What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Altec Open Baffles, etc.

Postby setup1 » Sun Feb 20, 2005 9:45 am

T-Rex wrote: i think i'll need to sell :cry: one of my G-301 to finance the OB project.


Don't do that, you'll regret it BIG TIME! Look for a vintage EV, Pioneer or Coral FR or co-ax...more affordable than Altecs.

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Postby mozilla » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:56 am

Akin na lang yun Rex
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Postby arnoldc » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:30 am

uy! mozilla, mag analog?? :twisted: o speakers hinihingi mo? :lol:
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Postby mozilla » Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:00 am

Ang bilis mo maka pickup arnold. Tagal na sa ebay watchlist ko yan G103 :twisted:
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Postby ichabod » Mon Feb 21, 2005 1:41 pm

Rex BenC's driver looks big. Is it a 12 or a 10? Still waiting for Ben to tell us a little something about these drivers on OBs.
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What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby BenC » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:26 pm

Hi James,

Pasensya na. Seldom do I access my PC nowadays. I'm not good at making reviews but I'll try to give my impression of the OB's I have at home.

First thing I noticed was the big stage it generated in my little space ... I only experience this with the big voigts in my parents backyard i.e., voigts operating in open air. Next thing I noticed was the depth of the stage and the ease with which the music is presented. A big surprise for me was the BASS! I was expecting a less powerful bass because there was not much reinforcement for the low freqs to be reproduced save for the floor. I tried playing materials with lots of bass. Lo and behold! Lots of tuneful bass! I tried using the OB's in my very modest HT system ... WHAM! parang nasa sinehan ako. This OB's has been keeping me up late this past few days. Ideas are starting to come out on how I could modify this contraption. Right now am using these OB's sometimes alternating with the Diatones in a BenC enclosure. For big sound, I go for the OB's. For sweet and relaxing music, I use the diatones.

One more thing. I brought the OB's to my parent's backyard yesterday and see how they will perform in open air. ALAKAZAM! ... BIGGER soundstage! Me and my cousin tried different materials on the OB. Classical, rock, jazz, etc., the OB's didn't blink! Am now thinking of an outdoor sinehan (in our backyard) for the kids to enjoy the big sound of these OB's.

Hope this gives you an idea of what I think of these OB's and how much I enjoy them! :) :) :)

Give me a call if you're in Manila. We could arrange a small get together.

Cheers!
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What are your Open Bffle drivers?

Postby BenC » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:29 pm

Hi James,

It's a 12 incher!

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Postby arnoldc » Mon Feb 21, 2005 4:41 pm

nabuhay si ben :)
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Postby ichabod » Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:10 am

Ben, thanks for obliging us. It's refreshingly nice to hear from you again, this time not about our LS 3/5a but these OBs. There's quite a connection and similarity with both speakers I think.

Many of us who are LS fans have also come to enjoy these OBs as well. Your're dead on on your impressions about them. I too find it to have a bigger sonic window in comparison to smaller speakers which includes the LS.

But these OBs are really a surprisingly delightful performer specially on classical CDs. I enjoy them specially on chamber music with all that space and air. As so often said, there's that unusual feeling or sense of being there in the venue with the performers. That depth of field that combines with the natural timber of instruments that does not thin out with tweeters, and all that midband clarity and bloom without the hump somewhere, let me hear the music easier all together. While single drivers like mine are not as fully extended as a two way system perhaps, I do not also hear the dirt and thinning out of the instruments with regular tweeters.

I expect to be in Manila oftener due to other matters, and would be glad to visit and listen with you. Thanks again for sharing your observations here. Nothing is more enjoyable than having someone say and confirm what one hears as well about these OBs.

Best,

James
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What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby Guest » Wed Feb 23, 2005 9:17 am

James,

My pleasure! Hope to see you soon.

Cheers,
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Postby T-Rex » Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:50 am

setup1 wrote:Don't do that, you'll regret it BIG TIME! Look for a vintage EV, Pioneer or Coral FR or co-ax...more affordable than Altecs.
JE


Well noted.
Thanks for the lead on the drivers. Might look at a Pioneer similar to BenC.

Mozilla wrote:Akin na lang yun Rex


i really havent finally decided to dispose.
Medyo another friend has first crack on it but if he passes off then your next in line.
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What are your Open Baffle Drivers?

Postby BenC » Thu Feb 24, 2005 11:55 am

Attaboy Rex! Pagnakuha mo yung Pioneer ... may pang sen-surround na sa sinehan sa West! :D :D :D

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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby dieya! » Sat May 09, 2009 9:25 pm

Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris 15"
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby T-Rex » Sun May 10, 2009 6:39 am

dieya! wrote:Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris 15"


Wow :o

Would be interested to get your feedback. Hope we get a chance to listen to it. :music:

Congratulations :clap:
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby dieya! » Tue May 12, 2009 8:04 am

Sir, when I got the Silver Iris I was told not to expect them to deliver bass. But they did, particularly on acoustic instruments. What they seem to lack though are the highs. They sound best on acoustic recordings then on amplified instruments. :)
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby marty_e » Mon May 17, 2010 10:55 am

dieya! wrote:Sir, when I got the Silver Iris I was told not to expect them to deliver bass. But they did, particularly on acoustic instruments. What they seem to lack though are the highs. They sound best on acoustic recordings then on amplified instruments. :)


May i ask what baffle dimensions you employed on the Silver Iris? Mine are 24"x36" but I'm looking to redesign the baffle if needed. I can't seem to coax them to open up in their current baffle design. Vocals are veiled and highs roll off...
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby Mamimili » Mon May 17, 2010 11:19 am

Goodmans Triaxiom in stereo OB's.
Goodmans Axiom 201 in a 36"Wx32"H OB + Goodmans Trebax on top (vertical mount for the tweeter works best for me) as my mono OB (sounds superb to my ears, very easy listening and preferred by my non audio friends).

Goodmans Trebax/Midax/Axiom 60 in stereo OB's as my current experiment. Started off as a tall and slim 15"x36" OB, now a square(ish) 22"Wx24"H OB, both to Goodmans specs. The tall and skinny one does not integrate at all, a big hole between mid and "lower" bass. The square one is a failure and needs to become an enclosure :(
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby setup1 » Mon May 17, 2010 1:53 pm

Hi Paul and Marty,

Just a note to your posts, re: baffle size/width

The OB is one of the earliest forms of preventing cancellation between front and back waves from dynamic speaker systems. To my knowledge one of its early implementation was by Western Electric in cinemas. From the pictures I've seen of old WE installations, they were always as wide as practicable.

I'm not a trained engineer or physicist but I think there is a science to baffle width that a lot of modern audio designers overlook (or try to compensate using EQ - passive or electronic, BSC anyone?) just for the sake of satisfying contemporary aesthetic trends and I include boxes - ported, sealed and etc. IMHO, EQ is just a band aid (much like a synthesized acoustic musical instrument), a poor substitute for solid engineering.

Charles Eames, the designer of mid 20th century iconic furniture even knew better.....

Image
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I have a monograph of Pierre Koenig works, another well known mid 20th century architect and saw this speaker in his music room.
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby marty_e » Mon May 17, 2010 3:33 pm

I like the Eames aesthetic, actually. Perhaps once I find the sound I'd like out of them, I can work on the look but it seems to me that wide is preferred over tall.
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Re: What are your Open Baffle drivers?

Postby setup1 » Mon May 17, 2010 3:55 pm

marty_e wrote:....I can't seem to coax them to open up in their current baffle design. Vocals are veiled and highs roll off...


I don't know the Hawthorne but in my years of playing around with audio one thing I always look for in any equipment specially speakers is the quality of midrange. It has to be there to begin with, driver unmounted.

Here's a tip I learned from the late Walt Bender of Audiomart and Scott Stilwell (exporters of vintage equipment to Japan) when hunting for vintage speakers; bring a pocket FM radio with a pair of alligator clips on one end and a mini-phone connector on the other to plug into the earphone jack. Tune to any station with vocals to evaluate the potential of a nondescript vintage speaker using human voice as reference. First time I heard a WE15 horn with a WE555 driver, it was being driven by 1/4W pocket FM radio. IIRC, the specs for this combo was 100hz-5khz BUT It sounded almost full range and was quite LOUD!

With tweeters and compression drivers - listen to articulation of speech or vocals, if all you hear is sibilance, tizz and sizzle, it is no good.
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