SpherBedev 2.0

A fifty-node spherical loudspeaker array for Ambisonic playback.

A fifty-node spherical loudspeaker array for Ambisonic playback.

This spherical loudspeaker array of 2.14 m diameter is the second prototype I built during my PhD1 for the reconstruction of sound fields with Higher Order Ambisonics. The loudspeaker distribution follows a Lebedev mesh which has interesting properties for sound field sampling with spherical harmonics 2 3.

SpherBedev1.0
Figure 1: The SpherBedev 2.0 mounted inside the Wave Field Synthesis loudspeaker array at Sherbrooke University.

Several upgrades from the SpherBedev 1.0 version were made:

  • The speakers are now 3” wideband speakers from Aura Sound: NS3-193-8A.
  • The entire support structure is more robust. It is made of solid aluminum rods and all the parts have been CNC machined. As for the 1.0 version, the structure can be disassembled and fit into a transport case.

The folowing video shows a timelapse of the assembly of SpherBedev 2.0:

More details on the conception/realization are given in my PhD manuscript1 (in French).

The SpherBedev 2.0 array is located at the Sherbrooke University in Québec, at the GAUS laboratory.

Thanks to the the technicians of the GAUS laboratory for their help during the realization of this SpherBedev 2.0!

  1. P. Lecomte, « Ambisonie d’ordre élevé en trois dimensions : captation, transformations et décodage adaptatifs de champs sonores », Université de Sherbrooke - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Sherbrooke - Paris, 2016.  2

  2. P. Lecomte, P.-A. Gauthier, C. Langrenne, A. Garcia, et A. Berry, « On the use of a Lebedev grid for Ambisonics », Audio Engineering Society Convention 139, AES, New York, 2015. 

  3. P. Lecomte, P.-A. Gauthier, C. Langrenne, A. Berry, et A. Garcia, « A Fifty-Node Lebedev Grid and Its Applications to Ambisonics », Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, vol. 64, nᵒ 11, p. 868‑881, 2016.