Open Baffles in Ivory...

Altec Open Baffles, etc.

Open Baffles in Ivory...

Postby oshiko » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:23 am

ivory paint lang :twisted:

Image


i'had had these speakers for 2 days now. space-hoggers they most definitely are. construction was oft-delayed because of the inclement weather. but now they're here and playin'!

except for 2 very small wooden triangular braces placed where the side panels meet the front board at the bottom, all the dimensions where as what was indicated at joseph esmilla's website.

because of space constraints i'm listening nearfield, roughly 2 meters away from them.

for a couple of years now, i'ven been using a tono pre and Tb2a3 combo to drive rather inefficient wharfedale III rated at 86 db; not your ideal set-friendly pair. ideal playing levels for me was having the volume knob at around the 10:30 position. i listen mostly to vocals and light instrumentals; the snoop dog albums are played on my portable however hehe.

i've seen and heard jon agner's superb daiichi floorstanders and i was hoping to use that design. i even bought the drivers but the cabinet construction never came around.

until i came into possession of a pair of altec 403-a's. wiredstate had a thread about open baffles and there was the je labs site. after much reading... i thought, why not give it a go?

if there was one thing that was evident, it was the loudness factor. i can listen to jane monheit or jean frye sidwell with the volume knob at the 9 o'clock position and it plays very loud without sacrificing detail. is the sensitivity thingy to consider here? the 403-a has a rating of 95 decibels sensitivity.

vocals are lush and detailed; brush on the drums are clearer and more crisp. playing the boys air choir 'deep peace' has more weight and presence. and so was the lunchtime track from jurassic park, the bone crunching seems so 'right there'. thanks jon!

something i noticed; while playing john pizzarelli's 'blue heaven', i tried moving the volume knob past the 11 o'clock mark and it seemed that some sort of distortion was setting in. as a backgrounder, this track seems to be 'mahina' in volume compared to the others on the same chesky sampler. i wanted to jack up the volume a bit just to check if the detail would be compromised.

i was surprised at the sound quality this speaker driver + ob design combo can dish out. am happy how my type of music seems to suit them very well. i'm having second thoughts of playing orchestral music though, it might blow out the paper cones :lol:

i will try rearranging these speakers so i can maintain a listening distance of about 3 meters and move the speakers farther from the wall as recommended.

thanks for reading.

ps don't mind my temp 'ojo' rack hehe
oshiko
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Postby Jon Agner » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:54 am

Jay,

Good you finally DIYed a pair of speakers. You can also try mounting the dai-ichi drivers into those OBs for comparison :wink:

Teka, 'kala ko ba ayaw mo ng malaking speakers :twisted: :wink:
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Postby oshiko » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:03 pm

hey jon. yup, finally nakabuo din. i've already tried mounting the daiichis and they sound good as well; but not as loud though.

i guess the daichis were really made for the floorstanders eh. :twisted:

malaki ba? malapad lang naman eh :lol:
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Postby setup2 » Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:10 pm

I really thought that you were able to do some ivory inlays or something... :o :)

Good work...

Welcome to the world of open baffles...

Regards.
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Postby BenC » Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:19 pm

Wow! Nice pair of OB's! ... Try them outdoor in a big open space, you'll be amazed of how good they sound! :wink:

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Postby oshiko » Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:31 pm

@joel, ivory inlays...how i wish but i bet they'd cost more than the speaker project itself :)

@benc, outdoors? i'd hate to have the very 'expensive' ivory flake off.

thanks for the kind words guys :)

jay
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Postby zetroce » Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:17 pm

Congrats Jay!!! :D Kailan ba pwede pumasyal diyan pare? Nice to hear that the Tono Pre and TB2a3 are still doing wonders.
:D
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Postby oshiko » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:02 pm

thanks dong! yup the pre + power are still going strong. changed a couple of tubes for comparison pero this pair is built strong (thanks to you).

sched natin one time, dayo ka dito. :)
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Postby Jon Agner » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:42 pm

oshiko wrote:thanks dong! yup the pre + power are still going strong. changed a couple of tubes for comparison pero this pair is built strong (thanks to you).

sched natin one time, dayo ka dito. :)


aba aba aba, bakit siya lang :evil:
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Postby s2kov » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:46 pm

looks very good! :D

tlga ba nde pa kupas yung kulay ng cone?
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Postby oshiko » Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:52 pm

@jon, ikaw pa ba ang mawawala :)

@s2kov, yung cone looks a bit dark sa pic (low light condition po yan eh). pero it's not that dark sa totoong buhay :D

may parang mildew rings na nga sa perimeter nung driver. i tried using a soft-bristled toothbrush to try and remove them. yung iba mejo stubborn kasi andun pa rin.

i didn't want to use the brush on the cone face itself for fear na baka mapunit yung paper eh.
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Postby trod93 » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:39 pm

Nice job! Have always wanted to make my own diy speakers. How I wish I have the time.
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