adhoc Flow/1
Compact Form.
Expansive Sound.
Flow/1 is a compact 3D-printed loudspeaker based on a folded coaxial tapered quarter-wave tube. It is for makers who want to build something more interesting than another small box with a driver in it. The patented acoustic geometry, driver layout, and active FIR crossover work together as a system to produce satisfying bass extension, precise imaging, and balanced sound from a loudspeaker small enough to fit easily in a real room.
Engineered for Presence
Quarter-Wave Tube
The Flow/1 is a 1.7-meter folded, tapered quarter-wave tube loudspeaker that you 3D print yourself. It delivers controlled low-frequency extension while suppressing standing waves through distributed geometry.
Coaxial Point Source
Time-aligned coaxial drivers coupled with a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) crossover, produce a coherent wavefront, yielding precise imaging and stable soundstage localization.
Compact, Tuned Enclosure
Flow/1 packs a 180-degree swivel tweeter and an optimized quarter-wave path into a compact 5-liter enclosure. While small speakers usually dictate where you sit and what you hear, Flow/1 balances bass extension and placement versatility by ensuring every cubic centimeter performs a dedicated acoustic function.
Choice of Drivers
Build with SB Audience, AuraSound, Wavecor, Tang Band, and Dayton Audio Drivers, with more to come.
Designed for the Print-Build-Do-It-Yourself Maker
Flow/1 was created specifically for the PBDIY community: people who print, build, measure, refine, and care deeply about how a system works. This is not a finished consumer product. It is an engineered loudspeaker system you build yourself, come to understand deeply, and bring to life with your own hands.
Designed for the Print-Build-Do-it-Yourself Maker
Who it is for
- For makers who want a loudspeaker that they cannot buy off the shelf
- For listeners who care how and why it works, not just whether it plays
- For people who see the effort itself as part of the reward
What You Get
Maker's Guide
A detailed build path covering materials, tolerances, assembly, and construction choices. The value is not just instruction; it is confidence that a physical object is being realized the way the design intended. Available To Everyone.
Click the image of the Maker's Guide to view or download the free Flow /1 Maker’s Guide and see what it takes to build a pair of compact, high-performance audiophile loudspeakers from 3D-printed parts, selected drivers, DSP, and careful assembly.
Design Files
Complete STL and STEP files for all enclosure components, optimized for printability, fit, and acoustic performance. Available to subscribers.
Click the image of the models to access the design resources, or to subscribe for access if you are not already a member.
Created from First Principles
The Flow/1 is not a conventional small loudspeaker; it is based on the folded coaxial quarter-wave tube principles embodied in U.S. Patent 7,925,036 B2. The Flow/1 combines that patented acoustic architecture with modular construction, active DSP crossover control, and additive manufacturing methods. The result is a compact but highly engineered loudspeaker system designed to achieve unusually coherent imaging, strong low-frequency extension, and flexible driver configurations by combining optimized geometry, coaxial point-source behavior, and FIR-based time alignment in a compact, buildable system.
Every dimension, every taper and fold; every internal cubic millimeter is intentional and optimized for accurate sonic reproduction.
Why this design
The folded quarter-wave tube is there to extend and control low-frequency output, while unequal-length tapered segments and the dimpled, pimpled folds help suppress internal resonances that overwhelm a small speaker.
The coaxial driver alignment is there for coherence, helping the speaker behave more like one acoustic event than separate elements fighting for position.
Time alignment and FIR crossover are there to reduce crossover compromise and make the system feel connected, resolved, and intentional.
Flow/1 Explosion
Why Bother Building This Flow/1 Speaker?
Because Flow/1 is not just a box that makes sound. It is a compact loudspeaker system with the flow of air shaped and controlled down to the cubic millimeter, built to vanish as a source and leave behind only the music: full-spectrum, balanced, satisfying, and free of the exaggerations that make many small speakers impressive at first but tiring over time.
Most speakers in this size class force a tradeoff between depth and detail. By engineering every cubic centimeter into function, Flow/1 resolves these compromises. Its 5L enclosure and 180-degree swivel tweeter balance low-end authority with the placement versatility required for real listening spaces.
Flow/1 exists to challenge those tradeoffs through careful geometry, controlled loading, time alignment, and DSP, not brute size. The goal is simple: deeper bass from a smaller footprint, sharper image focus, and a more coherent presentation from a speaker that still suits a real room.
Because building it gives you access to the whole system:
- the acoustic design
- the physical design
- the DSP
- the reasoning behind the choices
This is not generic DIY for its own sake. It is a compact active loudspeaker designed for serious listening, with controlled low-frequency extension, point-source coherence, precise imaging, and a form factor that makes sense in everyday spaces. Because if you are the kind of person drawn to PIY, DIY, or BIY, the effort is part of the reward. You do not just end up with a product. You end up understanding the machine and hearing the difference those decisions make.
And because the cost of building one is not just money and time. It is an exchange. You put in care, attention, and effort, and in return, you get something personal, unusual, and deeply considered. Something that reflects your standards, not a manufacturer’s brief.
So the real answer is this:
- You bother if you want presence instead of mere playback.
- You bother if you want to build something rare.
- You bother if you want to hear what careful geometry, controlled loading, and coherent radiation can do in a compact system.
If that matters to you, then Flow/1 is exactly the kind of project worth building.
Press 'Subscribe For Access' to the Flow/1 3D files, future design updates, and the member forum.