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Building full-range open baffle loudspeakers. Think of the baffle as the 'skin' of this speaker. To make the 'skin', start by cutting the 50mm thick sheet of polystyrene in half so that each piece is about four feet (1200mm) long. Two per speaker. They are well known to be great drivers for open baffle designs, and at 97 dB efficiency, are plenty efficient for this design. For the first full range driver, I chose the Dayton Audio PS 220 - 8 8' full range driver. It is rated at 95 dB efficiency. Oct 22, 2020 - I love new and vintage full-range and open baffle speakers. See more ideas about open baffle speakers, open baffle, hifi.
A full family of full-range drivers Whether DIY or at the heart of our complete loudspeaker models, each and every Voxativ driver is designed to our proprietary specifications. Each model has its own characteristics depending on its use of materials and construction. A box for this driver wants to be 5 cubic feet or larger, the size of a large mini-fridge. An open baffle of the proper design, however, will play down to the 30s and 40s, with careful design. Open baffles are not known for having deep bass.
A journey through no-brand loudspeaker land - Part I
Four, simple DIY projects
[Italian version]Author: Richard Varey - TNT New Zealand
Published: February, 2015
This is a tale of open baffles, vintage drivers, super-tweeters, and a fascination with simple enjoyment of recorded music. The 'loudspeaker' is often the simplest component in a music reproduction chain, yet it can have a profound impact on musical enjoyment. Speaker drivers come ready-made, so what can be done with them, and what if this was as simple as possible? Over the past couple of years, I've been exploring in search of full-range and open baffle projects. Music is my daily pleasure and my quest for an engaging experience is always satisfying but never finished. As a member of the TNT-Audio team, I think an account of my experience traveling the road less travelled, far from the madding (some might say maddening) retail crowd in brandland might encourage and inspire DIY experimentation.
By way of context for this story, a look at my introductory pieces for TNT-Audio (see here and here) will indicate my penchant for finding another way to pursue my hobby without succumbing to the siren call to be the 'legal prey' of big-bucks brand-marketers. Why spend thousands on speakers? Could I side-step the large profit margins and excess of extravagance by turning to re-use? I don't believe that 'new' is always better, and enjoy experimenting and DIY.
Could frugality be an audiophile virtue - part of the quality syndrome? I'm a self-confessed frugal-audiophile muso experiencing music highs without the high-end prices. How so? This is the classic make or buy choice, but we are profoundly conditioned by seductive sales promotion to buy, and especially subject to snake oil promises. So, why buy retail when this means marketed product and inescapable hype? A quick glance at my Pinterest board 'Loudspeakers that Inspire' shows two things: I like unusual speakers, and there is mega-variety in forms. A search of the Internet reveals an almost endless variety in speaker form - shape, materials, colour, size, degree of complexity, cost - I was inspired and started collecting interesting projects on my Pinterest board.
In thinking 'without a box', my criteria were: simple construction/easy home DIY, low cost / recycle, and a real enhancement to my listening experience. I previously used KEF iQ7s (cost in retail NZ$1,800 in 2007) with a recently new T&A Power Plant Balanced amplifer (which replaced a Cambridge Audio 840A that failed spectacularly). I was already using an REL Acoustics Quake Q200 powered sub-bass speaker (which operates down to 17Hz (-6dB)) in my music room which is 6.4 m x 3.9 m x 2.4 m, with three wooden doors, and glass doors on one side, and with a concrete floor covered with floating wood laminate. Cabling is hand-made bi-wire by Brendan of RuleConnect, Waimata (New Zealand). I wanted to reproduce recorded music with a big soundstage and musical realism to experience the excitement of the musical performance by hearing and feeling what the musician(s) expressed in the recording. But I had no intention of becoming a loudspeaker engineer.
What level of music reproduction satisfaction could be acomplished with a DIY approach using salvaged - perhaps vintage - full-range drivers and minimal woodworking skills? What is it achievable as a frugal audiophile? I sought appropriate technology for the purpose rather than what we are sold. I have oberved in my more than 40 years of music and hifi hobbying the law of diminishing return on investment in over-engineered products made for profit. Put another way, I wanted as simple as possible - no cabinets, no cross-overs, no tuning, suitable for my room setting, and no specialist equipment rnecessary - cutting holes for the drivers would be the hardest task, so a router was to be the most sophisticated tool needed.
Recent experience in certain discussion forums reinforced my desire to escape brand, model number and price boasting. What could be achieved for my ideal price - as little as possible? I was told to leave one forum when I questioned the $10,000 to $250,000 price tags of the products everyone was advocating. I was aggressively told that I was not wanted in the group if I was going to be critical and suggest frugal alternatives. In another popular audio discussion forum, a member recently asked other members for opinions on performance and value-for-money of a loudspeaker brand and model - after he'd bought them for $43,000!! Is this staggering naivety or stealth boasting?
So, here I'm telling my story of four projects in a 2-year journey of adventures in 'no-brands/no fashion land' - largely inspired by my regular and avid reading of TNT-Audio reviews and other articles over several years. I began by asking why are loudspeakers usually boxes? Simplified, they are a baffle or mounting plate for the driver that controls the coupling of the driver to the air in the listening space. Keep looking long enough, and you can even find speakers without baffles!
A combined airflow controlling, driver mounting, and aesthetically pleasing box is a complex design problem. Solutions to volume, shape, bracing for rigidity to deal with vibrations and resonances and other colourations, drivers mountings, and other design problems require a compromise of cost of materials and machining, assembly, size and weight, packaging and transportation, storage, presence in the domestic setting, etc. Some speakers seem to have been conceived in the region where advanced carpentry and engineering and sales glitz are more important than musicality.
Project 1 - unknown drivers in simple transmission line cabinets
In starting this journey, two opportunities coincided that prompted action - Eric Cross at Vintage Audio World in Christchurch, New Zealand had a pair of 6.5' full-range drivers for sale for NZ$100. He had coated the diaphragms with Meranti Damar natural resin to enhance tone and they had an old Kauri wood puck glued to each magnet housing to 'reduce resonances'. I was intrigued. A local used audio trader had a pair of transmission line cabinets that were almost finished and a steal at NZ$25. They just needed drivers, internal wiring, and painting. I mounted the drivers on off-cut baffles that I attached to the cabinets, added CAT5 cable and banana sockets, and painted them.
In use there was an immediate impression of more punch, yet delicacy and detail compared to the KEFs (which were relegated to the TV room). By now I had the experimenter's bug. If that was the excellent result of a cabinet mount, what might an open baffle sound like with bigger and better drivers?
Project 2 - vintage full-range on an open baffle
Plessey 8' full range drivers
I used new old stock Plessey 8' full-range drivers made in New Zealand in the 1970s (again from Vintage Audio World), and mounted them in waxed 900 mm x 450 mm x 35 mm Pine boards with the cable connectors soldered directly to the driver wiring tags. The baffles are held upright in position with hinged single leg props, so I can adjust their angle of recline. The sound is more open and detailed than the KEFs and punchier and more airy than the transmission lines. This project cost me NZ$200 total. Assembly of working speakers couldn't have been easier!
After a few months of enjoying my music and further exploration of DIY speaker projects for my Pinterest board, I accepted that brand names and model numbers on drivers are important as indicators of quality of performance - and cost! (but for me not as a boasting badge). What could I accomplish with higher performance drivers?
Project 3 - vintage 12' full-range mounted on a designed baffle
A 12' diaphragm is about 2.25 times the surface area of an 8' driver and 3.4 times the area of a 6.5' driver, depending on the shape. Could I get greater musical realism from a bigger sound by moving more air?
I got a pair of vintage 12' Philips AD 1256-M8 AlNiCo 8 ohm 30W dual cone full-range drivers in excellent condition (response range 45-16,000 Hz (98dB sensitivity) - some specs. show the upper limit as 17 KHz), made in Holland probably about 1969, for about NZ$400 from Eric Cross at Vintage Audio World. These drivers are quite rare nowadays and sought-after when in great condition. They are renowned performers, and have been described as 'probably the best sounding full range driver ever'. Eric promised me that they would sound great.
I initially mounted them in a popular JE Labs design - with a 900 mm x 800 mm x 30 mm waxed Pine baffle. Materials cost $160 plus 15 hours preparation and assembly time.
In situ these proved to be way too big for the room - and sounded rather dull and muffled and lacking clarity and openness. This was a big disappointment, especially after so much woodwork (relatively), and I removed the drivers for a further experiment. What if I again went as simple as possible - but more so?
For the fourth DIY project you should wait for the second part of this article.
© Copyright 2015 Richard Varey - richard@tnt-audio.com - www.tnt-audio.com
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The pure essence of music at Kipnis Studios (KSS). Review By Jeremy Kipnis “If your desire is to connect with your music, then you probably already have a substantial investment in your audio and, dare we say, video system. But even if you don’t, you might be surprised how obviously superior some speakers are to others. And that superiority can take many forms: size, shape, sound, and how they make you feel. Well, with the PureAudioProject’s latest loudspeaker design, the Quintet15 Horn1 takes its place among a cherished handful of great examples of speakers that are true music instruments. Donald Shaulis, from StereoTimes Review and Most Wanted Components Award, 2015′: “The PureAudioProject bridges the gap between pure DIY and completely hands-off prebuilt by shipping flat-packed open-baffle speakers which the buyer assembles.
Turns out that Full Range Single Driver Speakers are making a comeback in the audiophile world. Coupled with an. Given that speaker enclosures can be quite complex and that I am not gifted enough with wood working tools to really make a beautiful enclosure I opted for an open baffle design. These designs are in. The object of the exercise with these speakers was to overcome these limitations, and to accomplish this with an affordable open back design. The drivers I chose were the 8' Dayton Audio PS220-8 full range driver, mounted on a simple open back baffle at ear-level (35”) above a 15' H-frame Eminence. Open baffle loudspeakers reproduce bass with less room interaction. It is more articulate than from box speakers. If dipole behavior covers the full frequency range, then the room response becomes perceptually masked by the direct sound. The radiation from the rear of the cone must not be absorbed, but the distance to the.
This results in providing drivers and crossover components at a level of quality unprecedented even at several multiples of the Trio10 MundorfAMT’s price. PureAudioProject removes the guesswork and provides the opportunity for audiophiles to be involved in creating speakers that out-perform speakers costing much more”.
“The sound from these speakers (Trio15TB) was incredibly airy and effortless while the bass was surprisingly deep and robust. For this level of sound quality I would normally expect to pay five figures, which is why my jaw dropped to the floor when Ze’ev told me that the price is $3500. This speaker easily gets my vote for Best Speaker Value of the Show”, Malcolm J. Gomes, “PureAudioProject’s Trio15 TB speakers sounded more musical than almost every five-figured speaker at the show” “I found your room to be one of the very best in the Show. Accordingly, I am happy to ‘award’ (how pretentious) your room with a ‘Best in Show’ designation.”, Tim Smith. “I have been pinching and kicking myself for the past several weeks as I have been romancing the Trio15 PAP-Horn1; pinching myself to see if this is not an illusion, that the experience is as magical as I’m hearing”, Douglas Schroeder, DAGOGO, “I am blown away by the openness and the continuity from top to bottom.
I’m still breaking them in but Ludwig Streicher on his double bass is tactile, you can feel the room shake like a real double bass but with excellent detail and string feel. As it breaks in it is starting to give me the feeling of my Everest’s for 1/20th the cost and I can lift them, the JBL’s require 4 people.” Harry Weisfeld, founder of VPI Industries and an owner of, US “I have the Trio15 Voxativ and must say they are by far the best speakers I have heard or owned!!”, Greg A., customer, US ” These speakers – Trio15 Voxativ – are just absolutely Spectacular!!!
DIY Visaton BG 20 Single Driver Full Range. The BG 20 high efficiency full range drivers are excellent choice for. They were an open baffle design with closed.
The sound stage is “immense”, with so much depth and the detail is incredible. Every instrument and voice occupies it’s own space and blends together so beautifully, just so right ”, Scott L., US “Just like everybody will write: I am shocked!!”, Tony L., Customer, Taiwan.
“These speakers (Trio10 MundorfAMT) had it all – superb soundstage, perfect tonality, super open spacious sound that just destroys the walls in the room, all things that great open baffle speakers give you. But, what set this system apart was the laser like focus and lack of “misty” presentation almost every OB speaker has. Plus BASS SLAM.
I know you never thought you’d see the words bass slam and Open Baffle ever uttered together. But there it is. I am an OB lover, it’s what I’ve run in my home system for years and years and so I’m a bit jaded about them. But this room raised the bar substantially over every other available OB system I’ve heard. Massive congrats to them for this achievement”, Tyson. Self-assembly – modular – upgradeable – interchangeable Choose your size We offer three modular Open Baffle Platforms: • Trio10 – for medium and smaller rooms. 42cm [16.5″] wide 100cm [39.4″] high, W/W/T (Woofer/Woofer/Tweeter) configuration with PAP(Morel)1075 10″ Open Baffle Woofers and a variety of Tweeters or Full Range drivers • Trio15 – for medium and large rooms.
More feedback from customers: “Well, I’m now the proud owner of these wonderful speakers! My god, how good does it get?! We had several audio enthusiasts over a day after bringing these home and everyone was simply amazed! My system already sounded good, but these speakers are something special! I had never heard open baffle speakers before.
One of the people who listened to these was the actual manufacturer of my amps (OTL’s) – Peter McAllister of McAllister Audio. He was almost speechless! The ease of how these speakers work, the soundstage, the naturalness has elevated my system to a level I never thought possible. Drums sound like drums, pianos sound like pianos, etc., etc., etc. I have to listen to my whole library again!
“, Eldon D, Customer, Canada “Needless to say, I continued to be thrilled w/what the PAP Horns have brought to my system how much enjoyment they provide. My decision to purchase PureAudioProject speakers is reinforced every time I sit down to listen!”, Ray S., USA “Well, I finally finished my Open Baffle I wanted loudspeaker especially for my tube amp, I found them! I will not give you all the superlatives that your OB deserve, but it’s been a kind of shock that I waited a long time, in fact since I design loudspeaker! I listened to several systems about CHF 50’000.- but I had never really been seduced, it was good but not great, just a bit more balanced and a little more defined than what I was doing. And then, while I do not expect a big surprise as the OB are criticized, the slap! A scene, the live music! A real dream!”, Joel A., DIY Enthusiast, Switzerland “ All I can say is it took the speakers (Trio15 Voxativ) to a “much much” higher level, I mean beyond amazing.
I can’t stress enough how much better they sound now. Such a full rich deep smooth detailed sound, absolutely beautiful, goose bumps good, best I have ever heard by far. “, Scott F.L. Chinon Sound 7000 Manual. , Read more and Feedback.
I've been looking around doing some research on some full range open baffle speakers. These will be for music only and I may end up putting them on my pc for listening to lossless audio but even if I don't they will be for light use. No high spl's. I'm wanting to do this more for experimenting more than anything. Single driver, no crossover, open baffle so no enclosure resonances or other colorations, cheap, simple to make, easy all around.
I do want to do it decently right. I don't want to buy a closeout $2 driver and hope it works.
From the looking around I've done I will have to have a driver with a QTS higher than.5 and at least a couple or more mm of excursion. I'll only want these to respond down to 60 hz maximum and 120 hz minimum.
I figure I can build a cheap small sub to work below that. Fostex or seas drivers look the way to go. The fostex drivers are a little over $100 each and have a high sensitivity of 96 or 97 db/w. I'm a big researcher so I will probably spend the next month or more looking into this before I cut a hole in a board. Originally Posted by brandonnash Thoughts? I'm a big researcher so I will probably spend the next month or more looking into this before I cut a hole in a board.
To date I've not heard any OB designs I've liked (dynamic, electrostatic), and missed the chance on the w/e past to hear another set that might change my mind. Martin King has a couple of well written articles on his site using Fostex and Eminence A15 that you should read.
I'd also suggest trying to hear some first if you can: you may love 'em, you may hate 'em. Originally Posted by brandonnash I've been looking around doing some research on some full range open baffle speakers. These will be for music only and I may end up putting them on my pc for listening to lossless audio but even if I don't they will be for light use. No high spl's. I'm wanting to do this more for experimenting more than anything. Single driver, no crossover, open baffle so no enclosure resonances or other colorations, cheap, simple to make, easy all around.
I do want to do it decently right. That'll take at least a 2-way (to reach 100Hz) and either low sensitivity (accept 80dB/2.83V/1 meter) with expensive passive components or line-level compensation for dipole roll-off. Otherwise you end up with a multi-lobed polar response mess that doesn't sound natural or good even when running $40,000 a pair field coil Feastrex drivers. Originally Posted by A9X-308 To date I've not heard any OB designs I've liked (dynamic, electrostatic), and missed the chance on the w/e past to hear another set that might change my mind. Martin King has a couple of well written articles on his site using Fostex and Eminence A15 that you should read.
I'd also suggest trying to hear some first if you can: you may love 'em, you may hate 'em. I'd love to hear some. No one around me has any. That's the experimentation part. I figure if I don't like the sound I can sell the speaker or just the drivers.
Or try to keep them for a full range back loaded horn. I'll have a look at that link. Originally Posted by Drew Eckhardt That'll take at least a 2-way (to reach 100Hz) and either low sensitivity (accept 80dB/2.83V/1 meter) with expensive passive components or line-level compensation for dipole roll-off.
Otherwise you end up with a multi-lobed polar response mess that doesn't sound natural or good even when running $40,000 a pair field coil Feastrex drivers. Build something like Linkwitz's PMT1. Note the narrow baffle, low cross-over to the dome tweeter, and passive line-level shelving filter.
How would I have a polar response mess? I don't know why that's the only reason I'm asking. It would seem that (without seeing an impedance graph) the response overall would be prett linear and placement or acoustic treatments should be key in defeating any dipole reflections from walls. Like I said, I don't know and this is just for trying out more than anything. I'm not looking for an end all speaker system, but if there is potential I'll further experiment. One of the designs that at least in theory looks good is on.
The zen open baffle. It uses a hollow chamber to resonate lower frequencies much like blowing across the top of a coke bottle. That to me sounds at first like it shouldn't work (single frequency resonance) but he says the interior design acts nearly like a horn and catches a more broad band. Not sure how much I believe that but I guess if justin beiber, however you spell his name, can make a career singing horrible music to 8 year olds then anything is possible. Problem with his design is it uses his driver exlusively.
The driver is odd looking. Has some either huge magnet or odd attachment to the frame that makes it about 3x as deep. Originally Posted by brandonnash Get some discussion going here that's unusual. In that case, GREAT!
These boards could use some variety. I just heard some OBs on saturday. Can't say what the drivers were now. Heard a lot of speakers that day of the full range variety. Probably about 15 sets of full range all from the same designer of these OBs. And well, they weren't good.
They had a huge baffle made of plexi. They were run wide open without any filtering. They were interesting.
That's only one example. Just for the sake of discussion. Like I said, I heard a lot of stuff that day. For the money, the CSS EL70 wins hands down over and over. I listened to Alpairs, Fostex, Tang Bands, of all sizes and enclosure types. Some were better, barely, but for the money.
A number of people walked away buying the EL70s. Just not sure how suited they are to OB. They make crazy bass for a 4' though. I bought a pair to put on my desktop. Here's my measurement of the EL70 when I borrowed a pair a while ago: Spliced at 350hz nearfield in ported enclosure.
I wish someone would have a hifi show closer to TN. I'd like to be able to hear dozens of different designs in one day. All I can get here close to that is a ht/car audio shop. They have some high end stuff, but its all dynamic or electrostatics or klipsch reference lines. Nice stuff, but all pretty much run of the mill stuff.
The idea of the full range open baffle is what gets me. I'll post some links in a few that have some open baffle designs that look promising, but very very few I have seen anywhere incorporate full range drivers along with them. I'm running horn loaded on all 5.1 channels now and really enjoy the extra dynamics, but if there's an easy way to diy a bit of extra resolution out of a recording I want to try it.
Originally Posted by brandonnash How would I have a polar response mess? I don't know why that's the only reason I'm asking. Acoustic dipoles have a nice cosine-alpha polar response (-3dB at 45 degrees, -6dB at 60 degrees, -12dB at 75 degrees, etc.) with 4.8dB of directivity through about.25 v/D Hz with v the speed of sound and D the path length separation which approximately equals baffle width on rectangular baffles. Above that point the response broadens (reaching a 6dB on-axis peak at.5v/D Hz) and breaks down into a multi-lobed pattern approaching the dipole's first on axis null at v/D Hz. At.17 v/D the dipole's output matches a monopole's at the same excursion.
Solving for a domestically friendly foot wide baffle we find this occurs at 192Hz. The 'simple' solution is to use a wider baffle, with a two foot wide baffle pushing that point down to 96Hz. That produces a first dipole null at 565 Hz which is not the sort of thing you want to hear in the midrange.
The right solution is to use narrow baffles, boost the drivers' low ends electronically to get more bandwidth in fewer ways, and cross-them over to the next higher frequency driver before the polar response deteriorates. You get more wiggle room where the drivers are close to baffle width and are becoming directional on their own. You want to read Siegfried Linkwitz's web site (note the flower-shaped polar response at the first null) and John Krevosky's where he puts the upper limit of dipole usability somewhere between d/w (d path length separation, w wave length) =.5 and d/w = 1. It would seem that (without seeing an impedance graph) the response overall would be prett linear and placement or acoustic treatments should be key in defeating any dipole reflections from walls. Like I said, I don't know and this is just for trying out more than anything.
Open Baffle Speakers For Sale
I'm not looking for an end all speaker system, but if there is potential I'll further experiment. I rank every open baffle speaker I've heard with an acoustically large baffle somewhere between bad and mediocre. As much as I like Nelson Pass (he's a great lecturer, really supportive of the DIY community, and does fine things with analog electronics) I include his big baffles (Bob?) in this category even when fitted with the $40,000 Feastrex field coil drivers run both full-range and crossed to dipole sub-woofers. If you want to use full-range drivers, try narrow back-loaded horns.
That can net subjectively great, natural sounding results (especially with the smaller drivers) and some bass. If you want to build dipoles (I built/own Orions, have heard v4, and listened to other similar speakers - all have been 'excellent' or better) accept acoustically narrow baffles, multiple drivers, and low-frequency equalization. I speculate that my subjective impressions come from what's going on with polar response (narrow baffle = excellent, acoustically large = bad; same driver in a box without the dipole issues = better; hearing of other speakers with more uniform polar response). Originally Posted by Drew Eckhardt Acoustic dipoles have a nice cosine-alpha polar response (-3dB at 45 degrees, -6dB at 60 degrees, -12dB at 75 degrees, etc.) with 4.8dB of directivity through about.25 v/D Hz with v the speed of sound and D the path length separation which approximately equals baffle width on rectangular baffles. Above that point the response broadens (reaching a 6dB on-axis peak at.5v/D Hz) and breaks down into a multi-lobed pattern approaching the dipole's first on axis null at v/D Hz.
At.17 v/D the dipole's output matches a monopole's at the same excursion. Solving for a domestically friendly foot wide baffle we find this occurs at 192Hz.
The 'simple' solution is to use a wider baffle, with a two foot wide baffle pushing that point down to 96Hz. That produces a first dipole null at 565 Hz which is not the sort of thing you want to hear in the midrange. The right solution is to use narrow baffles, boost the drivers' low ends electronically to get more bandwidth in fewer ways, and cross-them over to the next higher frequency driver before the polar response deteriorates. You get more wiggle room where the drivers are close to baffle width and are becoming directional on their own.
Full Range Open Baffle
You want to read Siegfried Linkwitz's web site (note the flower-shaped polar response at the first null) and John Krevosky's where he puts the upper limit of dipole usability somewhere between d/w (d path length separation, w wave length) =.5 and d/w = 1. I rank every open baffle speaker I've heard with an acoustically large baffle somewhere between bad and mediocre. As much as I like Nelson Pass (he's a great lecturer, really supportive of the DIY community, and does fine things with analog electronics) I include his big baffles (Bob?) in this category even when fitted with the $40,000 Feastrex field coil drivers run both full-range and crossed to dipole sub-woofers.
If you want to use full-range drivers, try narrow back-loaded horns. That can net subjectively great, natural sounding results (especially with the smaller drivers) and some bass.
If you want to build dipoles (I built/own Orions, have heard v4, and listened to other similar speakers - all have been 'excellent' or better) accept acoustically narrow baffles, multiple drivers, and low-frequency equalization. I speculate that my subjective impressions come from what's going on with polar response (narrow baffle = excellent, acoustically large = bad; same driver in a box without the dipole issues = better; hearing of other speakers with more uniform polar response) Would the same hold true for on axis and nearfield? And also do you have the same response in half space? Just trying to understand a bit more and if all the polar response anamolies are induced by room reaction or not. But overall a full range AND open baffle won't work too well but individually they're at least decent. Originally Posted by brandonnash Would the same hold true for on axis and nearfield? You still have the on-axis alternating pattern of nulls and +6dB peaks until the drivers become acoustically large with increased directivity and less sound wrapping around the baffle where it interferes destructively.
It's unclear how much of the problems are coming from on-axis response ripples, how much total power response helps mask that, how much disparity between on and off-axis hurt, and how that would change as you move into the near field where things your brain might identify as reflections have more delay and attenuation. Thanks for the replies Drew.
I think I'll decide on a decent set of full range drivers that will work ultimately in a rear loaded horn and may try them out first in a makeshift baffle just to see what happens. Won't hurt much or cost much to find out and I like learning and being proved wrong because from then on I won't be Any suggestions on a starting point for a nice full range driver?
I've been looking over on parts express and the dayton reference 8' has caught my eye. I love that the dayton as well as the fostex are so sensitive. Their power handling is not great but would be enough to seemingly reach 105-110 db so for my normal listening distortion should be rather low. EDIT: Now looking at the specs I don't think any of those full range will work. Q is too low but the xmax may be enough to work with.???? I guess what I'm trying to say is what benefit does open baffle vs baffless present! It takes fewer drivers to achieve the same bandwidth and SPL.
For instance, it will take two unbaffled 10' drivers to match the output of a single 10' driver in a 20' deep H-frame. The baffle gives you additional control over polar response. Note Don Maurer's measurements from his 30 prototypes The baffle also reduces diffraction ripple magnitude when crossing over to a conventional tweeter with an acoustically large mounting flange. Hi Jim, Believe it or not your speakers are what got me thinking of this in the first place. When I get an idea in my head it usually ends up being a 3 or 4 a.m.
Night from reading and it just kind of snow balls. Hours of reading and watching youtube vids.
I'd love to come up and have a listen sometime if that would be alright. I have a friend in nashville (also a long time avs member)that also has never heard an open baffle setup that would like to. I was explaining to him what I was wanting to do and he said he'd love to experience something like this. If you ever want to listen to the other spectrum of audio (full horns) I have a horn loaded 5.1 system. Every channel including subwoofer is horn loaded. Originally Posted by Drew Eckhardt A speaker with 'no' baffle still has the driver diaphragm and any surrounding basket structure. It takes fewer drivers to achieve the same bandwidth and SPL.
For instance, it will take two unbaffled 10' drivers to match the output of a single 10' driver in a 20' deep H-frame. The baffle gives you additional control over polar response. Note Don Maurer's measurements from his 30 prototypes The baffle also reduces diffraction ripple magnitude when crossing over to a conventional tweeter with an acoustically large mounting flange. Thanks for the response. Just Talked got an email from John at Acoustic Elegance about that same topic and he highlighted a lot of the same points. Apparently he will be doing his own build of ob speakers using his own dipole6, dipole15, and raal tweeter.
Im in between waiting to see johns design and building a DIY version of The Orion 4 Speakers by Linkwitz. Thanks For your help Dante. Would you consider coaxial drivers? If not, I hear good things about the 8 inch pioneer paper full range driver (if you can find it?) otherwise the tang band kapok drivers supposedly measure well.- The underhung design will keep inductance low alowing the driver to play higher and keep good bass output (in theory) You mention high qts- If i remember correctly- If you accept a high qts without controling the cone movement by putting it in a small box you are also accepting lower resolution to get you the low end extention. A wide baffle will increase the bass output, but horn loading the back and or front would do more.
Full Range Drivers For Open Baffle Design Ideas
Lots of compromises to be decided between! Personally, I havent found a 'classic' full ranger that Im happy with. The closest is the old tannoy 15' monitors- but they are coaxial. Just my 2 cents.