US Patent
The world's only 3-D Diaphragm TM
Send inquiries to: info@planotspeaker.com
Audio experts agree that true omnidirectional sound provides the best sound radiation into a typical listening room. Most omnidirectional speakers are very expensive and either use multiple speakers or “reflecting surfaces” to disperse their sound. Their methods of creating omnidirectional radiation degrade the sound.
Another highly desirable feature of the ideal loudspeaker is freedom from the box reflections and diffractions. Most advanced speakers employee either narrow baffles and rounder edges or round or curved boxes to minimize these effects.
Most expensive speakers employee very sophisticated computer design to construct extremely rigid and heavily braced boxes to eliminate the resonances and buzzing of the speaker box. More boxes are now made from computer machined aluminum. The best solution for the consumer is to eliminate the box altogether. What is the sound of no box? What is the cost of no box?
Other so called omnidirectional speakers do not radiate all sound “evenly.” They can not. Only the Planot design can. Only the Planot design radiates all frequencies in “perfect” phase. So all of the spatial and tonal information is perfectly decoded.
Since the Planot driver can be implemented as a full range driver the crossover network can be completely eliminated. While the problems are different, like box distortion, crossover distortion will be completely eliminated. What is the sound of no crossover? What is the cost of no crossover?
“Omnidirectional is the mother of all loudspeakers. An omni can instantly illuminate the room with sound of all frequencies, like an explosion. It has the ideal spatial impulse response. It generates a fast response from the room.” - Siegfried Linkwitz (1935-2018)
A new way... the speaker box is obsolete.
A new dynamic loudspeaker technology that eliminates the need for an enclosing box and separate drivers for highs, midrange and bass frequencies. Consequently, no crossover is needed. This new design allows for all frequencies to be radiated in a omnidirectional cylindrical wave front. Sound is radiated in 360 degrees in the horizontal plane. In the vertical plane it radiates like a line source, but without the comb effect, producing an ideal radiation pattern for the listening space.
Ninety-nine percent of all speakers are using an 85 year old technology!
Not only does Planot reproduce sound more accurately than any other design but it is cheaper to manufacture and uses fewer natural resources. Prototype 4 (P4) has a frame of aluminum. The motor is made of aluminum. It is a green machine.
The Planot speaker functions as a "folded" planar speaker that pivots, or rotates back and forth, around its long axis. The name Planot is a contraction of planar and pivot. As far as air is concerned, the driver is a one-sided surface (an object that has no back) and therefore no negative back wave is created to cancel the front wave. In traditional speakers boxes are used to either hide the back wave altogether or release it in a very controlled manner. Other planar speakers use ultra thin plastic sheets for diaphragms; mine uses a rigid 3-dimentional surface. Other planar diaphragms flex like a drum head does; stretched tight and held fixed at the edges. A poor strategy for high fidelity but convenient.
A Planot driver not only does not need a box.
By eliminating the box you eliminate several causes of distortion. High-end manufacturers tell you that they spend thousands trying to eliminate those box distortions.
Look what I elinated just by eliminating the box ...
Creaking and whistling
Diffraction and reflection of sound off of the box
Back wave bounces back interacting with the cone
Box cost, including R&D, passed on to consumer
Shipping costs of boxes passed on
Visually dominates a room
Recapitulation of advantages of the Planot design ...
1) It does not need an enclosure. When you eliminate the enclosure you eliminate all of the negative attributes of an enclosure and the cost.
2) Because of the shape and size of the diaphragm and the manner in which it generates sound it functions as an omnidirectional driver.
3) Because it is omnidirectional it can be a full range driver.
4) Because of its slim shape it fits unobtrusively into in any environment.
5) The Planot design can be scaled, from small to large, like traditional
cone /pistonic drivers. But, because of its shape and since it does not have an enclosure, it is a perfect fit for: autos, boats, iPhones, iPads, laptops, flat screen TV’s, computer monitors, etc.
6) Since the diaphragm moves on bearings instead of a rubber/fabric hinge the voice coil always moves linearly in the magnetic gap.
7) Planot driver is not a point source. Planot generates planar waves. It's power output does not follow the same inverse square law as point source drivers.
*NCEE Labs tested the Planot speaker in their 10 meter semi-anechoic chamber and measured what you can hear, perfect sound dispersion.
*The pivoting design overcomes the cone and dome flexing of speakers. The Pivot trades torsional forces for the tensile forces that traditional speakers' designs, including planar speakers, must have.
*A typical Planot driver would be triangular, or square, in cross section and 48 inches long, with each face being 3/4 to 1 inch across the short dimension. See illustrations on How it Works.
*The Planot has no box, no crossover, no diaphragm flexing and no surround or spider. The traditional compromises of loudspeaker design have been eliminated. Just the sound is left. The Planot speaker is the most minimum of machines between the sound and your experience.
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