Muro Box−N40 进度报告 #7- 音箱设计 (问卷 #5 第一部份结果出炉)
大家好，我是Muro Box 发明人-冯振祥，以下为本次进度报告的重点：
1. 解释目前设计的方向
2. 摘要目前问卷 #5结果Part1:音箱设计，标示既有客户和尚未购买的客户的回应比例，呈现N40新产品订阅者的整体意见趋势
3. 感谢几位读者特别花时间查询资料，以提供我们后续进行音质/工法/材质相关研究
[1] 解释目前设计的方向
真的非常感谢各位的建议与踊跃的回应。经由问卷，在统计上我了解了大家的喜好与人数比例，但更重要的是，经由多位顾客提醒，我终于体会到八音盒真正的核心价值为何。
简单说，我所得到最重要收获，就是追求更好的声音是必须的，但不代表是要将音乐盒直接放到某种乐器的框框里。
比如说，前两天一位弹奏琵琶的顾客A到我们三重办公室取货音乐盒，我们就在现场访问他对各种音箱的想法，包含现场直接拿出吉他当作音箱做为测试。没想到A一听就直接说吉他残响较大，歌曲节奏较快就不适合。
其实我一听A的说明就直接震惊了。因为大型音乐盒的残响还远远长过我们目前的N20小音乐盒，所以声音延续更长 – 我一直理解是一个”好”的音乐盒特质。
声音的好坏真的是很主观的。我们如果以吉他为设计一定会顾此失彼，学谁都是不对，像音乐盒该有的样子才是正确答案。也就是外观是方形的盒形发出的声音，是目前最符合音乐盒价值观的选择。
另外一个大问题是音箱的大小。毫无疑问箱体越大越符合音乐盒华丽的声音效果。但如果按照声音的波长来计算，一公尺宽的箱体才是我们最佳的尺寸，这并不符合我们目前顾客对产品大小的期待。
所以目前最佳的作法，应该是在达到基本共鸣效果的同时，尽量缩小尺寸，让想要有扩音效果的顾客自行将N40与喜欢的外部共鸣箱结合。
也就是我们会将N40箱体 (350 x 200 x 90 mm) 限制大小，约为我们目前N20共鸣箱N20-RB的大小。也就是会提供基本的腔体容积给予N40低音基本的支援，让N40就算单独播放也不至于声音太过单薄。但如果想要追求更丰富的声音，请各位自行将N40与身边的乐器结合。
因此我们预计会特别设计额外的吉他外型共鸣箱，但会比较晚才执行。目前我们会专注在完善N40本身的设计。
针对外置共鸣箱，我们音箱会设计额外导音柱(soundpost)，以加强将声音传递给外置共鸣箱时的效果。
至于外型，既然没有要模仿乐器，我们将会延续系列中机心外露的透明上盖，木盒”方中带圆，圆中带方”的意象。材质我们正在思考中，除了木头之外，碳纤维也是我们目前考虑的选项之一。
[2] 摘要目前问卷 #5结果，呈现N40新产品订阅者的意见趋势
本次问卷 #5 总共收集到91位读者回应，其中67位是英文读者，24位是中文读者。
67位英文读者中，已买过N20智慧音乐盒的有32位 (约47.3%)，尚未买过者有35位(约52.3%)。 24位中文读者中，已买过N20智慧音乐盒的有14位(约58.4%)，尚未买过者有10位(约41.6%)。
a.是否同意我们延后开发N40经典款?
67位英文读者中，同意延后者有57位 (约85%)，不同意者有35位(约13.1%)，其他意见1人。
24位中文读者中，同意延后者有20位 (约83.3%)，不同意者有4位(约16.7%)，其他意见0人。
不同意者主要是希望N40经典款与N40标准版可以同时开发推出，以满足不同客群需求。
补充说明N40标准款与N40经典款差异：
◆Muro Box−N40 标准版 (Muro Box−N40 Standard):
基本上延续N20 标准版的零件与外观设计，尽量重复利用现有零件，售价2至2.5倍N20价格。主要增加功能是传统DIN 5 的MIDI 接口，与6.5mm Audio Out。主要客群是本来已有在玩MIDI键盘等相容数位乐器的专业音乐玩家。
◆Muro Box−N40 经典版 (Muro Box−N40 Classic):
更换所有可以让品质更好的零组件(如基座，齿轮，4片音梳)，外观将回归到传统的方正音乐盒外型。由于产量少无法规模化生产，售价至少会是4倍以上。主要客群是将N40经典款智慧音乐盒当传家宝收藏者，偏好外观有独特工艺设计者。
b.关于音箱设计
您对于N40箱体的设计，是视为"木盒"还是"音箱"?
67位英文读者回应之中，有53位 (约79.1%)视之为音箱，有10位(约14.9%) 视之为木箱，其他意见4位。
24位中文读者回应之中，有14位 (约58.3%)视之为音箱，有6位(约25%) 视之为木箱，其他意见4位。
觉得N40音乐盒应该听起来声音像什么?
67位英文读者回应之中:
有35位 (约52.5%)选择：我希望听起来可以更像乐器，符合现代乐器的声音标准，就算与印象中的音乐盒声音不太一样也没关系。
另外有27位(约42.2%)选择：我希望要维持音乐盒的声音，不完美就是音乐盒该有的样子。
有5位选：我有其他想法。
24位中文读者回应之中：
有11位 (约45.8%)选择：我希望听起来可以更像乐器，符合现代乐器的声音标准，就算与印象中的音乐盒声音不太一样也没关系。
另外有11位(约45.8%)选择：我希望要维持音乐盒的声音，不完美就是音乐盒该有的样子。
有2位选：我有其他想法。
可否接受N40音乐盒的体积有吉他琴身般的大小
67位英文读者回应之中：
有40位 (约59.7%)觉得：不可以，体积太大不好。另有25位(约37.3%)觉得可以，相较于声音品质，体积和运费都不是问题。有2位选：我有其他建议。
24位中文读者回应之中：
有20位 (约83.3%)觉得：不可以，体积太大不好。另有3位(约12.5%)觉得可以，相较于声音品质，体积和运费都不是问题。有1位选：我有其他建议。
可否将音乐盒直接做成乐器的外观吗?
67位英文读者回应之中：
有37位 (约55.2%)觉得可以。另有27位(约40.2%)觉得不可以。有3位选：我有其他建议。
24位中文读者回应之中：
有11位 (约45.8%)觉得可以。另有10位(约41.6%)觉得不可以。有3位选：我有其他建议。
可否同意将音乐盒的任务拆成给两部分，旋律与造型的部分交给N40音乐盒本体，而声音特色的部分交给额外的共鸣箱?
67位英文读者回应之中：
有57位 (约85%)同意，另有6位(约8.9%)不同意。有4位选：我有其他建议。
24位中文读者回应之中：
有23位 (约95.8%)同意，另有1位(约4.2%)不同意。
[3] 其他客户针对音箱设计的补充建议
感谢以下中文读者留言补充说明建议给我们：
1.薛小姐(N20客戶)：我會買是因為我喜歡音樂盒，我喜歡音樂盒發出的聲音。就算他受限至於龐大的音箱，發不出完美的聲音我也喜歡。市面上的播放器那麼多種類，要達到完美 並不一定要在這個上面去達成。
2.劉先生(N20客戶)：有實機辦試聽會聽再看看，或許可等比例再縮小。也可以用N20試看不同比例音箱。
3.田先生(N20客戶)：要做到40音階，其實就是朝鋼琴的概念在做，所以聲音的品質必然是重要的（包含機械噪音的降低），承接B20的操作功能，如果N40沒有在聲音上接近樂器的感覺，我到覺得就沒有開發的必要，因為到N40的價格一定是更高的，會願意擁有的客群一定對聲音的質感與外觀會有要求，對我而言應該會與我的高級音響放在一起成為聆聽音樂的另一種來源。他可能會成為少數人的禮品，但大多的應該會是對樂器本身的喜好而購買！
4.曾先生(N20客戶)：外觀第一，音色次之。總之外觀可以不傳統，但不可以大，更不可以醜。
5.卓先生(N20客戶)：能在音箱外觀上取得一個比較不突兀的外形。
6.花先生(N20客戶): 關於音箱的設置，我的建議是(在下非傳統音樂盒粉)，音樂盒放在不同的介質本來就會有不同的共鳴音色，這也是它的特性。 希望N40可以維持 N20的規劃 有基本能傳遞共鳴小巧又精美的機身、復古又時尚的造型(要求還真多) 一樣有選配的音箱(要強迫包套推銷 也OK啦)，若是分離式音箱 可以規劃，N20 N40都可以放置的溝槽。……我小時候頑皮把音樂盒機芯拆解，到處擺放，可以有很多不同的音色，印象最特別的是放在蛋捲鐵盒，音色會變成電音。…….關於貴司實測 吉他音箱的影片，吉他的琴弦已裝設，只要音箱共鳴，琴弦也會共振。 不知是否是這原因 ，才會有文中提到的貼近吉他音色，音箱是有它的響應特性，但是琴弦 機芯才是音色的本體，同把吉他，安裝鋼弦或尼龍弦也會有截然不同的音色。
7.陳先生(N20客戶)：我覺得音箱的存在是為了達成音樂盒演奏上的需求，例如增加高音域的飽滿度、利用擴增尾韻去遮掉機械作動音、提升快速音群的辨識度等等，而不是為了「像某個樂器一樣好」，因此應該會產生擁有自己形狀的共鳴箱才對，而不是直接像某個樂器。
8.王先生(N20客戶)：可以具有樂器的功能，但是外觀更有特色較佳。
9.張先生(非N20客戶)：敝人有許多不同的樂器，有琵琶、Alto烏克麗麗、玩具鋼琴、木箱鼓、秦琴（類似三弦琴）等等，我非常支持只做音樂盒本體，聲音造型則是自己找共鳴箱。音樂盒本體小的話，才能利用不同的樂器共鳴箱箱體來發出聲音，這可以「玩」出不同有趣的聲響，甚至是多買幾台放在不同的樂器共鳴箱上協同演奏的可能性。另外，貴公司也可以推出針對N40音樂盒設計的專用造型共鳴箱的周邊配件，可以搭配N40來使用，例如說是迷你平台鋼琴造型、留聲機造型，甚至是嶄新造型等等，這也建議找聲響工程師的顧問跟木工業者來進行造型開發，屆時N40 可以像是一個核心模組植入這個共鳴體的一個「洞」，完成「指揮艇組合」，就可變成一個嶄新的樂器，這對於沒有樂器的一般人，會很有吸引力，於是可以同時可以滿足演奏、創作的音樂人還有一般愛樂者的需要，另外這種音樂盒跟不同造型共鳴箱合体變成一個新樂器，也可能可以申請專利，或著制定出「標準尺寸規格」（可能不只置入，可能還包含插銷孔位，方便結合），讓第三方有意願來生產各式各樣有趣的共鳴箱箱體。
10.瓦希里亞(非N20客戶)：看過國內外的大小型音樂盒，大部分都是利用類似鋼琴的音箱或者號角喇叭的方式。你們要不要參考看看台南的文鼎留聲博物館的館藏，如果體積變這麼大，乾脆弄個可以放音樂紙捲機構進去。
11.Tony(非N20客戶)：入門的產品多賣一點，是好的決定。 這可以是長遠的方案。
感謝以下英文讀者留言補充說明建議給我們：
1.Jush K. (N20 customer): Consider forming a partnership with my colleagues at Vienna International. We distribute Hailun, Petrof, and Fazioli pianos through the US and global markets. Hailun, specifically, has perfected the meniscus (membrane) spruce soundboard for their grand pianos. A material such as this will be crucial to eliminate warranty claims on cracked soundboards in your N40 music boxes. This material could produce a tone similar to an N40 placed on a finely made acoustic guitar in a far more compact package at a lower cost. Email me and I will happily discuss ideas at length at no cost and later will introduce you to my colleagues. Your company deserves to succeed!
2.Bill Y. (N20 customer): Is it possible to have resonance boxes being modeled upon other instruments? For example, the resonance box of an Erhu is significantly smaller than a guitar (or even a Ukulele). Its less cursive shape may also allow better placement of the PCBs and other components. The existence of 中胡/二胡/高胡 shows that the size of the sound box could be matched to the range of the instrument.
3.M.Zahid (N20 customer): Keep the body like a traditional wooden box. The sound of a music box doesn’t really need to be that big. Additional sound boxes can always be made for resonance. Focus on the movement and comb and the original sound. Thank you.
4.M.J. Kim(N20 customer): Hello, I’m a very good user of Murobox n20. When I asked my friends about the charm of the n20, they said that the movement of the cogs while playing makes me feel comfortable! So I want to be able to see the cogs spinning when Murobox is playing 🙂 And I think the design of n20 is perfect. I think both men and women will like the round design. I’m looking forward to the release of the n40! Of course, the n20 is great, but some of the music was limited to play. Lastly, thank you for making a good product that I’ve dreamed of since I was young.
5.John S. (N20 customer): Make it beautiful so ladies will display it.
6.Makoto B. (N20 customer):
(1) I think the sound quality is important for the people who want to use N40 as a musical instrument, but the suitable size for my small living room is also important for me. I prefer N20 type one and the separate resonance box option.
(2) Sankyo provided the mechanical movement of a 20-note hand crank music box and some maniac makers installed it on a guitar-like sound box. One example is named “Garyu”.
(3) Another point is the play speed. The hand crank music box can change the speed manually and if Muro box has such function, it may widen the expression.
7.Laurent B. (N20 customer): vous avez toujours eu de très bonne idée je vous fais confiance des choix que vous allez faire (English translation: You have always had very good ideas, I trust you with the choices you are going to make.)
8.Brandon P. (N20 customer): I am very much looking forward to the N40 and can’t wait until I am able to purchase one. Thank you so much for the effort to create it!
9.Christophe D (N20 customer): I think that the shape has to be studied and adapted to the sound you want to get (a guitar body is for the sound and spectrum of a guitar… a musicBox probably deserve a specific shape and internal volume, and wood selection, and braces, etc.).To me the design of the music box itself MUST include the connection to the soundboard/sound box : like the bridge on a guitar, this is a key part of the sound transmission). Since the Muro Box needs power, it may be interesting to have a piezo on it and drive the soundbox using a transducer (and small amplifier) instead of a traditional mechanical coupling via a bridge. That would also give a lot of freedom to the design.
10.Kilsang L. (N20 customer): Hello. I prefer boxed designs. I think the music box’s charm is its incomplete sound quality and tuning. I think the sound quality of Murobox is already similar to Kalimba, so it’s beautiful enough.
11.Jordan T. (N20 customer): I think the recording of the guitar sounded LOVELY. You still retain the mechanical noises and the music box imperfections. To me, it’s about easy amplification and I’d much prefer that vs the practicality of a smaller size. I just think it’s very important to have the acoustic sound resonate in a stronger way (like it is with the guitar); unless you built in a small contact mic that helped. To me, that was the one thing missing from the N20 which I wished it had…and when I tried to mic it, it became too noisy and cumbersome.
12.Bert F. (N20 customer): We discussed my views of making different types of Muro Boxes for different audiences (one as a beautiful toy or gift and one for musicians). The toy variant (and I don’t mean that in any negative way!) should be nice-sounding and beautiful, the musicians’ version should be rugged, have MIDI, a wide note-range with all notes, and should offer an inbuilt pickup system. It should have an inbuilt pickup system and an output jack for connection to a mixing desk or amplifier.
13.Omeylan T. (N20 customer): Dear Muro Box Members, There were a lot of questions, how exactly should the N40 sound. In my opinion, it should be as close to the polyphonic play watches of the forelast century as possible. These are the iconic souls one finds so attractive in the old big watches. A very nice example is here: https://youtu.be/e6bRThvBnC4 By the way, this is also showing that an amazing sound does not necessarily require a shape that mimics other musical instruments (so no need to put the new box in a guitar body). After all, we do not want to get a bit differently sounding guitar, we would all like to hear an authentic sounding music box. Warm greetings from Germany, Sincerely, Omelyan.
14.Jae H. C. (N20 customer): My biggest complaint with N20 was having only the diatonic scale notes available. I didn’t notice this issue at the time of purchase and wouldn’t have bought it if I had known, as it significantly limits the playable repertoire. I am glad to see the range of notes available on N40. I am all for having as many chromatic notes available as possible for a wider range of possible repertoire, including new compositions. I believe a music box should be what it is, mechanized or not, to serve that function. Having a resonance box to make it pretend to be a live musical instrument for its sound’s sake is oxymoronic, in my opinion. One could always place the music box on a resonant surface to make the sound louder or rounder. I placed my N20 on a wooden shelf to find it too loud for my taste. To me, music boxes are attractive in their delicate nature, both in their complex construction and the precious sound produced. I don’t understand why some people would like to record the music box’s sound, it mutes the whole concept of music boxes. My hats off to the inventor, it’s truly an innovative product, and I look forward to seeing N40. All those available notes would be wonderful! I am a professional pianist and am itching to code in my favorite pieces and my own compositions, which I can finally do with N40. Good luck to you all!
15.Jeremy Y. (N20 customer): I think N40 is fascinating because it has 40 notes (meaning a wide sound range), but timing accuracy is more important than number of notes. Actually my MuroBox (the first model) has not good accuracy of playing notes, and I have been told that I must wait for a new model or update. so I request you to dedicate yourself to improving timing accuracy. Thank you.
16.Joeri (N20 customer): Dear Muro Box Team, Go for quality. That takes time. Use the time so good as possible. Thank you for your great products.
17.Nathan R. (not N20 customer): I’ve emailed separately, but I’m looking forward to this N40 product!
18.Dror F. (not N20 customer): I would like a total chromatic box.
19.Siegfried (not N20 customer): (1) Go for the kalimba look. (2) Look at the sizes of disc music boxes with approximately 40 teeth, but I would prefer rectangular not square.
(We want to especially thank Siegfried for sending us a lot of his research on music boxes. For the theme of this update, “the sound box design”, we only presented a tiny part of his suggestions.)
20.Steve (not N20 customer): I believe people will want to put this on their shelf to display, so if you make it too large with a big sound box some people may not buy it. You can always sell a sound box add-on for the N40 for people who want one. Not only will keeping the N40 smaller keep costs down, but it will reduce shipping as well. The lower you can get the N40’s price the better. If it costs too much I believe you will have a harder time selling it. Keep up the great work!
21.Simon B. (not N20 customer): I would like the sound to be like the antique Swiss boxes with a deep rich sound.
22.Ken B. (not N20 customer): First of all THANK YOU for sharing your design considerations and research and including us in the process each step of the way. Based on what you’ve told me, my ideal design would be a square soundbox. It would sound good yet retain both the look and the typical sound of a music box. I was one of the people who spoke of treating it as a musical instrument, but my intent was always for it to look and sound like a high quality music box, not to move away from that sound to some other instrument tonally. That said, I think the experimentation you did was a worthy pursuit. Again, thank you. I’m more excited than ever for the N40! Also, looking at the pitch chart and the different compromises between range vs. chromaticism, I can envision an N50 or N60 in the future 🙂
23.Ian S. (not N20 customer): Sometimes I get so focused on solving a difficult problem that I need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and recenter myself. I think this is what’s happening here. A music box should be small, portable, and easily giveable as a gift. The scale should be continuous, this is not an instrument, it is a music box. I know people have done some neat things with the murobox but it is a music box, it has limitations. People who want a music box want those limitations. They are supposed to make a small amount of noise not resonate like an instrument. I understand there are people interested in this who say they want this, but I’d be very surprised if they actually buy one of the guitar shaped monstrosities. I can use my iPad to write songs that sound like music boxes with no limitations. A midi keyboard. This is not what a music box should be like. Without limitations there can’t be the creativity that makes this project exciting, so please don’t try to turn it into an instrument. If people want to do that, they can modify it themselves. Keep a music box style design. Make it look like the n20 or set it into a different type of box maybe, but remember why you started this project in the first place.
24.Aya S. (not N20 customer): To be clear, I want the N40 Music Box to have the same design as the N20, with the relatively small rectangular resonance box. Trying to manufacture and add a massively large guitar-shaped resonance box will not only take up too much space in the home, it will also drive up the unit cost (not to mention the shipping cost) of the N40 to such a high extreme that the final product will be completely beyond the ability of most people to pay! (I certainly would not be able to purchase it in that form.) Please keep this in mind. Most of us are not millionaires. And yes, I think it is the greatest idea to make the N40’s scale start at F3 to be more similar to the paper strips of the regular 30-note music boxes, for the sake of sharing online. Thank you for listening to our opinions.
25.Alex B. (not N20 customer): I wanted this Muro N40 Standard to be MIDI controllable in the studio environment and to place upon various resonance boxes of my own to get different sound characters while accompanying my performances on other acoustic instruments and recording that with microphones in the room. I don’t really want to hear any machine aspect to it (motors turning and grinding). I don’t want any gaps in the scale. I don’t think it would look very pretty or cute mounted to an acoustic guitar body, but maybe borrowing from another instrument besides guitar. It should be able to amplify on its own just enough to reasonably compete with the motor noise and win that battle. Then we can set it atop our own larger resonance boxes such as acoustic guitar or Onde. Anyway, I am a bit confused about the difference between standard and classic, yet I believe you mean classic is the more basic one, without midi control. Can the N40 have an 18650 (or other) battery compartment and be rechargeable for standalone use (possibly via USB-C? Is the MIDI connection via USB-C? I wish it was a MIDI host and/or had MIDI DIN so I can play it most conveniently. Also, if it would receive MIDI over Bluetooth – that would be truly fantastic!
26.Nicolas (not N20 customer): You always talked about the shape, but did you consider taking another material, for example another kind of wood or perhaps something completely different like carbon fiber? There might be a significant impact too. By the way, I am not sure what you meant by talking about sound improvement. I have the feeling you speak about a louder and vibrant sound, but I don’t think this is the requirement for a music box. I think the music box should sound harmonious and soothing, it does not have to be loud and vibrant. Just my opinion, of course.
27.Daniel (not N20 customer): Offering different sound boxes seems like the way to go: create/sell two or three different sound box options so that customers can choose what best meets their individual tastes/needs.
28.Adam (not N20 customer):
(1) I truly think the best design would be the one that sounds the most like a music box. When I want to hear a music box or use one in recordings, it’s because I want to hear the character and feel the nostalgia of a music box. While changing the body shape to emulate something like a guitar body may make the N40 sound more “hi-fi” and give it a more extended frequency response, I personally believe you lose the character of what makes a music box so charming. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the design!
(2) I would prefer the N40 not need a large additional resonance box. Ideally, the natural volume of the N40 design would be loud enough to clearly record in a quiet room. I would be in favor of making a resonance box optional, as you can buy separately for the N20 currently. But I would not want it to be essential to the N40’s performance.
29.NaNo (not N20 customer): 1. I hope the size of the product is not too big. 2. Design can give up to some extent for sound. 3. I hope the machine noise is low.
30.Austin (not N20 customer): People probably disagree about perfect sound / imperfect sound. Maybe you can make multiple resonance boxes someday? (Modular, sold separately from the device) I would also be curious about a “soundproof” box (not now, but eventually). But any option shown is fine. I trust your decisions, follow your heart.
31.Evan (not N20 customer): If the N40 Classic is not available with the 2023 funding, I will wait for the N40 Classic, whether that’s 2024, 2025, or further away.
32.Alexis (not N20 customer):It would be a deal breaker to have a rechargeable battery instead of requiring the music box to be plugged in all the time. Would definitely increase portability and usability.
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