Development of acoustics: what sound engineers do and whether it is possible to create a speaker system with your own hands

Build acoustics at the factory Arslab - photos from our " World Hi-Fi "

In this material we will try to understand how modern acoustic brands are created, what the tasks of the sound engineer and R & D department in production are, and touch on the creation of “homemade” acoustics, together with Yuri Fomin, the sound engineer and engineer of acoustic systems, whose developments lie at the heart of multimedia systems under the brands Defender, Jetbalance and Arslab.
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Acoustics production: unique developments or collaboration with contractors

Acoustic systems of well-known manufacturers are often assembled from components that the company buys from suppliers rather than manufactures itself. This may be due to the different conditions in which the systems are created and the restrictions existing under these conditions.

For example, in the production of ODM products, the laboratory of Yuri Fomin F-lab (now F-lab or “Fomin Laboratory” is, in fact, the R & D department of Audiomania, under whose leadership the brand Arslab is issued) is often limited by the capabilities of a subcontractor: ready to provide speakers, enclosures and components. In order to acquire unique engineering finds, companies have to spend years - it is important not only to come up with the design of the part or component, but also to produce it (buy equipment, properly configure and maintain it).

Brands that produce equipment in relatively modest batches and sell it at reasonable prices simply cannot start collecting speakers completely from their components at once - otherwise the cost of their development and production will have to be completely left to the customers. In addition, this kind of production is far from always justified - companies do not need to “reinvent the wheel”, if there are those who have long specialized in a particular area:

You can stamp tweeter membranes with some secret additives. But best of all they are made by Dr. Kurt Muller. [...] I mean that there are companies that are indisputable in quality workmanship. They specialize in this and make the highest quality things for the whole world. It is clear that someone will do everything himself [...]. But they may not be so good

- Yuri Fomin

Why do we need sound engineers

It would seem that if you use “alien” components and rely on the capabilities of a subcontractor, you can produce acoustic systems without involving your engineers and the R & D department (or you can collect the acoustics yourself at home - but more on that below). This is not so - companies need to compete, stand out in the market, form their own loyal audience - and for this you need “your own” sound, even if the equipment is made from standard elements or subcontractors are invited to work. And for this purpose, experienced engineers are attracted to work with the brand.

From some given “set” of elements, engineers need to lay down the perfect picture, which must also correspond to the company's marketing strategy. For example, to make a product better than the competition, but at a comparable price. Yuri Stanislavovich recalls that in such conditions, when working on acoustics for the Jetbalance brand, it was necessary to use inexpensive components of the highest quality — and to refine the sound, to refine the design itself.



Workflow at the Arslab plant - photo from our “ Hi-Fi World ”

Moreover, engineers provide feedback to the suppliers - the latter can change the characteristics of the components in accordance with the needs of the brand (which is why Yuri Fomin notes that the work on the sound of the system begins already at the suppliers' plants - and brand engineers can influence this process also):

We were lucky with Wavecor [company-supplier of speakers for acoustics Arslab], they always adequately respond to our requests like: "The inductance does not suit us here, change." Change, modify

- Yuri Fomin

Moreover, engineers have to take into account how and where the equipment will be used, in what environment listening to music will take place - and adjust the sound of the system accordingly.

Acoustics as a hobby

Of course, all this does not mean that a decently sounding device cannot be assembled by hand from commercially available components — and without being a high-class engineer. However, there are several important nuances.

First you need to decide on goals. There may be two of them: the creation of a system "for the sake of the process" or work on the result. In the first case, we are dealing rather with a hobby, in the second - with an attempt to rethink the experience gained, to get the desired sound.

And that, and another goal may well be crowned with success: in the first case, a kind of “toy” will turn out - the technique may sound good, at the level of average parameters. Yuri Fomin does not exclude that within this approach, and even in the absence of special musical knowledge and extensive experience in the industry, you can do something close in characteristics to “serious” Hi-Fi:

We must take ready-made designs, which engineers share on the network, and repeat them. This will have a 90% success rate. I do not say 100%, because there may be disagreements in the parameters of the loudspeakers, which may differ in parts. But 90% of success can be achieved

- Yuri Fomin

It looks like the Lego designer for adults - you should start by repeating the existing solutions without making changes to the electrical part of the product:

About the "climb into the creation": if a person wants to engage in creativity, he must do it. [...] If a person wants to spend time, this is his hobby, he likes it, then let him do

- Yuri Fomin

Loudspeaker Design

If we are talking about a more “serious” approach, when the goal of the work is sounding or characteristics that are different from what is available on the market, we cannot do without special knowledge.

A person must be an engineer, at least of the Soviet high school. Why Soviet? The engineer has a lot to learn. In addition to electrical engineering, materials science, the theory of machines and mechanisms, and the resistance of materials are also needed. This is all used when designing speakers.

- Yuri Fomin

The knowledge of metrology is also important - according to Yuri, it is necessary to understand it at the level of 2-3 semesters of the university. In addition, it is highly desirable to have a musical education or experience playing music - this will allow you to feel what kind of sound is needed “at the output”. Yuri Fomin himself emphasizes that his musical taste was formed under the influence of the work of a sound engineer at recording studios:

We had a lot of studio work, we understand how everything sounds live. Yes, perhaps, we [...] have a certain taste, grafted by studios, which we are trying to recreate

- Yuri Fomin

Music education or work in this industry is what underlies the stories of popular brands, when "the founder did not like the equipment on the market, and he decided to create something of his own." It is this taste for music, a peculiar understanding of its sound and helps to form requirements for the final product. But such success stories often keep silent about how the idea was implemented - and for this, all the engineering knowledge that was discussed above is necessary.



Product page from the DIY category on Audiomania

Moreover, the speaker system in this case can be perceived as an exact mathematical model - the acoustic design is projected according to a certain mathematical algorithm:

Changing any parameter of this model will immediately unbalance. The efficiency of the speakers is at best 5%, so the loss of even one percent is a lot. And this percentage is easy to lose if some small thing is not working properly.

- Yuri Fomin

In order to design a model, it is not enough to understand the materials, to have basic engineering knowledge - you need to be able to correctly use specialized software for the corresponding calculations. The employees of the Fomin Laboratory use the Leap and Clio products to calculate and optimize the parameters of future systems.

The importance of professional software in the design notes and Sergei Bat, author of the book "Amateur loudspeakers." Sergey Bat is an example of an amateur engineer who has achieved not only success in designing acoustic systems, but also recognition from industry representatives.

Make yourself - really cheaper?

A popular opinion is that such “home” development may sound as good as “purchased” and at the same time will be cheaper. This is not entirely true. Yuri notes: even if you manage to save money on the purchase of components (compared to purchasing the finished product) and create a decently sounding system, you’ll get “saving money on your own time”.

It is impossible to save. If you save money, you lose personal time, and if you are willing to waste time, this can only be considered as pleasure.

- Yuri Fomin

In general, even for the assembly of acoustics according to ready-made schemes, time, knowledge and certain experience are needed. If we are talking about creating some kind of unique sound (changing parameters compared to “ready-made solutions”) - time, knowledge and experience are required by orders of magnitude more. Yuri emphasizes: experienced engineers and developers are different from amateurs and beginners in that they can accomplish tasks relatively quickly and be confident in the final result:

By itself, the project [from model development to its implementation] is not long to do, about a year, which will include prototyping, listening and making edits. We don't have to sit for years and wrinkle our foreheads. However, this speed of production is the quintessence of many years of experience. If you have learned how to calculate a project in two days in 20 years, and you would have taken a couple of months before, then just because you have been working on it for 20 years.

- Yuri Fomin

It turns out that if there is no time and knowledge for creating a system on your own, and buying expensive High-End equipment is too expensive, then the consumer does not have the opportunity to enjoy high-quality sound? Not quite like this: Yuri Fomin himself suggests looking at the process of building around himself a high-quality ecosystem of sound as a gradual movement forward.

Sometimes it is worth thinking about acquiring devices that will be only slightly, but still higher class than what the client is using now - the difference between the updated and the “old” versions will be large enough to linger for a while at this stage.

Sometimes such a qualitative transformation can be provided by the inclusion in the “chain” of devices, for example, a DAC or amplifier of a higher class, sometimes - the study of various audio formats and the addition of your music library. As for those who prefer to create acoustics with their own hands - we publish useful materials about it here .