Patents Assigned to Polk Investment Corporation
  • Patent number: 5696357
    Abstract: A bass-reflex loudspeaker system includes a number of ports configured to reduce acoustic depth mode re-radiation associated with the loudspeaker cabinet during use. The length of a first port is dependent upon the interior depth of the loudspeaker cabinet and the first port is configured such that the half-wavelength resonance of the first port coincides with the half-wavelength depth mode resonance of the loudspeaker cabinet. The length of a second port is less than the length of the first port and the cross sectional area of the first port is approximately equal to the cross sectional area of the second port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1997
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventor: Bradely M. Starobin
  • Patent number: 5517573
    Abstract: A vented loudspeaker system is provided which has at least one active driver and a port opening in a speaker cabinet, Disks or baffle plates are mounted a predetermined distance to and concentric to the port opening, resulting in a vented system achieving an equivalent performance as would result from a flared, ducted port, but with several performance advantages and simpler construction. Flow guides are provided, attached to the disks or baffle plates, extending back into the port to block areas of stagnant air and enhance laminar air flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 1994
    Date of Patent: May 14, 1996
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew S. Polk, Colin B. Campbell
  • Patent number: 5475764
    Abstract: A single-vented bandpass woofer loudspeaker system design and method for enabling operation in smaller enclosure volumes with only moderate loss of efficiency. The bandpass system has an enclosure with a partition dividing it into a first sealed chamber and a second chamber having a passive radiating port communicating with air outside the enclosure. A driver is mounted in the partition. Novel, empirically determined tuning ratios which depend upon system variables are defined. By adjusting the system variables to keep the tuning ratios within empirically determined values, a good relationship between flat response, bandwidth and efficiency is achieved. Unexpectedly, using a higher than normal moving mass of the driver leads to an acceptable system with a very small enclosure volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 1994
    Date of Patent: December 12, 1995
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventor: Matthew S. Polk
  • Patent number: 4903300
    Abstract: A loudspeaker system is provided for installation in a space between a front panel and an enclosed area behind the front panel of a partition such as a wall, ceiling or floor fronting a listening area. Electroacoustical transducers are provided which have a two sided vibratory diaphragm driven by an electrical signal. An enclosure mounts the electroacoustical transducers such that one side of the vibratory diaphragm is in contact with air outside the enclosing between the front and rear panels of the partition, with the enclosure being configured to substantially enclose and define a specific volume of air within the enclosure having a predefined acoustic compliance and which is in contact with the other side of the vibratory diaphragm of the electroacoustical transducers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 20, 1990
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventor: Matthew S. Polk
  • Patent number: 4759066
    Abstract: A loudspeaker system for reproducing stereophonic sound having an expanded acoustic image has left and right main speakers and left and right dimensional speakers. The main speakers are fed the right and left channel signals R and L and the dimensional speakers are fed the difference signals R - L and L - R. Interspeaker cabling includes one or more transformers used to develop and couple the difference signals to the dimensional speakers, which serve as isolation means and also suppress the -R and -L components of the difference signals for low frequencies. The loudspeaker system is particularly suited for automobile installations where the main speakers are in front and the dimensional speakers in the rear of the automobile interior, or vice versa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 1987
    Date of Patent: July 19, 1988
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew S. Polk, Colin B. Campbell
  • Patent number: D350135
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 1992
    Date of Patent: August 30, 1994
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew S. Polk, Jr., William E. Rupert
  • Patent number: D351388
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 1992
    Date of Patent: October 11, 1994
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventors: Keith A. Ballard, Allen S. Baron, Gary B. Davis, Christian H. Fink, Stuart W. Lumsden, Dale B. Rose, Peter W. Bressler
  • Patent number: D351839
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1992
    Date of Patent: October 25, 1994
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventors: Keith A. Ballard, Allen S. Baron, Gary B. Davis, Christian H. Fink, Stuart W. Lumsden, Dale B. Rose, Peter W. Bressler
  • Patent number: D357480
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 18, 1995
    Assignee: Polk Investment Corporation
    Inventors: Stuart W. Lumsden, John D. Crisco, Matthew P. Lyons, Allen S. Baron