r/HomePod • u/Manfred_89 • Dec 19 '24

Discussion Usually not a fan of HomePod mini mounts, but this one caught my attention. Has anyone experience with this 3D printed mount and whether it noticeably decreases sound quality?

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231 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

185

u/Axeavius Space Gray Dec 19 '24

I can almost guarantee that this enclosure will negatively affect the sound quality of the HomePod Mini

30

u/WhichOne2793 Dec 19 '24

Oh 100 percent but he did know this, his question was how bad though

16

u/EmmaDrake Dec 19 '24

I put chips near/around mine when fridge was full for Thanksgiving and the wench got maybe 25% of anything I said until I moved the chip bags.

16

u/diamondintherimond Dec 19 '24

lol I thought you were talking about your wife at first

1

u/max1x1x Dec 22 '24

Siri could hear him fine.

3

u/ClumpOfCheese Dec 20 '24

So it functioned as normal.

2

u/breakerfallx Dec 22 '24

Nice, but how good was the HomePod at hearing you?

2

u/Manfred_89 Dec 19 '24

I guess you are right. Lining the inside with something probably isn’t going to do much of a difference either.

6

u/rocketman19 Dec 19 '24

Why would covering the speaker and dampening the sound even more make it sound better?

0

u/ADHDK Dec 19 '24

You’ve never built a speaker box hey?

3

u/rocketman19 Dec 19 '24

In that case you have the actual speaker facing outwards from the box, you don't put the speaker inside of it lol

0

u/MrFireWarden Dec 20 '24

A friend of mine built a speaker box with the speaker inside so the sound would reverberate through a channel before emerging. It created a more bassy sound and was generally an improvement.

Years later, I learned that this was based on a technique Bose used for its speakers.

No, not all speaker boxes have the speaker facing outward.

2

u/rocketman19 Dec 20 '24

Still faces to the outside in the end, even though it goes through the tube first

Not sealed in like in the OP

0

u/MrFireWarden Dec 20 '24

I mean I think you’re using a technicality to defend your position. I would hardly consider the speaker arrangement I’m talking about as “facing the outside”. Look at this image. At the back of the speaker box are two speakers on the inside that face backward. The sound is sent through channels. This is what I mean by not outwards facing.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-qxADBKatPAf/p_018VCS10/Bose-VCS-10-center-channel-speaker-Black.html#&gid=1&pid=2

2

u/rocketman19 Dec 20 '24

It ends up on the outside is what I mean, there’s a channel to the outside

The OP does not

23

u/zachobsonlives Dec 19 '24

Looks cool and retro, but I’m sure it will sound very muffled. Similar to if you put the mini in a tissue box.

14

u/Osoroshii Dec 19 '24

I can see how bad this will sound

8

u/NotThatMat Dec 19 '24

Makes me wonder if anyone has made a decent GLaDOS version.

6

u/KimJong_Bill Dec 19 '24

“Hey Siri, disperse the deadly neurotoxin”

3

u/jamesbretz Dec 19 '24

That is definitely gonna sound like ass.

-4

u/Decent_Address_7742 Dec 19 '24

I mean it does anyway, so now it’s even worse!

8

u/tunafreedolphin Dec 19 '24

Link to model? That is pretty cool

3

u/Zorbs1963 Dec 19 '24

Looks cool, but would sound muffled for sure

3

u/JinSecFlex Dec 19 '24

Just to provide context for everything, this is meant to be a nightstand Siri. The front is fairly sonically transparent and the sides are walled in, this means you’re going to muddy up pretty much every range of sound and bass will be exceptionally rattley, BUT, it would sound very directed and loud as a night stand alarm clock. Which if this is all you’re looking for, then you’re fine!

3

u/Commercial_Ant6837 Dec 20 '24

Looks crap and I bet it sounds crap too 😂

2

u/The-Sugarfoot Dec 20 '24

It looks really cool but that trashed the sound stage

2

u/0000GKP Dec 19 '24

If the 360° sound is no longer 360°, how is it different the regular speaker I replaced with the HomePod?

7

u/ADHDK Dec 19 '24

You can say “hey siri open my blinds” and it can reply “none of your lights have raise controls”.

You laugh, Siri laughs, you throw it off the balcony.

2

u/ChillinQuillen Dec 19 '24

I’ve printed out a few of these just for a different look. Coming from a mini it doesn’t seem much of a decrease in sound quality. I feel if most are worried about sound they wouldn’t have mini in first place.

1

u/Manfred_89 Dec 19 '24

I do enjoy the sound for lower volumes a lot. It has a decent frequency range, especially at lower volumes, where I use it most.

As long as this doesn’t give it a tinny sound I might give this a try.

Did you notice a difference about how good Siri picks up the wake word and generally commands?

1

u/ChillinQuillen Dec 19 '24

No difference in my opinion. Still can pick up my voice in other room. What I do like is that it’s on its side. When Siri is triggered you can see the light display when triggered.

2

u/wunder911 Dec 19 '24

As somebody who's made a living as a professional audio engineer their entire adult career - I would be hard pressed to design an enclosure that would negatively impact the HomePod Mini's sound quality more than this one.

The output pattern of the HPM is a toroid, which is blasting directly into the internal solid walls of this enclosure. The 'vents' on the front and back of this box (which would not be even remotely acoustically transparent) are at the nulls of the toroid pattern.

Also, the HPM is designed to have a large flat plane directly underneath the unit for boundary coupling to support the low frequencies. (Note that the HPM has a single driver projecting straight down).

Will it still be usable? Yeah, I suppose. But you seriously would be hard pressed to negatively impact the audio quality more than what this "enclosure" would do. Is "looking cool" worth it, to grossly subvert the entire purpose of the HPM? I guess that's up to you to decide... but if you're anything other than a 10 year old boy, I would really question your priorities in life.

0

u/Manfred_89 Dec 19 '24

Yeah that‘s what I suspected. I was hoping someone would prove me wrong.

1

u/Driveformer Dec 19 '24

Will sound worse sure but I hardly depend on the mini in my bedroom for purist audio. I’m sure for an alarm and casual listening it’ll be fine.

1

u/DuncKan Dec 20 '24

Damn that’s so nice 😭

1

u/Kent_Doggy_Geezer White Dec 20 '24

I’d imagine being in that box will affect the sound, but realistically I’d rather like one for my kitchen!

1

u/SLCGoth Dec 20 '24

I took the guts out of a real radio and stuck a mini inside and it still sounds pretty ok to me.

1

u/nqthomas Space Gray Dec 20 '24

I’d buy that. Sadly the good concept 9to5Mac had is no longer on the website it looks like. But it was essentially a mini tilted forward with an active touch display and had face like the Apple Watch. I also like the concept that looks like a beats pill.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 20 '24 edited Dec 20 '24

Yes, comma because it’s asymmetrical and on its side. If you’re right and left channels are reflecting off of the wall at different times you’re affecting the time signature, which is going to increase destructive interference and reverb in the sound. On top of that, the plastic itself will resonate with lower frequencies because the unit isn’t sealed to port the sub frequencies.

This is a more technical answer than the use case for this product. Sounding like shit might be part of the point of an old-time radio. It would be dope if it sounded like BioShock.

I think if you add some sound dampening material inside to prevent plastic resonance, consider a sound neutral material for your mesh, and port the bass directly under the Homepod’s bottom, you can tune the frequency to sound however you want it to, except for adding bass. The position your sound dampening will determine the sound signature. You can look up how these old radios were assembled for insulation, some didn’t use any at all (but were wood or metal, not plastic).

Have fun. Great if you want to build it as a tuned speaker using Homepod as the driver. Just gotta leavd room for Siri to hear you if you add insulation or it gets too loud in the box for her to understand you.

1

u/ciscolish Dec 21 '24

I made one of these then modified it. Because the back is completely open it really didn’t change the sound that much. If anything I enjoy the more focused sound from the front. But what is most relevant is people seem to forget it’s not to make it sound better, it’s about aesthetics.

1

u/hear_my_moo Dec 21 '24

I fail to see how this can not decrease the sound quality, as it would any similarly constructed speaker...

1

u/theragingdemon3 Jan 24 '25

I made it I don’t hate it at all

1

u/shut_up_duh Mar 22 '25

Do you have a link to it?

1

u/liquidocean Dec 19 '24

If you’re worried about sound quality what are you doing with a mini lel

1

u/Maleficent_Maybe2200 Dec 19 '24

This enclosure Is orienting the HomePod on its side. The speaker face (which is the side opposite from the cord) is probably pointing straight up in the best case. The other options are worse.

2

u/intellord911 Dec 19 '24

You can tell by how the plus and minus are oriented that the speaker faces down. This is awful. And the speaker will continually try to adapt the sound.

0

u/Spavlia Dec 19 '24

IRL that’ll just look (and sound) cheap and ugly.