Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made • Hacker News Board

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#11

Post by thelazydogsback » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 7:41 PM UTC

"[book] gave us the secret ... sealed enclosure created two separate acoustic environments ... one inside the speaker enclosure ... and one outside, where the microphones were"

I would have thought that part of the design would have been self-evident?

As a TRS-80 owner starting in 1979 I also morn the loss of the inventor/creator version of Radio Shack - hung out there often walking back from school and many started learning BASIC programming (which at the time included hand-assembling Z-80 code in read/data statements and POKEing them in) in the store.

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#12

Post by coreyp_1 » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 7:53 PM UTC

jey wrote: post #3

coreyp_1 wrote: post #2

I'm sad to see Radio Shack so far from the "builders" market. I had to run to RS this weekend to try to find a part, only to find 3 salespeople who had no idea of how components or soldering worked. They seemed amazed that I would actually design my own circuits, while I look at what I am doing and consider it to be a bit amateurish. :(

You could move to Berkeley, where we still have Al Lasher's Electronics right in downtown with knowledgeable staff.

I'm @ Notre Dame. I have to use Amazon and eBay. :)

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#13

Post by StavrosK » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 7:54 PM UTC

jey wrote: post #3

coreyp_1 wrote: post #2

I'm sad to see Radio Shack so far from the "builders" market. I had to run to RS this weekend to try to find a part, only to find 3 salespeople who had no idea of how components or soldering worked. They seemed amazed that I would actually design my own circuits, while I look at what I am doing and consider it to be a bit amateurish. :(

You could move to Berkeley, where we still have Al Lasher's Electronics right in downtown with knowledgeable staff.

The main problem is that, if the staff know about how to design circuits, why are they working at an electronics store?

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#14

Post by nitrogen » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 8:13 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #13

jey wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could move to Berkeley, where we still have Al Lasher's Electronics right in downtown with knowledgeable staff.

The main problem is that, if the staff know about how to design circuits, why are they working at an electronics store?

Commission? Or maybe it's just a hobby?

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#15

Post by dsr_ » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 8:28 PM UTC

thelazydogsback wrote: post #11

"[book] gave us the secret ... sealed enclosure created two separate acoustic environments ... one inside the speaker enclosure ... and one outside, where the microphones were" I would have thought that part of the design would have been self-evident? As a TRS-80 owner starting in 1979 I also morn the loss of the inventor/creator version of Radio Shack - hung out there often walking back from school and many started…

There are a lot of speaker designs. To begin with: how much power do you have available? If you need to depend on the power from the phone line, you need a very efficient speaker -- a horn design, most likely. If you have an external power source, you get a better amplifier, and you can use a less efficient dynamic speaker. What do you put it in? You can leave it unsealed; you can port it carefully; you can seal it in a box -- but what size box?

Turns out that the characteristics of the speaker and the size of the box together determine the performance of the speaker.

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#16

Post by bluedino » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 8:38 PM UTC

>> Working from those insights, we built our first physical model in a single weekend using plastic panels from the hobby shop, hot glue, and an off-the-shelf paper-cone speaker.

Who needs a 3D printer?

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#17

Post by michaelt » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 8:40 PM UTC

nitrogen wrote: post #14

StavrosK wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem is that, if the staff know about how to design circuits, why are they working at an electronics store?

Commission? Or maybe it's just a hobby?

I can't imagine there's much commission to be made selling a Raspberry Pi :)

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#18

Post by 6stringmerc » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 8:45 PM UTC

Took me a while to see where the article was going, and was plenty surprised to see...that thing...the conference room speakerphone that was, in my experience, somewhere between barely functional and purposefully infuriating. I do not have a high opinion of the product after using it. Much like Bose. Hooray for making a lot of money, Monster Cables & Beats headphones style though.

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#19

Post by thelazydogsback » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #15

thelazydogsback wrote: post #11

"[book] gave us the secret ... sealed enclosure created two separate acoustic environments ... one inside the speaker enclosure ... and one outside, where the microphones were" I would have thought that part of the design would have been self-evident? As a TRS-80 owner starting in 1979 I also morn the loss of the inventor/creator version of Radio Shack - hung out there often walking back from school and many started…

There are a lot of speaker designs. To begin with: how much power do you have available? If you need to depend on the power from the phone line, you need a very efficient speaker -- a horn design, most likely. If you have an external power source, you get a better amplifier, and you can use a less efficient dynamic speaker. What do you put it in? You can leave it unsealed; you can port it carefully; you can seal it i…

They weren't using the POTS line for power (though I remember holding the leads when a ring signal came in - quite a shock! - seemed like the NYC local-loops must have had a RI# of about 20 at the time...) -- and they weren't just building a speaker - they were building a speaker in the same enclosure as microphones, so physical isolation seems like it would be top on the list. (Though even that would have only helped with freqs <= a few hundred Hz, so their active cancellation would still be key...) No big deal - it just "seems" obvious, but I wasn't there...

Re: Polycom’s co-founder on the best investment he ever made

#20

Post by thelazydogsback » Mon, Jul 25, 2016, 9:00 PM UTC

dsr_ wrote: post #15

thelazydogsback wrote: post #11

"[book] gave us the secret ... sealed enclosure created two separate acoustic environments ... one inside the speaker enclosure ... and one outside, where the microphones were" I would have thought that part of the design would have been self-evident? As a TRS-80 owner starting in 1979 I also morn the loss of the inventor/creator version of Radio Shack - hung out there often walking back from school and many started…

There are a lot of speaker designs. To begin with: how much power do you have available? If you need to depend on the power from the phone line, you need a very efficient speaker -- a horn design, most likely. If you have an external power source, you get a better amplifier, and you can use a less efficient dynamic speaker. What do you put it in? You can leave it unsealed; you can port it carefully; you can seal it i…

And, if they did hang out at Radio Shack, they would have come across the venerable Minimus-7 - one of the first examples ever of a high-performing micro speaker with a sealed-enclosure design, that still stands up to the test of time.

http://www.retrothing.com/2011/06/minimus-speaker.html