I’ll often come across new acoustical inventions that will “change the world,” and usually these claims have next to no basis in reality (I will save the “cone of silence” for a future post – it’s a running gag in our office). There is some misunderstanding (if I’m being generous) or blatant misrepresentation of what’s actually going on and what is actually possible.
The Acoustical Society of America publishes quick reviews of recent acoustical patents. I saw this one for a novel loudspeaker design and literally burst out laughing.
This loudspeaker design is a good example of wishful wizardry in full bloom… [At] low frequencies, the speakers are driven “push-pull,” allowing the back chamber volume to be reduced to almost nothing. Of course, the resulting low frequency output is also reduced to almost nothing. That side effect is not mentioned in the patent.