BOOK REVIEWS

P. L. Marston
Physics Department, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164

These reviews of books and other forms of information express the opinions of the individual reviewers
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Editorial Board of this Journal.

Editorial Policy: If there is a negative review, the author of the book will be given a chance to respond to
the review in this section of the Journal and the reviewer will be allowed to respond to the author’s
comments. [See ‘‘Book Reviews Editor’s Note,’’ J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 81, 1651 (May 1987).]

The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, and they operate more efficiently. However, vented systems are consider-
ably more sensitive than closed boxes to inappropriately chosen values of
5th Edition parameters. Manipulation of the total speaker-box Q can be achieved by
changing the volume of a closed box; vented enclosures are dealt with in
Vance Dickason terms of specific alignments, entailing adjustments of a number of specific
parameters to achieve a more or less flat response. There are at least 15
Audio Amateur Press, 1997, Peterborough, NH 03458.
well-established alignment categories, such as SSB4 共Super Fourth-Order
xii⫹216 pp. (including 51 pp. advertising section). Price: $34.95.
Boom Box兲, SC4 共Fourth Order Sub-Chebychev兲, QB3 共Quasi Third-Order
The first edition of the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook was released 22 alignment兲, and discrete alignments such as the Fourth-Order Butterworth
years ago. According to the author, each successive edition reflects the 共B4兲, Fourth-Order Bessel 共BE4兲, and Butterworth Inter-Order 共IB4兲. The
current engineering trends in the ever-shifting field of loudspeaker design. rather involved procedure of selecting a box size and relevant parameters is
The first two editions were published by the author himself, and then Audio described with a discussion of box losses, use of accompanying design
Amateur Press took over the publication of subsequent editions. tables, calculation of vent dimensions, box tuning, and other parameters.
It is not hard to see why Dickason’s text enjoys brisk sales 共over Two drivers serve as examples of suitability for use in vented boxes, ac-
60 000 copies of the latest edition have been printed兲. He writes clearly, companied by a description of measurement parameters. Other topics in the
thoroughly, and provides much data necessary for speaker design. The target chapter include box damping, the dual-woofer format, resistive and distrib-
audience can range from amateurs who are beginning to learn the ropes to uted vents, and electronically assisted vented designs, and vented rear cham-
well-established designers who like to keep a reference manual on hand. ber bandpass enclosures.
The back of the text contains 51 pages of advertisements by suppliers of Passive-radiator low-frequency systems, covered in Chap. 3, contain
drivers, parts for making drivers, electrical/electronic components, test ‘‘drone cones’’ that substitute for vents. While they closely follow the
equipment, computer programs to assist and evaluate design, various publi- vented loudspeaker design methodology, the passive-radiator systems carry
cations, and even complete speaker kits and assembled speaker systems. the advantage of lacking vent pipe coloration and can be used in small
The format of the text follows a rather logical path, although the chap- enclosures where the required vent lengths would exceed the box dimen-
ter numbering is slightly quirky. There are twelve chapters in all, but the sions. The procedure of selecting a woofer is the same as that described in
first chapter is titled ‘‘Chapter 0,’’ effectively causing the last 共twelfth兲 Chap. 2, and alignments are generally restricted to QB3 , B4 , and C4 types.
chapter to be christened ‘‘Chapter 11.’’ Technical terms are carefully de- The determination of box size and relevant parameters are generally dealt
fined so that there should be no doubt in the mind of a novice as to what with in the same manner as with vented enclosures. An additional factor is
they mean. Dickason did not stint on providing tables and parametric curves the so-called delta, the compliance ratio of the passive radiator. A section in
that are used in designing speaker systems and predicting the performance this chapter also treats passive radiator bandpass enclosures, which can be
capabilities of components acting individually and in unison; and a fairly best designed through computer simulation by the use of a speaker design
thorough, potentially valuable reference listing is given at the end of each program such as Speak® 共by DLC兲 or LEAP 4.0 共by Audio Technology兲.
chapter. The augmented passive-radiator 共APR兲, a double-cavity version of the cus-
Chapter 0 describes how electrodynamic loudspeakers work, the effect tomary drone cone design, is capable of most of the vented and passive-
of gap/coil geometries, the real-world behavior of loudspeaker cones with radiator systems alignment variations. While it requires more volume in the
their resonance modes, the necessity for dust caps, dome shapes in higher way of enclosure size, the APR yields higher power output and a 15%–25%
1
frequency drivers, suspension of the cone that is attached to the voice coil lower cutoff 共corresponding up to 2-octave extension兲. The layout for the
which, in turn, interacts with the speaker magnet, modeling of loudspeaker APR consists of two unequal area passive radiators, connected back-to-back,
impedance, and speaker input power required on the basis of loudspeaker with the front baffles joined to the inner dividing baffle. A special table
efficiency and room size. 共Table 3.4兲 provides the requisite data for designing an APR system.
The simplest loudspeaker design is that of a closed box, which is the In Chap. 4, the transmission line 共TL兲 low-frequency system is de-
topic of Chap. 1. The closed box system, more suitable for low-frequency scribed as a means of obtaining low cabinet resonance and strong deep bass.
response, subdivides into two categories: the infinite baffle and the air sus- The design situation is somewhat murkier here, as there seems to be little
pension, the latter made popular in the 1950s by Acoustic Research co- agreement among TL enthusiasts as to what is the optimal system parameter
founded by Edgar Villchur and Henry Kloss. It remained for Richard Small Q. One computer program described in the text was specifically developed
to publish in the Journal of Audio Engineering Society in June 1972 the for TL design by Juha Backman, but it is not currently available. However,
most definitive study of closed-box design. The Q-factor of the driver rep- curves based on the use of LEAP, a program that does not model TL de-
resents the interaction of the electrical, mechanical, and pneumatic factors of signs, yielded results that show similarity to the performance curves devel-
the woofer/enclosure combination in determining the system resonance and oped by Backman. The line length and damping material, tuning of a TL,
response curves. Computer simulation through the use of LEAP 4.0®, argu- the TL enclosure configuration, and the selection of the woofer are dis-
ably the most sophisticated speaker design program available at the time, is cussed. An exhaustive listing of articles on construction of the TL enclosure
used by the author to model a series of closed boxes with different values of is also given.
Q. Performance characteristics such as group delay, cone excursions, imped- Chapter 5 covers the topics of cabinet construction. The sphere is the
ance curves, etc. are shown to depend on physical parameters such as box best possible shape to provide the flattest frequency response, but obviously
size, woofer cone mass, free-air resonance, voice coil overhang, effective it is the most impractical to build and manufacture. However, the rectangu-
driver radiating area, reference efficiency, etc. lar box, which is considerably less than optimum radiator, is the enclosure
Vented boxes constitute the subject of Chap. 2. Vented boxes carry the type most easily built. Standing wave modes depend on the enclosure shape
advantage of lower cone excursions near the box resonance frequency, thus and can be minimized by choosing appropriate dimensional ratios for the
providing higher power-handling capacity and lower modulation distortion, box. Nonparallel shapes can also attenuate standing waves. Box damping is

2329 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 106 (5), November 1999 0001-4966/99/106(5)/2329/2/$15.00 © 1999 Acoustical Society of America 2329
needed in order to eliminate as much as possible the coloration that is While Chap. 9 is somewhat remiss with respect to its modernity, Chap.
retransmitted by most wood enclosures. Internal cabinet bracing, driving 10 deals with an area that is growing more popular—the home theater sys-
mounting techniques, enclosure floor coupling, and selection of wall mate- tem that is intended to reproduce movie soundtracks rather than conven-
rials are factors to be considered in damping an enclosure. In this chapter the tional stereo programs. It is pointed out that soundtrack recording techniques
emphasis is on enclosure features rather than cabinet construction ‘‘tips.’’ for conventional home listening and motion picture theatre listening differ
Chapter 6 shows how to determine the proper crossover frequencies on considerably, with the result of less than optimal reproduction in the home.
the basis of driver bandwidth and boundary orientation and to establish Because film soundtracks are not remixed for home playback, Tom Holman
baffle locations for mid- and high-frequency drivers. Among the topics are developed the THX 共Tomlinson Holman eXperiment兲 home specification,
two-way versus three-way loudspeaker formats 共neither one is inherently essentially an equalization fix-up. Controlled directivity led to the specifica-
superior to the other兲, the effect of boundaries 共room walls and ceilings兲 on tion of THX speakers, which call for additional channels.
the loudspeaker power response, boundary-induced interference patterns, An overview is rendered of the home theater loudspeaker system, in-
driver separation and horizontal dispersion, midrange enclosures, and cluding as subtopics the placement of left/right front speakers, magnetic
midrange and high-frequency baffle configuration. shielding of drivers 共which may need to be placed close to a video monitor兲,
Attention is paid to attendant factors such as driver placement, radia- center channel speakers 共possibly the most important speaker in a home
tion pattern of separate drivers, and zero delay plane 共ZDP兲. Other topics theater system兲, controlled vertical directivity, rear channel surround sound
include crossover network power response. Two-way crossover characteris- speakers, and subwoofers.
tics are described, including those of first- through fourth-order Butterworth Chapter 11 devotes itself to the special requirements of designing a
filters, second- and fourth-order Linkwitz–Riley filters, second- and fourth- loudspeaker system for automobiles. The automobile passenger compart-
order Bessel filters, second-order Chebychev filters, fourth-order Legendre ment is essentially a closed-field environment. Sections of the car body tend
filters, fourth-order Gaussian filters, and fourth-order linear phase filters. to flex, so the acoustic situation becomes one of a ‘‘lossy’’ pressure field.
Design formulas are given for two-way and three-way crossovers. Examples Also, the relatively cramped dimensions of the passenger compartment tend
are given for the low-pass filter, high-pass filter, and high-pass/low-pass
to limit the wavelength response. Because the Thiel–Small predictions are
summation. Driver load compensating circuitry, series notch filter, imped-
based on free-field performance of the speakers, adjustments need to be
ance equalization, driver attenuation circuits, response-shaping circuits, and
made by establishing the impedance, cone excursion, and frequency re-
inductors and capacitors in crossover circuits are also discussed.
sponse in a small ‘‘lossy’’ field by actual measurements. Computer simula-
Passive crossover networks constitute the main thrust of Chap. 7. An
tion can also be achieved by using commercially available programs. Both
excellent history of the development of crossover networks is rendered here,
predictions and actual performance are shown to correlate rather well for a
followed by a primer on the fundamental principles of crossover design.
couple of actual speakers and automotive interiors. A somewhat tongue-in-
Rather than delving into the esoteric aspects of this rather complex subject,
cheek discussion of the desirability of including center channel imaging is
the author chose to maintain a cookbook format by treating examples of
included with a set of generic installation rules for those who absolutely
accepted methods commonly used in the loudspeaker industry. Active net-
must have this feature. It was wise of Dickason to point out the most over-
works do not lie in the scope of this chapter, but a number of references on
looked method of improving automotive sound quality, namely cutting
construction details of active filter circuits are given.
down on the ambient background noise levels generated by engine operation
Chapter 8 is an important one, since it describes loudspeaker testing.
and car motion.
While it is not as comprehensive as Joseph D’Appolito’s Testing Loud-
speakers 共Audio Amateur Press, Peterborough, NH, 1998兲, it contains In summary, The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook merits a place on the
enough information to conduct loudspeaker performance tests. Break-in of bookshelf of every serious speaker designer, whether he/she be a profes-
loudspeakers is recommended, and the procedures described are those for sional or a hobbyist. All of its chapters are well done, although Chap. 9
measuring driver resonance, impedance 共AC resistance兲, complex imped- lacks immediacy in its compilation of computer programs but the reader can
ance, driver mass 共delta mass and delta compliance methods兲, driver sus- easily update himself or herself by checking out the Internet or consulting
pension compliance, driver motor strength BL, and voice coil impedance. advertisements in current issues of The Speaker Builder. Loudspeakers other
Formulas are included for calculating driver voice coil impedance, amplifier than the conventional electromagnetic type, e.g., electrostatic and planar
source resistance, and volume of air equal to driver compliance. Measure- systems, are not treated in The Loudspeaker Cookbook. There is no index to
ment procedures are given for driver Q, frequency response, phase, and facilitate easy location of particular subjects in the text, but the table of
enclosure vibration. Equipment for determining frequency response is dis- contents is sufficiently detailed to help in finding the subject of interest.
cussed, and microphone types are examined. An important facet of testing,
too often given short shrift, is that of measuring voice coil temperature over DANIEL R. RAICHEL
time—the description of measuring this parameter concludes the chapter. CUNY Graduate School
Chapter 9 is essentially a compilation of the software intended for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
loudspeaker design. While this is a useful listing, it was done in mid-1991 and the School of Architecture and Environmental Studies
and much new hardware and later versions of software have been devel- The City College of the City University of New York
oped. New York, New York 10031

2330 J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 106, No. 5, November 1999 Book Reviews 2330