[HN Gopher] Mitsubishi Diatone D-160 (1985)
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       Mitsubishi Diatone D-160 (1985)
        
       Author : anigbrowl
       Score  : 74 points
       Date   : 2025-12-29 02:08 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (audio-database.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (audio-database.com)
        
       | SockThief wrote:
       | > It seems that the unit with the unusual size of 160 cm had a
       | lot of difficulty in the characteristic test. At the Koriyama
       | Test at the Koriyama Factory was carried out in the measurement
       | room at first, but it was stopped because fluorescent lamps on
       | the ceiling fell due to vibration. It seems that the
       | characteristic test was carried out at the ground in the factory
       | premises.
       | 
       | > The outdoor test seemed to have a negative impact on the
       | neighborhood. At a distance of about 100m from the speaker, it
       | was felt as sound, but at a distance of more than that, it was
       | transmitted as vibration and earth rumbling instead of audible
       | sound. Within a radius of 2 km from the factory, there were
       | damages such as vibrations like earthquakes and earth rumbling,
       | and sound of walls and windows.
        
       | fancyfredbot wrote:
       | Very sceptical that a 3kW speaker can cause "earthquake like
       | vibrations with a radius of 2km".
        
         | EvanAnderson wrote:
         | I can't help but think it would be fun to try to verify the
         | claim, though.
        
           | ssl-3 wrote:
           | Fun? Sure. It is indeed fun to play with big speakers.
           | 
           | Direct-radiating bass reproduction is all about displacement,
           | and the area of the piston (cone) is certainly a factor of
           | that. More tends to be... well, more.
           | 
           | And this mysterious speaker (which there seems to be no color
           | photos of, despite the 1981 date) has a radiating area of
           | perhaps about 2 square meters.
           | 
           | That's around the same as qty. 18 of 18" woofers.
           | 
           | It's easy to find collections of way, way more than that.
           | People even charge money to hear them; they're on the ground
           | between the stage and the crowd barrier at any big rock show.
           | :)
        
             | kalleboo wrote:
             | The japanese version of the article linked in another
             | comment has a color photo (which appears to be a magazine
             | scan) https://audio-
             | heritage.jp/DIATONE/diatonesp/d-160(1).jpg
        
           | qingcharles wrote:
           | Marty McFly is volunteering to test it.
        
         | MarkusWandel wrote:
         | Resonance! Very minor earthquakes _can_ knock picutures off the
         | walls, items off the shelves etc. if they just happen to hit
         | the right resonant frequency. So if you flood the area with
         | 8Hz-ish acoustic energy, some stuff will start to shake.
        
       | yapyap wrote:
       | wowie
        
       | duskwuff wrote:
       | "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy notes that Disaster Area,
       | a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are
       | generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the
       | Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all. Regular
       | concert goers judge that the best sound balance is usually to be
       | heard from within large concrete bunkers some thirty-seven miles
       | from the stage, whilst the musicians themselves play their
       | instruments by remote control from within a heavily insulated
       | spaceship which stays in orbit around the planet - or more
       | frequently around a completely different planet. [...] Many
       | worlds have now banned their act altogether, sometimes for
       | artistic reasons, but most commonly because the band's public
       | address system contravenes local strategic arms limitations
       | treaties."
       | 
       | ( _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_ , Douglas Adams)
        
       | thrdbndndn wrote:
       | Is the article itself written by the manufacturer or a 3rd party?
       | It keeps saying "we ..." but then also "[i]t seems that ...".
       | 
       | Edit: apparently the site is translated from its original
       | Japanese version, which explains these weird wordings.
       | 
       | The original article is here, which has more pictures too:
       | https://audio-heritage.jp/DIATONE/diatonesp/d-160.html
        
       | buildsjets wrote:
       | For many many years I have kept a design file on a subwoofer
       | which would be far larger than this. 3kW is jack crap. The
       | subwoofer I have in the trunk of my daily driver is almost 1kW.
       | I'm thinking more like 95 KVA, or 76kW at an assumed 0.8 power
       | factor. 3" cone displacement and 18,000 LbF available to drive
       | the cone. Low pass filtered at 2000 hz. I am entertaining all
       | offers from our resident billionaires to quit my job at the jet
       | building factory to create such a device. We can drag it to
       | Burning Man. Our first capex will be this big ol electrodynamic
       | shaker head.
       | 
       | https://www.udco.com/products/electrodynamic-shaker-systems/...
        
         | pySSK wrote:
         | Gorgeous. Not a billionaire but approximately how much would
         | this cost to build?
        
           | WorkerBee28474 wrote:
           | ~100K USD
        
             | buildsjets wrote:
             | For the labor? Sure.
        
       | nineteen999 wrote:
       | Can only imagine the power efficiency of this was horrible.
        
       | JSR_FDED wrote:
       | Don't they use something like this on ships to fend off pirates
       | who want to board?
        
         | WorkerBee28474 wrote:
         | Yes, "LRAD"s.
        
       | ominous_prime wrote:
       | The claims sound somewhat exaggerated, 5kw of subwoofer is
       | nothing in live music venues, though they purposely don't go as
       | low. Here's some more modern "big" subs, which are larger and can
       | radiate significantly more power
       | 
       | https://www.aia-cinema.com/products/the64-sub-pro-passive-se...
       | 
       | https://www.aia-cinema.com/products/the100-sub-pro-passive-s...
        
         | readingnews wrote:
         | Thanks for the links, that is a company I did not know existed,
         | and the woofers are interesting. Really makes you wonder if
         | they have overcome the traditional problems of large woofers.
         | The Fostex super woofer users recommended rotating it once a
         | year due to its own weight possibly deforming the spider
         | structure of the woofer, at only 27" across. 60" or 100" across
         | is back to the future level ridiculous. As another poster said,
         | I can not see this outperforming several smaller units, but I
         | would love to see/hear it in action.
        
           | ahoka wrote:
           | "Really makes you wonder if they have overcome the
           | traditional problems of large woofers."
           | 
           | Having to listen to others bad music, even if I don't want
           | to?
        
         | RamRodification wrote:
         | Speaking of exaggerations, there is some hilarious marketing
         | language on those pages. A couple of examples:
         | 
         |  _> It captures both the weight of a collapsing mountain and
         | the whisper of tectonic tension with equal ease._
         | 
         |  _> THE100 SUB PRO PASSIVE doesn't just play low frequencies --
         | it summons them from the earth itself._
        
       | bob1029 wrote:
       | 160cm is ridiculous. There is no advantage to this over multiple
       | drivers in the same size enclosure. You'll get significantly
       | lower distortion with an array of smaller units. The rigidity of
       | the speaker cone is a big deal. Smaller ones are easier to make
       | stiffer.
        
         | bayindirh wrote:
         | This is not built to reproduce sound, but as a vibration and
         | sound pressure source as far as I understood it.
        
       | kotaKat wrote:
       | https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20190605/03/nightwish-dais...
       | 
       | Mounted to the front of a forklift I'd have to say _that 's a
       | loud horn!_
        
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       (page generated 2025-12-31 23:02 UTC)