the same enclosure, the box resonance goes
up and up so to compensate the internal volume must also.

Having only 4 litres of enclosure per driver, the Bose 2201 likely rolled
of sharply below 110Hz and needed 12dB or more of bass boost at 50Hz to
sound flat.

But having 22 drivers makes low frequency efficiency quite high, over
100dB SPL per watt at a guess.


.... Phil

I bought a Sonus One (with the Alexa voice control for heating and
lights) having recently heard a setup at my sister's over xmas. Pretty
good, and the control works very well (either voice or smartphone),
including accessing music on a NAS (but that part needs the smartphone
app). I use it mostly for radio. On one occasion it kept cutting out -
couldn't figure out why, fine now.

On the setup thing - well, it seems to work, and there's a lot of waving
about and walking around the room while it does whatever it claims to
do. It did sound a bit better than out of the box - maybe clearer and
the bass less boomy, but I'd say the difference was slight.


On 20/01/2018 09:17, Brian Gaff wrote:
I don't think we thought of the maths back in the 70s when the toshes were
about.
Of course it is hard at a show in a kind of plywood and chipboard box to
get good sound in the first place.
I was rather intrigued by the recently all the rage Sonos brand as they are
obviously self powered and wireless enabled but also have a system where you
use you mobile phone to tweak the frequency response to assumedly get a
good sound at the listening position. Does this really work or is it yet
another gimmick to justify their high cost?
Brian



--
Cheers, Rob

Brian Gaff wrote:

------------------


I don't think we thought of the maths back in the 70s when the toshes were
about.


** The Bose 2201 & 901 were both from the late 60s when basic speaker math was known. Certainly, what happens with multiple bass drivers in the same box was well understood.


..... Phil