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Thread: LoudSpeaker Maker Faire at INFOCOMM 2018

  1. #1
    Senior Member 1audiohack's Avatar
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    LoudSpeaker Maker Faire at INFOCOMM 2018

    The INFOCOMM LoudSpeaker Maker Faire 2018

    I was waiting for someone to post on the world wide web about this but a week later it looks like there is nothing so I will share it with you.

    Tom Danley and Doug Jones created a loudspeaker maker faire this year at INFOCOMM. There are tons of classes and seminars but a maker faire has never been done and Doug said it took two years ofwork to get them (INFOCOMM) to allow them to do it.

    Nine people showed up. All mid 20's to early 30's I would say. They all got a small box with the following to the best of my memory:

    1 thin clear plastic "solo" cup with lid

    1 platic drinking straw

    20 feet of #30 magnet wire

    1 wooden dowel 1/2" dia by ≈5" long

    1 PVC 1/2" pipe ≈6" long

    1 rectangular NEO magnet ≈.7" X .5" X .2"

    3 NEO wafer magnets ≈ .625" dia X .150"

    2 NEO ring magnets ≈ 1.75" dia X .250" with a .625" hole

    1 1/4" X 1.25" bolt and nut

    1 5/16" fender washer

    1 9/16" USS flat washer

    Some duct tape, electrical tape, super glue, a peice of paper, a small piece of cardbaord, several elastic bands, and some random small flat washers, I think that's all.

    The goal here is to make a functioning (loud?) speaker in the two hours we have.

    Doug told them the goal and that if you wanted to go into a corner and work alone, do it. If you wanted to team up and combine resources, do it. Also you're not limited to the contents of the box, if there is something in the lobby that you think you can use, go get it, if you can. If you have no idea where to start, we have a project sheet with a design. The goal is to succeed, hopefully learn something and obove all, have some fun.

    I was assigned to help whoever was plain lost, there were three. Perfect! We are going to have the most fun!

    I wish I had taken pictures, every one was a very different assembly of parts and some were quite imaginative.

    An hour in the first assembly is brought to the table with the amp! It gets connected and, well,, listening carefully,,, the builder said "I think it's music, it might be live, I think I hear clapping". Doug said OK let's see what we can do to improve this thing, gave them a couple of suggestions and back to work they went.

    In the end everybody or team had a speaker that you could clearly hear the voices, the horns, the percussion, in short everybody suceeded.

    So, when I first saw the contents of the box, I thought to myself, gee, this is a very junior high electronics project. We are here at a show for sound and video professionals but Doug is the 30 year professor emmeretus so I just resigned to do my job. I am glad I did, because I was very wrong!

    Upon hearing music come from something that these young guys had built with there own hands, they were all as happy as a two year old with their first ice cream cone. I couldn't believe it.

    Later Doug explained that this is the new blood in prosound, a group of people that have little hands on experience due to in part to the dissapearance of vocational shops in schools, and believing that all one needs to know is how to search your phone for information.

    I can't tell you how fun it was to watch and be involved in this. It was something that these guys wil not soon forget either.

    So, if you want to do something really fun with your kids, grandkids, scout group etc etc, do this! Instill some genuine curiosity and sense of pride in accomplishment in the next generation.

    Just remember that 20' of #30 magnet wire has only about two Ω resistance so series a resister if you have a fragile amp.

    All the best!
    Barry.
    If we knew what the hell we were doing, we wouldn't call it research would we.

  2. #2
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    Sounds like a blast, both figuratively and actually, also possibly literally (if it's in the literature somewhere).
    Out.

  3. #3
    Senior Member grumpy's Avatar
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    ... virtually, from where I'm sitting

    Would have been fun. Thanks for the inside story!

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