piezoelectric?

[bodi]

has anyone considered using a piezoelectric disk in place of a speaker?

any experimentation along these lines?

I am considering the best possible way to produce sound and what I have seen so far looks kind of weak, but this is only based on specs and such, I have not actually had any experience with any of the tech (as far as lightsaber sound is concerned, anyway).

However, it seems to me that a circuit would not be difficult to design to drive a piezodisk and that this would give a lot of advantages over a speaker...

Any thoughts?

[xwingband]

Piezo's are mainly just used as buzzers. They would really hurt any quality sound system.

Is there any particular reason to not use a speaker?

[Jedi Belinos]

Actually I am thinking of doing some research on this. Some types of Piezos are actually used in pro-audio as high frequency drivers. This means they cover the sound frequencies usually above ~1.2-2khz depending on the driver. Some of these can be made rather small and might actually do pretty good in a saber hilt. Just have to find the right one. I don't know any specific models off the top of my head but if I have time in the next couple of weeks I will look up some stuff and see what I can find out. bodie, if you have a link to something that you are looking at feel free to PM it to me and I can check it out.

[bodi]

Why would a piezo be better? I think there are several reasons to pursue piezos.

1. Volume. It would be possible to get more decibels out of a piezo than a speaker of the same size.

2. Power. A piezo disk would consume less energy.

3. Drive and Clarity. You could design a circuit to produce the sound directly rather than play a recording, thus avoiding having the sound sound like a recording. Truer sound. (Probably a smaller circuit, too.)

4. Appearence and Unobstructed. You could mount the piezo in such a way that is outside the hilt and it would still look 'futuristic cool'. This would prevent muffling. For that matter, it would probably not be hard to mount it in such a way that it not only generates sound, but also vibration in the hilt.

5. Custom sound. The drive circuit could have modifiable parameters, giving each user the ability to customize their sound to their own preference, just be adjusting a few dials.

I'm going to start experimenting. I'll let you know what I come up with.

[bodi]

oh, yeah. Piezos are much smaller than speakers, in terms of depth. They are almost paper thin.

[xwingband]

Why would a piezo be better? I think there are several reasons to pursue piezos.

1. Volume. It would be possible to get more decibels out of a piezo than a speaker of the same size.

Some people think an MR is loud (or too loud)... and my customs are loud enough for people to hear in the hallway with the door closed so that's an interesting reason.

3. Drive and Clarity. You could design a circuit to produce the sound directly rather than play a recording, thus avoiding having the sound sound like a recording. Truer sound. (Probably a smaller circuit, too.)

A good recording shouldn't sound like it... I don't understand how a speaker doesn't produce the sound itself either. A recording is a way of telling the speaker what to reproduce. It's making the sound as I think of it.

4. Appearence and Unobstructed. You could mount the piezo in such a way that is outside the hilt and it would still look 'futuristic cool'. This would prevent muffling. For that matter, it would probably not be hard to mount it in such a way that it not only generates sound, but also vibration in the hilt.

What if someone touched the piezo? That'd sure muffle it. A loud saber also vibrates with the speaker in the hilt too...

5. Custom sound. The drive circuit could have modifiable parameters, giving each user the ability to customize their sound to their own preference, just be adjusting a few dials.

Well, there are already custom sound drivers... have you looked at Erv's work? Certainly feels and sounds like holding a real saber to me. All you have to do is change the sound files to customize it too.

oh, yeah. Piezos are much smaller than speakers, in terms of depth. They are almost paper thin.

I have plenty of 1" diameter 1/4" thick speakers... how much smaller is necessary?

[Lord Maul]

[xwingband]

No... I'm just thinking he's going the long route to china.

[bodi]

I mentioned that I haven't any experience with whats out there, I can only go by what info I can find until I get hands on. I have looked at a lot of posts and I was addressing issues I see discussed a lot.

It was just a question.

Why bother to try to innovate anything? Why try to look for better and more effective ways to do anything?

Hmmmmmm?

That club and cave and fire work great for me, I don't need any darn innovation!!!

[bodi]

and thanks for the info...