The Limitations of Boxed Loudspeaker Design
Walls of Sound believe that its solution provides an advancement in sound quality over traditional 'boxed' loudspeaker design.
As well as the physical presence of boxed speakers being an aesthetic distraction for some music lovers (or often their partners!), the traditional box design also has many acoustic disadvantages.
Isaac Newton was the founder of modern physics, and his Third law of motion states that "Action and Reaction are Equal and Opposite". This means, in simple terms, that as much sound energy is created at the rear of a loudspeaker driver as the front. A further law of physics is that "Energy is neither destroyed nor created, it is merely transferred". So, if as much energy is going into the box as coming out of it, then what happens to it?
In reality, in every box loudspeaker, rear energy in the form of sound waves passes through the walls of the box, through the port, and some will be reflected back through the cone. In each case, this generates a degradation of the original sound, creating distortion.
However, a cavity wall is an entirely different environment. Rear energy generated by the drive unit is "lost" in the cavity wall, and is not reflected back through the cone, or through the walls, as distortion. This is shown by the impedance curve of the drive unit, which is incredibly smooth.
Another major advantage of using cavity walls as loudspeaker enclosures is rigidity. Every loudspeaker driver vibrates as it creates sound waves, and that vibration can be transferred to its enclosure-if it succeeds, then clarity and transient performance will be lost.
By using brick or blockwork walls, the vibration is not transferred, and clarity and transient performance is optimised.