Welcome to Cabin43 Audio
A blog documenting a journey that’s equal parts engineering, philosophy, and deep listening.
Resonance & Reality: Building Loudspeakers That Sing
At the heart of this project is a simple but radical goal: to build a loudspeaker that doesn't sound like a loudspeaker. Instead, one that breathes, resonates, and communicates like a real, live instrument. A speaker that makes you forget you're listening to an audio system—and instead makes you feel like someone is playing in your room.
The Spark: Realworldaudio
This project draws deep inspiration from Realworldaudio, a site and YouTube channel that challenges modern audio convention. It doesn’t chase perfection in measurements or the latest trends. Instead, it asks a deeper question: What does it take for a loudspeaker or audio system to sound real?
Not accurate—real.
That question struck a chord with me. I began to look at loudspeakers not as devices, but as musical instruments in their own right. Just as a cello or guitar relies on its resonant body to project life into every note, what if our loudspeakers could do the same?
The Concept: Resonant, Musical, Alive
The loudspeaker I’m designing is built around that very idea. It uses thin, resonant panels with light bracing—not unlike a violin top or a speaker soundboard. These “active” panels are not rigidly silenced like in most modern box designs. They are meant to participate in the music, to vibrate, to add life.
The result isn’t a dry reproduction. It’s not hyper-analytical. It’s something warmer, more human, more immediate. The goal isn’t perfect neutrality—it’s to make your spine tingle when the cello begins to sing or the piano hammers strike home.
This is about capturing the presence of the performance, not just its sound.
Why This Blog?
This blog will serve as a kind of notebook / journal: a place to document the design process, share listening impressions, and explore the sonic philosophy behind each choice.
If you’ve ever felt something missing from traditional speaker designs—or if you just want to hear music the way it feels when played live—then I think you’ll find something meaningful here.
Let’s see what happens when we stop designing speakers like analytical equipment—and start building them like instruments.
Thanks for reading. See you in the next post.
– Fulco Bouma
