Abstract:
A loudspeaker system includes a support base having a first speaker driver mounted thereto, the first speaker driver being adapted to reproduce sound across a first frequency band. The system further includes a speaker housing having at least one second speaker driver mounted therein, the second speaker driver being adapted to reproduce sound across a second frequency band, the high end of the second frequency band being higher than the high end of the first frequency band. A hinged connection is provided between the support base and the speaker housing, whereby the speaker housing can be vertically pivoted about a generally horizontal axis.

Description:
[0001]     This application claims priority to provisional application Ser. No. 60/694,992 filed Jun. 30, 2005, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This application includes material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to the field of loudspeakers, and in particular to a loudspeaker having an angularly-adjustable speaker housing.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Loudspeaker systems having a subwoofer and two or more satellite speakers are known and used in the art for providing accurate reproduction of audio signals over a wide frequency range. In such systems, a crossover is typically used to split the audio signal such that its low frequency component is directed to the subwoofer and midrange and high frequency components are directed to the satellite speakers. Because low-frequency sound is relatively non-directional as perceived by the human ear, placement of the subwoofer with respect to the listener&#39;s ears is relatively non-critical.  
         [0004]     Placement of satellite speakers, which reproduce the relatively directional mid- and high-frequency components, with respect to the listener&#39;s ears is more critical for accurate stereo imaging and reproduction of the audio signals as perceived by the listener. However, such speakers typically require physical movement of the entire speaker in order to direct the sound projected from the speaker directly toward a listener&#39;s ears.  
         [0005]     One solution is taught in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,655 to Freadman et al. entitled Tower-Type Speaker Cabinet With Pivoted Plural Speaker Subassembly. Freadman et al. teach a tower-type speaker cabinet with a center subcabinet and pivot means supporting the subcabinet such that it can be swiveled horizontally about a range of movement through predetermined angles about a vertical axis.  
         [0006]     Stereo desktop speakers are well known for reproducing audio signals from various sources such as computers and portable media players. Such speakers typically sit flat on a desk surface such that they direct sound toward a listener&#39;s waist when the listener is sitting and direct sound even lower when the listener is standing. Thus, the listener typically does not perceive the full volume and most accurate stereo image available from the speakers.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an angle-adjustable loudspeaker system that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.  
         [0008]     In one embodiment, the invention provides a loudspeaker system including a support base having a first speaker driver mounted thereto, the first speaker driver being adapted to reproduce sound across a first frequency band. The system further includes a speaker housing having at least one second speaker driver mounted therein, the second speaker driver being adapted to reproduce sound across a second frequency band, the high end of the second frequency band being higher than the high end of the first frequency band. A hinged connection is provided between the support base and the speaker housing, whereby the speaker housing can be vertically pivoted about a generally horizontal axis.  
         [0009]     Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.  
         [0010]     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]     The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of at least one embodiment of the invention.  
         [0012]     In the drawings:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view illustrating components of the invention according to one embodiment. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0014]     Reference will now be made in detail to illustrative embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings.  
         [0015]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a speaker system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes left and right satellite speaker housings  100 ,  110  and a subwoofer component  105 . The speaker system may be connected to any type of audio source, such as a gaming system, personal computer, portable media player, stereo receiver, or other audio source known to one of ordinary skill in the art, or may be integrated into a portable media reproduction system such as that shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/836,113 filed Apr. 30, 2004, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The speaker housings  100 ,  110  may be positioned on a desk or shelf, mounted on a wall, or any other known configuration of positioning loudspeakers.  
         [0016]     The speaker housings  100 ,  110  have loudspeaker drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  positioned on a front surface  105 ,  115  of the speaker housings  100 ,  110 . The loudspeaker drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  may be, e.g., 28 mm full-range micro drivers. Although this exemplary embodiment has two drivers in each speaker housing, any number of drivers and speaker housings may be used, as appreciated by one of ordinary skill. The subwoofer  105  may be, e.g., a 6.5-inch long-throw woofer capable of handling 19 watts at 8 ohms that reproduces sound in the frequency range of 40 Hz to 160 Hz. In one embodiment, the housing of the subwoofer  105  encloses an audio amplifier (not shown).  
         [0017]     Left and right support bases  175 ,  177  are provided to support the left and right speaker housings  100 ,  110 , respectively, each including a flat bottom, and/or feet, which rests upon a support surface such as a desktop or shelf. For each speaker housing and its associated base, this support is provided via a hinged connection  192  between the speaker housing  110  and the support base  177 . This hinged connection  192  permits angular adjustment of the speaker housing  110  with respect to the support base  177  such that the direction of projection of sound from the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  can be adjusted vertically over an angle of approximately 45 degrees.  
         [0018]     In this manner, the angle of the speaker housing  110  can be adjusted vertically about a horizontal axis  193  such that the direction of projection of sound from the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  is generally toward the listener&#39;s ears. Thus, the speaker system of the invention is able to maximize the volume of acoustic energy actually received by the listener&#39;s ears for a given level of acoustic output from the speakers. This maximization is particularly advantageous in applications where persons other than the listener are in listening range of the speakers and would be disturbed by louder volume levels projecting therefrom. Such applications include, e.g., speaker systems for use at computer workstations in office buildings with multiple offices or cubicles in close proximity, and speaker systems for use with home computers that are used for video games where persons other than the game player would be disturbed by louder volume levels projecting from the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135 . This vertical adjustability about a horizontal axis further provides a means to maximize the stereo imaging of the sound from the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  as perceived by the listener.  
         [0019]     The left and right support bases  175 ,  177  each include a down-firing mid-bass driver  178 ,  179  behind left and right speaker grills  181 ,  182 . The down-firing mid-bass drivers  178 ,  179  may be, e.g., 3″ mid-bass drivers, the frequency range of which has an upper limit that is lower than the upper limit of the frequency range of the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135 . The down-firing mid-bass drivers  178 ,  179  together with the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  reproduce sound in a frequency range of, e.g., 160 Hz to 20 kHz. In one embodiment, the left and right support bases  175 ,  177  are in ported enclosures. A port in the enclosure (not shown) may be directed through porting chamber to an opening. In one embodiment, the porting chamber is formed out of or within a the hinged connection  192 . In one embodiment, the porting chamber is formed from or directed through the hinged connection  192  and opens through the a face of the speaker housing  110  such that the direction of projection of sound through the port is generally toward the listener&#39;s ears.  
         [0020]     Left and right cables  160 ,  165  are provided to connect the speaker support bases  175 ,  177 , respectively, with the subwoofer  105 , which is connected to the audio source. The housing of the subwoofer  105  preferably encloses an audio amplifier with gain adjustment (not shown) so that the speaker system can be driven by a line level input from an audio device such as a PC soundcard or portable media player. The housing of the subwoofer  105  further encloses a crossover (not shown) which, for each of the left and right audio channels, splits out the mid-bass to higher-frequency component of the audio signal from the audio source and sends those components to the respective satellites for reproduction by the drivers  120 ,  125 ,  130 ,  135  and the down-firing mid-bass drivers  178 ,  179 . Each of the support bases  175 ,  177  may include a second crossover for splitting that component into separate mid-bass and higher-frequency components to respectively drive the drivers and the down-firing mid-bass drivers.  
         [0021]     The left cable  160  or the right cable  165  may include extra wire conductors to separately conduct a gain control signal from a volume control  201  mounted on one of the support bases  177  to the amplifier within the housing of the subwoofer  105 . The left cable  160  or the right cable  165  may further include extra wire conductors to separately conduct a stereo audio signal from the amplifier within the housing of the subwoofer  105  to a headphone jack  202  mounted on one of the support bases  177 . An infrared or RF wireless remote control  206  may be provided for remote control of volume, treble, bass, loudness, or other function. A mounting bracket  207  may be provided for temporary storage of the wireless remote control  206  when not in use, the mounting bracket  207  being mountable on a flat surface convenient to the listener. A receiver for the receiving and decoding the infrared or RF signal transmitted by the wireless remote control  206  may be provided, e.g., on one of the satellite speakers housings  100 ,  110  or on the enclosure of the subwoofer  105 .  
         [0022]     While the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.