A rear speaker unit for a motor vehicle is disposed in an elongate space such as a space which is defined between one of opposite sides of a rear seat and a vehicle body side panel. The speaker unit is made up of a tubular and substantially cylindrical speaker box and a speaker which is supported by the front end of the speaker box. The speaker box is elongate in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body and has a front end portion which is so bent as to face the center of a passenger compartment of the vehicle. Hence, the speaker mounted on the front end of the speaker box also faces the center of the passenger compartment.

A compact speaker system is capable of reproducing a heavy bass sound with a superior transition characteristic. A sound radiated from a speaker unit passes through a three-dimensional spiral sound passage formed by a coaxial dual-tube structure provided in front of the speaker unit. In the coaxial dual-tube structure, a spiral partition plate is provided to bridge a gap between an outer tube and an inner tube so as to form the spiral sound passage.

This invention relates to a loudspeaker having a plurality of sound collecting tubes attached to the rear of the speaker frame or the sound collecting tubes forming the speaker frame for collecting and directing sound waves emitted toward the rear of the speaker diaphragm. The sound collecting tubes are particularly useful for directing and boosting sound waves emitted from the rear of the speaker which is otherwise dissipated or absorbed by the loudspeaker housing material or insulation. In addition, conventional or specialized sound horns may be readily attached to the outlet end of the sound collecting tubes which can direct sound waves emitted by the speaker to any desired direction.

A sound radiating loudspeaker and tubular enclosure combination wherein the tubular enclosure is either formed in a helical configuration or two or more straight tubular sections which interest each other at an angle. In either form the tube is capable of free standing on a supporting surface with a loudspeaker closing the upper end of the tube and angled generally toward a listening area. Also in either form, additional speakers enclosed in shorter tubes may be joined to the main tube with all speakers either in a common plane or in planes at a slight angle to one another.

A loudspeaker system and a loudspeaker housing system uses a plurality of smaller rated loudspeakers to generate a high-level output. Specifically, the plurality of loudspeakers are housed in a corresponding number of substantially cylindrical sound collecting tubes, one tube for each loudspeaker. Sound waves, which are generated toward the rear of each loudspeaker and which are otherwise attenuated by the insulation material or reflected by baffles and/or walls and ultimately dissipate, instead travel through the tube, the tube forming a sound traveling path. Each tube converge and merge smoothly into a single substantially cylindrical tube. The sound waves traveling through the individual tubes are merged at the converged tube. The outlet of the single converged tube is connected to or is integral with a conventional or specialized sound concentrating horn to direct the captured sound to a desired direction.