AUDIO&VIDEO

Active Loudspeaker
System (2)
A subwoofer for use with multimedia loudspeaker systems
Design by T. Giesberts

As with most small enclosures, the bass response of the active 2-way
loudspeakers described last month has its limits. The compact subwoofer
described here will therefore be a welcome addition for most enthusiasts.
With its adjustable filter this subwoofer will also work very well with other
small (satellite) speakers.

40 Elektuur 2/2003
 AUDIO&VIDEO
As a rough guide the bass response of Hz. We decided not to use artificial speakers to fit in a PC tower sized enclosure
loudspeakers tends to improve in pro- (electronic) means of boosting the low they couldn’t be very large. Again they should
portion to their dimensions. This is not frequency response, because we preferably have magnetic shielding, so they
completely true, since there are a few already had our eye on a much better won’t cause problems when placed close to a
tricks that can be used to get a rea- solution: a separate subwoofer that is monitor or TV.
sonable bass response from a rela- placed underneath the table (or desk), After searching for a while we found the
tively small enclosure. But these come inconspicuously adding another W170SC made by Visaton: a robust 17 cm
at a cost of a reduced power handling octave to the response of the two woofer with a load handling capacity of 50 W,
capacity, efficiency and sound pressure miniature loudspeakers. a resonant frequency of 36 Hz and a noticeably
level that the loudspeaker can pro- large peak diaphragm displacement of 20 mm.
duce. The W170SC is most at home in a bass reflex
Of course, what everybody wants is
Dual bass reflex enclosure with a volume of about 25 litres and
a loudspeaker with a volume of a few So how did the design for the sub- is then capable of reproducing frequencies
litres, using a small woofer, which is woofer come about? We tried to get down to about 45 Hz. Since a single 17 cm
still capable of reproducing perfect the subwoofer to complement the pre- speaker only produces a limited amount of air
sounding bass guitar or pipe organ viously published 2-way loudspeakers displacement, we have used two of them in a
sounds down to 30 or 40 Hz. But as well as possible. This meant we ‘double’ subwoofer using an enclosure with a
unfortunately this is just a physical had to have a good quality design, volume of 50 litres.
impossibility. Such a bass response without it becoming too large or costly. Just like the 2-way loudspeakers, the sub-
requires a larger air displacement and Since the intention was that the sub- woofer is also an ‘active’ design, with an elec-
this needs larger speaker diaphragms woofer could be easily placed under- tronic filter and its own power amplifier. To give
and enclosures. neath a desk we based the dimensions this design a wider usefulness, the cut-off fre-
The active 2-way system published on those of a medium sized PC tower quency has been made adjustable between
last month had a 13 cm woofer in a case. In this way we arrived at a vol- about 75 Hz and 145 Hz. The subwoofer can
closed box with a volume of about 4 ume of roughly 50 litres. therefore be combined with virtually any com-
litres. This really is a very small sized Next we started looking for some pact (satellite) speakers. The power amplifier
enclosure and the response graph speakers that would fit in such an used here is the same integrated dual bridge
made clear that not much should be enclosure and would also give an amplifier that was used in the 2-way loud-
expected of the response below 100 acceptable bass response. For the speakers. Since the WS170SC has an impedance

P1 P2
22k log. 4k7 lin.

+16V
R8
10K

R7
6 13 R11 LS1
5 10K 3 13
4
10k

3 3 14
2 2 IC1.D VCC VCC
1 1
12 4 1
IN1 OUT1
P1-2/3 P1-1 JP1 IC2
C4 C7
5
IN1 OUT1
2 W170SC
C1 R3 N.I. 4Ω
L 22k log.
22k INV 12 15
330n 2µ2 IN2 OUT2
470n LS2
R1 P2-1/2/6 TDA7374
11 14
IN2 OUT2
220k

C3 P2.A P2.B
7
STBY

1n
6
SVR CLIPDET
10 W170SC
6 4Ω
R C2 R4
2 7 SGND PWGND
22k R5 R6 IC1.B
1 4k7 lin. 5 9 8
470n IC1.A 4k7 4k7
R2 3 P2-3 P2-4/5
220k

C5 C6 C11 C9 C10

15n 150n 10µ 47µ 100n

63V 25V

+16V IC3 +8V

R13 7808 +8V

R9
16V 0Ω1
10k

9
2k7

R14 8
IC1.C
4 10
C14 C13 C12
D1
IC1 IC1 = TS924IN R10
C8
11
10k

4700µ 25V 100n 4µ7

63V
47µ
R12 25V
0Ω1
POWER
020054 - 2 - 11

Figure 1. The circuit is very similar to the active 2-way system.

2/2003 Elektuur 41
AUDIO&VIDEO
C11 C14
COMPONENTS LIST 7.5mm, max. diameter 17mm
- -
H3

H4
LS1

LS2
0 Resistors: Semiconductors:
C10 + IC2 C7 + + D1 = LED, red, high-efficiency, 5mm
R1,R2 = 220kΩ
JP1
C9 R11
R1
(C) ELEKTOR N.I. R3,R4 = 22kΩ IC1 = TS924IN ST (Farnell)
R8 R7 INV
R5,R6 = 4kΩ7 IC2 = TDA7374B ST (RS

R13
C1
R9
L R7-R11 = 10kΩ Components)

2-450020
R3 IC1 R10

R14
T C13
R4
C4 IC3 R12,R13 = 0.1Ω 5W IC3 = 7808
R2
R C6 C12 R14 = 2kΩ7
R6
C8

C2 C3
R5
020054-2
P1 = 22kΩ logarithmic. mono Miscellaneous:
C5

T T R12 D1 H2

JP1 = 3-way pinheader with jumper

H1

P2 = 4kΩ7 linear. stereo

P1-1 P1-2/3 P2-3 P2-1/2/6 4/5
LS1,LS2 = Visaton W170SC 4 Ω
Capacitors: Conrad Electronics)
C1,C2 = 470nF 2 x bass reflex tube, diameter 72mm,
C3 = 1nF, lead pitch 5mm length 145mm (Conrad Electronics
C4 = 330nF, lead pitch 5mm # 34 26 10-60)
C5 = 15nF, lead pitch 5mm Heatsink: e.g., SK100 (Fischer), height
020054-2

C6 = 150nF, lead pitch 5mm approx. 50mm *

C7 = 2µF2 MKT, Sealant tape: MDM-5
lead pitch 5 or 7.5 mm (Monacor/Monarch)
C8,C9 = 47µF 25V radial BAF wadding
C10,C13 = 100nF, lead pitch 5mm PCB, order code 020054-2 (see
C11 = 10µF 63V radial Readers Services page)
C12 = 4µF7 63V radial
C14 = 4700µF 25V radial, lead pitch * see text

Figure 2. All available space is utilised on this PCB. Note the two wire links!

of 4 W, the amplifier has a power out-

put of around 20 W per woofer.
In practice we found that the fre-
quency response and sound pressure
level produced by the subwoofer per-
fectly complemented the response of
the small 2-way loudspeakers.

Mixer and low-pass filter

When you look at the circuit diagram
shown in Figure 1, the similarities to
the design for the active 2-way loud-
speaker should be immediately obvi-
ous since the same ICs have been
used. Again we’ve used a TS924IN
quad rail-to-rail opamp (IC1) for the
input stage and filter. Voltage regula-
tor IC3 supplies a stabilised 8 V to this
opamp. R12 has been added to sepa-
rate the signal ground and the supply
ground when a single power supply is
used for several channels. The fourth
opamp in the TS924IN (IC1c) is once
more used to create a stable virtual
ground that is at exactly half the sup-
ply voltage.
The stereo output from the pre-
amplifier is fed to the L and R inputs.
Since our subwoofer is monophonic,
like most are, (stereo information
below 100 Hz is virtually non-exis-
Figure 3. The completed PCB for the subwoofer, including its heatsink. tent), the left and right channels are

42 Elektuur 2/2003
 AUDIO&VIDEO
first combined using a simple mixer woofer could be adapted for use with itive, we decided to use the same TDA7374B
(IC1a). This has been implemented in various satellite speakers by adjusting integrated power amplifier. The small number
its inverting form so that the gain can the volume and frequency controls to of external components required and the good
be turned right down to zero with P1. their best settings through trial and internal protection circuits are a big advantage
The mixer can therefore accept signals error. of this IC. Another excellent feature of this IC is
at practically any level and could even As a bonus we’ve added an inverter that it contains two amplifiers, so that each
be connected to the output of another (IC1d) to the output of the filter, which woofer can have a separate power amplifier.
power amplifier. C3 suppresses high is selected when jumper JP1 is in the Since the impedance of the woofers is 4 W,
frequency interference and restricts upper position. Depending on the rela- the TDA7374B delivers a bit more power than
the bandwidth to about 7 kHz. tive positioning of the subwoofer and with the two-way loudspeakers; with a supply
The crossover filter consists of a 2nd satellites, a (subtle) improvement can voltage of 17 V the power output is 2 × 20 W.
order Butterworth low-pass filter. This sometimes be heard when the phase The heatsink used should of course be capable of
filter is built round IC1b and has its of the subwoofer is inverted. We handling this. When a continuous signal is
cut-off frequency adjusted using should point out that the output of played at full power, you should in theory use a
stereo potentiometer P2. When both IC1d is actually in phase with the heatsink with a thermal resistance of 1.5 K/W.
P2a and P2b are set to 0 W (effec- input signal, since the filter round IC1a But with normal music a heatsink rated at
tively a short-circuit), the cut-off fre- is also inverting. If you wish to use the 2.5 K/W is sufficient in practice. An example of
quency is about 145 Hz. When the phase switching facility after encasing this is the SK100 made by Fischer, which has
resistance is turned to its maximum, the electronics we recommend that been used in the prototype shown in Figure 3.
the cut-off frequency moves to about you replace JP1 with a changeover
75 Hz. For use in conjunction with the switch.
active 2-way loudspeakers a cut-off
Printed circuit board
frequency of 100 Hz is ideal, but P2 All of the electronics for the subwoofer fits on a
covers a wider range so the subwoofer
Power amplifier small PCB measuring only 44 by 63 mm. That is
can also be used with other (satellite) Because our experience with the quite a bit smaller than the PCB for the 2-way
speakers. We found that the sub- active 2-way system was entirely pos- loudspeaker! Figure 2 shows the layout and

500
Figure 4. Design drawing for the enclosure, 464
including all measurements.

dimensions in mm
material: MDF 18 mm

section B - B

A
250
section A - A Ø 147 Ø 72 Ø 147
75

B B
286
250

75

Ø 72
464 100 100
500 A
020054 - 2 - 12

2/2003 Elektuur 43
AUDIO&VIDEO
parts numbers. then you must use shielded audio power amplifier IC has purposely been
Again we find the input pins on the left-hand cable. With that in mind there are placed at the edge of the PCB, making
side of the PCB, the supply pins top-right and earth pins included near P1 and P2 for it easier to mount the heatsink. The
the speaker pins on either side of the power connection to the shield. use of isolating material between the
amplifier IC. The connections for the poten- It is best to start with the wire links heatsink and the tab of the IC is rec-
tiometers are at the front of the PCB. Take great when populating the PCB; that way ommended.
care when connecting stereo potentiometer P2; you won’t forget them later. There are The rest of the construction should-
the numbers next to the pins correspond to two of these: one near R12 and the n’t present any difficulties and as long
those in the circuit diagram. As long as the con- other underneath the pins of IC2. The as you keep to the parts list and the
nections between the PCB and potentiometers last link could also be soldered on the layout in Figure 2 there is no reason
are less than about 4 cm you can use standard underside of the PCB, but in either why the circuit shouldn’t work first
connecting wire. If you have a longer connection case you should use isolated wire. The time. In Figure 3 you can see what a

Amplifier Specifications (with a 17 V supply voltage)

Input impedance 2 x 20 kΩ
Sensitivity (20 W/4 Ω, P1 max, P2 = 0) 250 mV (L=R)
Distortion + noise (65 Hz, B = 22 kHz, P1 max., P2 = 0) 0.01 % (1 W/8 Ω)
0.032 % (1 W/4 Ω)
Bandwidth P2 = 0 18.5 Hz - 160 Hz (relative to 65 Hz)
P2 = max. 16.5 Hz - 86 Hz (relative to 44 Hz)
Output power 2 x 20 W (4 Ω)
Quiescent current 0.16 A

In addition to the measurements taken of the electronics we also

have three graphs that illustrate the performance of the active sub- A
woofer as a whole.
Graph A shows the computer simulation of a W170SC in a 25 litre
bass reflex enclosure. With the bass reflex port tuned to 46 Hz
the graph is almost flat up to 300 Hz. There are some fluctuations
above this, but those frequencies are sufficiently suppressed by the
active filter and will therefore not affect the response.
Graph B shows the frequency response of the power amplifier
with P2 in its two extreme positions. The exact cut-off frequency
as well as the response depends on the tolerance of the capacitors
and potentiometer P2. When used in conjunction with the active
2-way system the cut-off frequency should be around 100 Hz; the
range of P2 adequately covers this.
Graph C shows the measured frequency response of the com-
plete system. This too has been measured with P2 in its extreme
positions. The advantage of the smaller bandwidth is that the
lower cut-off frequency is on average a few Hertz lower.

B C
+2

-0

-2

-4

-6

-8
d
B -10
r
-12

-14

-16

-18

-20

-22
10 20 50 100 200 500 1k
Hz 020054 - 2 - 14

44 Elektuur 2/2003
 AUDIO&VIDEO
correctly populated PCB looks like,
including the SK100 heatsink.
The electronics can either be
mounted in a separate case or inside
the loudspeaker enclosure. You can
choose whichever suits you best. For
the power supply a standard trans-
former/bridge/ electrolytic circuit can
be used. A transformer rated at
12 V/50 VA, a 10 A bridge rectifier
and a smoothing capacitor of
10,000 µF/25 V should be sufficient.
As we mentioned in the article for the
2-way loudspeakers, we will shortly
publish a 17 V power supply for this
project. This is based on a switched
mode design, keeping losses in the
voltage regulation to a minimum.

Sturdy enclosure
We’ve already mentioned that the ideal
enclosure for two W170SC woofers is a
bass reflex enclosure with a volume of
50 litres. According to the calculations Figure 5. The woofers have to be screwed down tight to avoid unwanted resonance.
the enclosure should be tuned to a bit
below 50 Hz. As chance would have
it, the required bass reflect port could tapping screws or (better still) using listened to the two-way loudspeakers in combi-
be implemented perfectly, using two nuts and bolts. The bass reflex tubes nation with the subwoofer. You don’t have to
standard reflex tubes made by Conrad, should be fixed with wood glue. take our word for it, but once you’ve heard the
with a diameter of 72 mm and a Only a limited amount of acoustic small loudspeakers in combination with the sub-
length of 145 mm. These tubes there- damping is required in the enclosure. woofer you won’t want to part with it again.
fore don’t need to be cut to size, but It is sufficient to cover all sides with a Even with the volume control at a relatively low
can be mounted straight into the layer of polyester wadding and there is setting you will get a much richer sound. The
enclosure. In theory this provides tun- certainly no need to fill it up com- inherently puny response of the small loud-
ing at exactly 46 Hz. pletely. The input connectors can be speakers disappears and the sound gets a lot
Figure 4 shows the complete placed anywhere on the enclosure; more ‘body’. The subwoofer produces a well-
design drawing for the subwoofer their position will mostly depend on defined bass and in practice had power to spare.
enclosure. It can be seen that this is a the orientation of the enclosure. Make Whether it is worth experimenting with
straightforward rectangular enclosure, sure that the polarity is clearly marked phase switch JP1 depends very much on the
which even the less experienced car- next to the connectors (or use loud- positioning of the loudspeakers. When the sub-
penter should be able to assemble. speaker terminals). woofer and satellites are all in one line, the
This will certainly be the case if you sound is clearly better in phase rather than out
can find a timber merchant who will of phase. If the woofer is nearer to or further from
cut the panels to size.
Positioning and sound this line then experiment with JP1 to obtain the
Because this enclosure is substan- The positioning of a loudspeaker sys- best result. You shouldn’t expect a large differ-
tially larger than that of the satellites tem consisting of a subwoofer and two ence though, since the change really is subtle.
and needs to support much heavier satellites is fairly flexible. For an opti-
speakers, we used 18 mm thick MDF mal stereo reproduction, the loud-
board for its construction. This also speakers and your usual listening posi-
Half a subwoofer?
prevents unwanted resonances in the tion should form an equilateral trian- A nice feature of this subwoofer design is that
panels. In our prototype we glued two gle. This is just a standard rule for it can be made as a smaller ‘trial’ version. When
small 250 mm support beams stereo reproduction. The best position you want to limit the size and/or cost and are
between the two largest panels, for the subwoofer should strictly be in happy with a slightly less punchy bass
although this isn’t a necessity. the centre between the satellites. response, you can simply use half the design. So
The openings for the speakers and However, since these low frequencies you’ll only need one W170SC, one bass reflex
the bass reflex tubes should be cut out have virtually no directional informa- tube and an enclosure of 25 litres instead of 50
carefully. A special tape (speaker foam tion, you’ll find that it doesn’t matter litres. Should you change your mind at a later
insulation) should be used to obtain an very much in practice. Anywhere in date, you could always build a second identical
airtight seal between the speakers and the vicinity of the satellites seems to enclosure, making the end result exactly the
enclosure. The speakers should be give a good result. same as the dual version just described.
screwed down tightly, either with self- It was a pleasant surprise when we (020054-2)

2/2003 Elektuur 45
PC&AUDIO

Active Loudspeaker
System (1)
for multimedia applications
Design by T. Giesberts

The 2-way active loudspeakers described here are primarily intended for use
with a PC, but could in principle be used in any other ‘medium-fi’ application.
Since the universal crossover filter can be adjusted to your own liking, you’re
not tied to using the speakers and enclosure suggested here. Other
woofer/tweeter combinations may also be used. An accompanying active
subwoofer is currently under design and will be published in the near future.

34 Elektor Electronics 1/2003

 PC&AUDIO
+8V

* zie tekst
R20 * see text R14

* siehe Text C5 C7 2k00

15k

6
+16V
IC1.B
7 * voir texte 3n9
5 * 13
14
C4 R15
R21
C13
R5 * R6 R7 R8
12
IC1.D 470Ω
0Ω
15k

7k68 9k53 8k25 2µ2

10µ +8V
63V R13 R19
R3 C6 C8 C15
D1 SC13 8Ω

2k00

10k
C3 P2
6k8

3 13 LS1
8n2 3n3 10k
3n3 VCC VCC
1N4148 120n 2 4 1
C14 IN1 OUT1
1
C1 IC1.A
R2 IC2
3 5 2
470Ω 470n IN1 OUT1
2µ2
4k7

12 15
R1 R4 IC1 = TS924IN C17 IN2 OUT2
C2 D2
TDA7374
1M

P1
10k 1n JP1
R9 R11
R17 470n
11
IN2 OUT2
14
* LS2

1N4148 2k00 7
STBY

9k76
* 6 10
9 SVR CLIPDET SC10N 8Ω
C16 R18
8 SGND PWGND
+16V +8V C9 C10 C11 C12 IC1.C 470Ω
IC3 10 9 8
2µ2
+16V 7808
R23
* 4n7 4n7 4n7 * zie tekst
0Ω1
R10 R12 R16
C18
* see text
C19 C20 C21
* voir texte
2k7

4k99

12k7

2k00
R24
P3
C24 C23 C22 4
10k 10µ 47µ 100n * siehe Text
IC1 3n3 63V 25V
D3
4700µ 25V 100n 4µ7 11
63V

POWER R22
020054 - 11
0Ω1

Figure 1. The circuit consists of an input buffer, crossover filter and an integrated dual power amplifier.

The starting point for this design (recommended by the manufacturer) have a poor response at the lower end of the
was the irritation with the average can also be used in this design. frequency range. For this reason we have
to mediocre quality of the majority of The electronics required to make include a corrective filter that can be acti-
PC loudspeakers. We thought that the loudspeaker active have been vated with a jumper and which boosts the
was something that could be kept as simple and yet as adaptable frequencies between 1000 Hz and 100 Hz up
improved upon without expending as possible. A two-way crossover fil- to a maximum of 6 dB at 100 Hz. Our proto-
too much effort or money. Of course ter was designed round a quad type seemed to benefit from this addition and
you don’t need the ultimate HiFi opamp, with a choice of slopes, char- this correction will probably also have a pos-
quality for the PC, but it would be acteristics and crossover frequen- itive effect with other speaker combinations
nice to have a set of loudspeakers cies. For use with the speakers rec- having similar bass/midrange units.
that gave a decent reproduction. In ommended by us, the filter was set
that way you could start to enjoy the up as a 3rd order Butterworth type
music from a CD or DVD. with a crossover frequency of 4 kHz. The electronics design
To begin with, we looked for a For the power amplifiers we used Now that the introduction is out of the way
compact woofer/tweeter combina- an integrated dual bridge amplifier, we can start to look at the circuit diagram.
tion that gave a good performance at which requires very few external This is shown in Figure 1 and consists of
a reasonable cost. Another require- components. At a supply voltage of three distinct sections:
ment was that they should be mag- 16 V it delivers 2 × 19 W into 4 Ω or
netically shielded, because the loud- 2 × 12 W into 8 Ω. Compared to Input buffer and supply
speakers are likely to be placed close usual HiFi standards this may seem a When we look at the circuit diagram in the
to a monitor or TV, which would be bit skimpy, but in combination with usual way, from left to right, we first see a ter-
affected by stray magnetic fields. For speakers with an average efficiency a minating resistor, isolating capacitor and trim
our prototype we finally decided to sound pressure level of about 100 pot P1. This feeds the signal into an input
use a 25 mm dome tweeter and a 13 dB can be attained — and that really buffer built around IC1a, which forms part of
cm bass/midrange unit made by is very loud! quad rail-to-rail opamp TS924IN. This type is
Visaton (the SC10N and SC13). Other What else can be added to this distinguished by its relatively large output
manufacturers of magnetically summary? One of the advantages is current of up to 80 mA.
shielded speakers worth looking at using an ‘active’ design is that it R2 and C2 form a low-pass filter that sup-
are Vifa and Monacor (Monarch). For allows us to overcome a disadvan- presses any high frequency interference. The
this reason we would like to make it tage found with many small loud- network C3/R3/R4 provides the previously
clear that other speaker combina- speaker enclosures. Most enclosures mentioned correction at low frequencies;
tions with associated enclosures with a volume of a few litres tend to closing JP1 enables this filter.

1/2003 Elektor Electronics 35

PC&AUDIO
In order to avoid the need for a symmetrical

C19
LS1 LS2
C24
power supply, but still obtain the optimum +
-

H1
H2

signal processing by the buffer and filters, we C20

0

have used IC1b to create a stable virtual ROTKELE C21

)C(
+ IC2 R19 - +
ground. C13 decouples the output of poten-

R23
tial divider R20/R21, providing a virtual C16

R15

R18
ground at exactly half the supply voltage. The D3

C18
C15 C14 C17
P2 P3
C7 C5 C11

R24
large output current capability of the TS924IN C4

is obviously a great advantage in the circuit R11 R22

R14
R13

R10
R12
R16
R17
R7
R8
C10

R5
R6
R1
round IC1b. R9

C12
To avoid supply-borne interference from C9
C8 C6

R21
affecting the input buffer and filters, opamp

C23
IC1

D2

IC3
IC1 has been equipped with its own voltage

C3

C13
T
regulator (IC3). For proper operation of this 8 C1 C2 C22 1-450020
P1 R3 R4 JP1
V regulator, the supply voltage to the active

H4
H3

R2 D1 R20
system should be at least 11 V. Resistor R22 020054-1

has been added to separate the signal ground

and supply ground for cases where a single
power supply is used for two or more chan-
nels. When each channel has its own power
supply then R22 can be replaced with a wire 020054-1

link.

Filter
Next comes the crossover filter.
As can be seen in the circuit diagram, the
output of the input buffer is fed to two filter
sections. These are built round the two
remaining opamps of IC1. The low-pass filter
is built round IC1d and the high-pass filter is
(C) ELEKTOR
found round IC1c. For the design of the filter
we started out with a 4th order configuration,
so that the same PCB could be used with sim-
pler filters just by leaving out some compo-
nents.
We have already calculated the values for Figure 2. It is amazing that this compact PCB contains a crossover filter as well as a
several variants. Table 1 shows the compo- 2 x 20 W power amplifier!
nent values for a 3rd order Butterworth filter
and a 4th order Linkwitz-Riley filter with
crossover frequencies at 1, 2.5 and 4 kHz. crossover point of Butterworth filters cations such as these. This IC
With the Visaton loudspeakers used in our is at -3 dB, for Linkwitz-Riley filters requires surprisingly few external
prototype we found that a 3rd order Butter- it is at -6 dB. components (no Boucherot network,
worth filter with a crossover frequency of 4 nor output capacitors) and also con-
kHz gave the best result. The component val- Power amplifier tains adequate internal protection
ues given in the circuit diagram are therefore The output signals of the filters are circuits against overheating and
for this type of filter. When we used a 4th fed to the power amplifiers via pre- short circuits. Due to all these fea-
order Linkwitz-Riley filter at 4 kHz the mea- sets P2 and P3. The potentiometers tures our dual power amplifier is a
surements showed that there were problems compensate for the different effi- shining example of compactness.
with the radiation pattern due to the large ciencies of the woofer and tweeter. This is clearly seen in the circuit dia-
phase shifts this filter produces. The 3rd order Many dome tweeters are about 3 dB gram.
Butterworth variant noticeably suffered less louder than small bass/midrange We have already mentioned the
from this. The Linkwitz-Riley values are there- speakers at the same input level. output power. With a load of 8 Ω
fore mainly included for experimentation pur- However, the loudspeakers chosen loudspeakers IC2 can be cooled
poses. for this design do have similar effi- using a small heatsink with a ther-
Take care with the connection of the ciencies, so that in practice both P2 mal resistance of 3 K/W. R19 and
speakers when using the Linkwitz-Riley fil- and P3 can be turned to their maxi- C19 ensure that virtually no plops
ter, because the connections to the tweeter mum level. are heard when the amplifier is
are then reversed. On the PCB the polarity For the power amplifier we’ve switched on (there is always a small
indicated is for use with 3rd order Butter- chosen a TDA7374B double inte- offset voltage at the output of the
worth filters. (In this case the tweeter is grated amplifier. These are primarily amplifier). RC networks R15/C15 and
therefore ‘out of phase’ compared to the intended for automotive use, but are R18/C18 restrict the bandwidth of
woofer!) And as a final point of interest: the obviously also very suitable in appli- the power amplifiers in order to min-

36 Elektor Electronics 1/2003

 PC&AUDIO
imise the effect of any HF interference. In
COMPONENTS LIST C10,C11,C12 = 4nF7, lead pitch 5
principle it would have been better to place
mm
these networks after the potentiometers, but
Resistors: C13,C19 = 10µF 63V radial
then the bandwidth will vary noticeably. C20
R1 = 1MΩ C14,C17 = 470nF
C20 = 47µF 25V radial
decouples the internal potential divider,
R2,R15,R18 = 470Ω
R3 = 6kΩ8 C21,C23 = 100nF, lead pitch 5mm which supplies several stages with half the
R4 = 4kΩ7 C22 = 4µF7 63V radial supply voltage and which is also responsible
R5 = 0Ω C24 = 4700µF 25V radial, lead pitch for supply ripple suppression, which is about
R6 = 7kΩ68 7.5mm, diameter 17mm max. 50 dB at 100 Hz.
R7 = 9kΩ53
R8 = 8kΩ25 Semiconductors:
R9 = open * D1,D2 = 1N4148
The PCB
R10 = 4kΩ99 D3 = LED, green, high-efficiency Figure 2 shows the PCB that was designed
R11 = 9kΩ76 IC1 = TS924IN (ST, from Farnell) to hold the electronics for the active 2-way
R12 = 12kΩ7 IC2 = TDA7374B (ST, from C-I loudspeaker.
R13,R14,R16,R17 = 2kΩ00 Electronics, www.dil.nl There is not much to be said about the
R19 = 10kΩ IC3 = 7808 PCB. The layout is fairly well organised and
R20,R21 = 15kΩ
R22,R23 = 0Ω1 5W the various connections are clearly marked.
Miscellaneous: At the bottom-left are the input pins, diago-
R24 = 2kΩ7
JP1 = 2-way pinheader w. jumper nally opposite (top-right) are the connections
P1,P2,P3 = 10kΩ preset
LS1 = SC13 8Ω Visaton (Conrad for the supply voltage and a bit below that
Capacitors: Electronics) we find power LED D3. The connectors for
C1,C4,C16 = 2µF2 MKT, lead pitch 5 LS2 = SC10N 8Ω Visaton (Conrad the woofer and tweeter (LS1 en LS2) are on
or 7.5mm Electronics)
either side of IC2.
C2 = 1nF, lead pitch 5mm Heatsink for IC2: 3 K/W
The wire links on the board deserve a
C3 = 120nF, lead pitch 5mm Wood: 12 mm MDF — see Figure 4
mention. There are two: one just next to R20
C5 = open * Wadding material (BAF)
and another underneath (!) the pins of IC2.
C6 = 8nF2, lead pitch 5mm PCB, order code 020054-1 (see
Readers Services pages) The last could also be soldered to the under-
C7 = 3nF9, lead pitch 5mm
C8,C15,C18 = 3nF3, lead pitch 5mm side of the PCB, but in either case an isolated
C9 = wire link * * see text and Table 1 wire should be used for this link. IC2 has
been placed near the edge of the PCB, mak-

Figure 3. A few prototypes usually precede the final PCB.

1/2003 Elektor Electronics 37

PC&AUDIO
ing it easy to mount a small heatsink (3 K/W) Table 1
to it; remember to use an isolating washer
3rd order Butterworth 4th order Linkwitz-Riley
between the IC and heatsink!
Once the PCB has been populated and 1 kHz 2.5 kHz 4 kHz 1 kHz 2.5 kHz 4 kHz
tested, there are several possibilities for com- R5 link link link 6k34 6k34 6k98
pleting the construction. It can be mounted R6 8k06 6k65 7k68 13k3 9k31 10k7
inside the loudspeaker enclosure, it can be
mounted in a separate box (probably as a R7 8k25 8k45 9k53 6k49 7k68 8k25
two-channel version) or it can be combined R8 6k81 8k06 8k25 9k31 7k50 8k45
with a subwoofer that will be described in a C5 open open open 22 n 10 n 5n6
forthcoming article. A separate box isn’t a
C6 33 n 15 n 8n2 39 n 18 n 10 n
bad idea since we are thinking of adding a
tone control to this system. But at the end of C7 18 n 6n8 3n9 18 n 6n8 3n9
the day the choice is yours. C8 15 n 5n6 3n3 8n2 3n9 2n2
The supply can be provided by the usual R9 open open open 7k50 6k49 7k15
combination of a transformer, bridge rectifier
R10 5k23 4k53 4k99 3k83 3k32 3k65
and smoothing capacitor. Each channel
requires a transformer of 12 V/15 VA and a R11 10k2 8k87 9k76 11k0 9k53 10k5
smoothing capacitor of 4700 µF/25 V. For a R12 13k0 11k5 12k7 19k6 16k9 18k7
stereo version these values should be dou- C9 link link link 18 n 8n2 4n7
bled. When a stabilised supply is used, the
voltage may be increased from 16 V to a C10 18 n 8n2 4n7 18 n 8n2 4n7
maximum of 18 V, which increases the out- C11 18 n 8n2 4n7 18 n 8n2 4n7
put power somewhat. At the moment we’re C12 18 n 8n2 4n7 18 n 8n2 4n7
designing a dedicated power supply for this
active loudspeaker system, so it may be
wise to wait a little before building the Table 1. Component values for the filters at different frequencies. For the 3rd
power supply. order Butterworth filter C5 and R9 aren’t mounted and R5 and C9 are replaced
by wire links.

Woodwork
The size and construction of the loudspeaker a fairly straightforward job, since a has been cut to size then the rest of
enclosure depends primarily on the size of the closed box is little more than six pan- the job should be simple if you use
woofer that is used. The Visaton SC13 used els that are glued together. This may some clamps. In any case, it is an
here is mounted in a closed box with a volume seem a bit difficult to the inexperi- advantage that no special baffles or
of about 4 litres. This makes the construction enced carpenter, but once the wood ports are required. The only part that

A Dimensions in mm
Section A - A Material: MDF 12 mm

Ø 85

Section B - B
126
118
231
255

Ø 113

B B

151
A
175 150

020054 - 12

Figure 4. Design drawings for the enclosure, complete with all measurements. We’ve assumed that 12 mm thick MDF board is used.

38 Elektor Electronics 1/2003

 PC&AUDIO
is a bit tricky is the cutting out of the is on the outside. have edges with ‘difficult’ angles of 30º and
holes for the speakers. We would like to make clear that 73.9º! The front and base panels are the easi-
Due to the small dimensions of the design shown in Figure 4 does est to make since they still have normal 90º
the box, there is no need to use thick not have to be strictly adhered to. A edges. We’ve used an equilateral triangle for
wood (although you could if you different style of enclosure is also the base panel and the top panel slopes down
wanted to). We have therefore based acceptable, as long as its volume is from the front at an angle of 30º. Those of you
the drawing shown in Figure 4 on near the recommended 4 litres. The who are interested in this special design can
MDF board with a thickness of 12 main photo with this article shows download the drawings from our website.
mm. This drawing shows all the that we’ve also deviated from the There are several options for finishing off
details. The required acoustic damp- standard ‘shoe box’ design for the the enclosures. An ‘old fashioned’ veneer is
ing of the enclosure is done by filling prototypes. We tried out some trian- of course a possibility, but they could also
it loosely with polyester wadding. gular designs for our enclosures, be covered with self-adhesive vinyl or
The connectors can be mounted on mainly for originality. An advantage another material. Spraying with paint is
the back panel. It may be unneces- of this is that there won’t be any another popular option and for the perfect
sary to say this, but when the elec- standing waves, but this comes at finish you could ask somebody at a garage
tronics are mounted inside the enclo- the expense of added complexity to do it for you.
sure it is important that the heatsink since three of the five panels now (020054-1)

Specifications (using a 16 V supply voltage)

Input impedance 10 kΩ
Sensitivity (12 W/8 Ω, JP1 open, P1/P2/P3 max.) 270 mV
Distortion + noise (1 W/8 Ω, 1 kHz) 0.013 % (B = 80 kHz)
Bandwidth woofer amplifier (P2 max., JP1 open) 32 Hz - 4 kHz
Bandwidth woofer amplifier (P2 half, JP1 open) 25 Hz - 4 kHz
Bandwidth tweeter-amplifier 4 kHz - 45 kHz
Output power per amplifier (THD+N = 0.5 %) 12 W (8 Ω)
19 W (4 Ω)
Quiescent current (no load) 0.17 A
Bandwidth amplifier + box (-3 dB) 100 Hz - 18 kHz

Apart from this list of figures we’ve also provided three graphs. The first (A) is a A
simulation of the frequency response for the SC13 woofer. The absence of
prominent peaks or troughs make this graph look fairly neat, but it does show a
steep drop at the lower end of the frequency range: at 100 Hz the amplitude is
nearly 8 dB lower than at 2 kHz. A low-frequency booster therefore isn’t a
superfluous luxury.
The second graph (B) shows the measured response of the filters and the
low-frequency booster. It is noticeable that the crossover point is neither
exactly at -3 dB nor exactly at 4 kHz. This is mainly due to the tolerance of the
capacitors used in the filters. In practice these deviations can be completely
ignored.
Graph C shows the measured frequency response of the loudspeakers
when driven by their amplifiers. From this it is clear that the low frequency
boost really should have been set a bit higher. Keep in mind that when the
loudspeaker is placed
on a desk or near a B C
wall that the lower fre- +9

+6
quencies will be
+3
boosted more, making +0

the curve somewhat -3

flatter. The small peak -6

d
near 200 Hz is caused -9
B
r
by the positioning of -12

the loudspeaker in the -15

room where the mea- -18

-21
surements took place
-24
and it varies depending -27
20 50 100 200 500 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k 40k
where the loudspeaker Hz 020054- 15

is positioned!

1/2003 Elektor Electronics 39

ELECTRONICSONLINE

DIY Electrostatic
Loudspeakers
High tension for sound reproduction
By Harry Baggen

Building your own loudspeaker boxes using traditional drive units was
once a popular pastime but now seems to have lost much of its appeal.
Those of you interested in a different approach to sound reproduction
may want to have a go at building electrostatic loudspeakers. Amazing
results can be obtained from basic materials that cost next to nothing. We
trawled the net and found loads of information on these oddball boxes.

air permeable panels (stators) sepa-

rated by a taut conductive mem-
brane. When a high alternating volt-
age is applied across the membrane
and the stators, the panel will start
to move between the stators in the
rhythm of the ac voltage, causing a
certain air volume to be displaced.
The sound reproduction obtained in
this way is (at least potentially)
extremely faithful thanks to the small
moving mass, the large surface area
and the evenly distributed force.
By virtue of its relatively simple
overall structure, the ESL is easy to
experiment with. Lots of technically
inclined music lovers have reached
different results from perforated steel
sheet, plastic foil and a number of
variations on these materials. Some
of the results have culminated in a
fair number of Internet websites
describing such experiments with
electrostatic loudspeakers.
A foundation article telling you
how to get started with ESLs is
The operating principle of the electrostatic mutual attracting force, and two Mark Rehorst’s story called How to
loudspeaker (or ESL) is based on the phe- plates with the same polarity, a Make Electrostatic Loudspeakers
nomenon of two electrical current conducting mutual repelling force. Most electro- [1]. It has been around on the net for
plates with opposite polarities developing a static loudspeaker units employ two many (web-)years and may be

64 Elektor Electronics 5/2003

 ELECTRONICSONLINE

Internet addresses
[1] How to Make Electrostatic
Loudspeakers:
www.amasci.com/esloud/eslhwto.html
[2] Electrostatic Loudspeaker Design:
www.audiodesignguide.com/esl/esl.html
[3] Mini Mite ESL: www.audiocircuit.com/
9041-esl-circuit/Diy/Projects/
SheldonStokes-SS/9041DESS-MM.htm
[4] DIY ESL 1.0:
www.quadesl.com/diy_esl1.shtml
[5] Electrostatic Loudspeaker Page:
http://home1.gte.net/res0f2t3/index.htm
[6] Electrostatic headphones:
http://headwize2.powerpill.org/projects/
showproj.php?file=radford1_prj.htm
[7] AudioStatic-DIY kit:
www.audiostatic.com/page9.htm

found at various sites. The article (maybe a distant relative of the leg- [8] Metaxas MET 1:
covers all basic elements that make endary Radford from the valve era?) www.metaxas.com/pages/masnewfiles/
up an ESL, from the building mate- explains how he changed an old index.html
rials for the stators right up to the pair of dynamic headphones into [9] Twinstatic Audio:
design of a high-tension supply. electrostatic ones! The story is sup-
www.twinstaticaudio.nl/onderdelen/
Anyone with some knowledge of ported by a number of clear draw-
electronics should be able to use ings and photographs which go to [10] The Electrostatic Loudspeaker
this information and be off for a show the amount of work that went Information Exchange:
really quick start. into the design. www.hitechnetworks.net/bwaldron/
A more extensive and technically Not surprisingly, there are also main.htm
‘deeper’ article is Neil McKean’s suppliers of commercially made
Electrostatic Loudspeaker Design ESLs offering parts of their products [11] ER Audio: www.eraudio.com.au/
[2], covering both the design and the for the benefit of home constructors. [12] The Electrostatic Loudspeaker Circuit:
construction of electrostatic loud- Completely assembled panels are www.audiocircuit.com/
speaker units. particularly interesting as they allow 9041-esl-circuit/9041IMAI.htm
Lots of ESL builders describe less experienced constructors to
their designs on dedicated web- build excellent sound reproduction
sites. There are far too many to list systems. The Dutch manufacturers
in this short article — only a small AudioStatic [7], for example, offer
selection will be mentioned. The their DCI-LT as a construction kit supply other useful parts like graphite spray.
Mini Mite [3] by Sheldon Stokes is a consisting of two ready to use pan- Twinstatic Audio is a Dutch firm with a fair
small electrostatic panel combined els and built up high-tension units. assortment of special components for ESL
with a Jordan driver in a transmis- All you need to do yourself is build a builders. Just a few clicks away but actually
sion line enclosure. Another frame to hold the panels. at the other side of the globe, in Australia, we
extremely well documented DIY pro- The Australian firm Metaxas [8] found The Electrostatic Loudspeaker Infor-
ject by the same author goes by the also offers an ESL set, called MET 1. mation Exchange [10] and ER Audio [11].
name of DIY ESL 1.0 [4]. Like the DCI-LT, MET 1 comprises a Finally, the Electrostatic Loudspeaker
Matthew Anker’s Electrostatic complete set of parts including a Circuit [12] is a great source of inspiration
Loudspeaker Page [5] is also high-voltage section and audio for ESL lovers. The website has been on line
devoted to activities involving elec- transformers. The remarkable thing since 1998 (!) and contains a large number of
trostatic speakers. In particular, the about this system is that several descriptions of commercial and home made
pages showing lots of constructional panels may be purchased for con- ESLs. Here, too, we found extremely useful
pictures are well worth having a necting in parallel. information on related matters like ampli-
look at. If you just need an address to fiers for ESLs. Furthermore, there is a forum
An unusual ESL project covers order suitable foil from (foil often which allows hobbyists and fans of the elec-
the DIY construction of electrostatic being the only elusive material) trostatic loudspeaker to exchange ideas and
headphones [6]. On his website you’ll be pleased to know that there information.
dubbed ‘Headwize’ Andrew Radford are several sources that can also (035033-1)

5/2003 Elektor Electronics 65

SMALL CIRCUITSCOLLECTION

Simple Amplifier
with Surround System 056
H. Sadeghi

The AN7147 Dual 5.3-watt Audio Power R3

C13
15k
Amplifier from Panasonic is listed as a R4
100n
C12
‘replacement type’ so hopefully will be 15k
100n
around for some time to come. Together +12V
with some extra components, it can
C14
represent a simple surround-sound sys-
tem requiring no opamps or a negative 1000µ 16V

voltage supply. 10
C6
VCC 47µ
As shown by the circuit diagram the 11

basic stereo amplifier is changed into a 1

25V C8
12
surround-sound system by a trick R
2
1000µ LS R
called ‘adding feedback from the oppo- IC1 16V
3
site channel’. When surround sound is L AN7147
5
required, the negative feedback signals 7
C9

supplied by C13-R3 and C12-R4 are fed 6

C7 1000µ LS L
8 16V
to the inputs of the ‘other’ amplifier. The C4 C3
R5 R6
47µ
resulting phase difference causes the GNDIN GNDOUT

1Ω

1Ω
100µ 25V 100µ 25V 25V
4 9
surround effect. If surround sound is not R1 R2
C5
required, the effect can be disabled by C1 C2 C10 C11
100Ω

100Ω

pressing pushbutton S1. This causes 1n 1n 100µ 150n 150n

25V
the bistable built around IC2.A and
IC2.B to toggle and drive transistors T1 R15 +12V
and T2 such that the above mentioned 220Ω
R7 R8 R13 2W
negative feedback signals are effec- 14 C15
1k
6k8

6k8

IC2 IC2 = 4001

tively shunted to ground. 220µ
7
A high-efficiency LED and a 3.3-kΩ 16V
S2 S1 +12V
series resistor (R14) should be used to T1
R9
make sure the maximum output current IC2.B IC2.D
T2
10k 6 ON OFF 12
of the CMOS 4001 device is not R10
4
≥1 5 13 ≥1 11

exceeded. 10k

The amplifier should not be loaded with 2x IC2.C

impedances smaller than 3 Ω. The BC238 R14
3
2 8
10
3k3 ≥1 1 9 ≥1
AN7147 will typically supply up to R12 R11
D1
4.3 watts into 4 Ω. The SIL-12 case IC2.A
100k

100k

needs to be cooled wit a small heatsink high

eff. "SURROUND
ON"
of about 6 K/W or better. The quiescent 020397 - 11
current is modest at just 19 mA.
(020397-1)

2 Elektor Electronics 7-8/2003