How good can D.I.Y speakers really get? - Enter Mr Al Newall

[muffinman]

I'll post further details of the speakers later, for anyone who is interested.

That'll be me then - i look forward to it

[John]

Today I listened to some Open Baffles kit speakers that would cost £2000 to build and put into the system; they were not as good as my home speakers came away very disappointed but know done right Open Baffles can create magic just cannot afford to go down the Atlas route

[Clive]

Today I listened to some Open Baffles kit speakers that would cost £2000 to build and put into the system; they were not as good as my home speakers came away very disappointed but know done right Open Baffles can create magic just cannot afford to go down the Atlas route

What about Prometheus? You could hear some at Vic's Watford "studio".

[John]

Yes hope to borrow Vic's Prometheus soon as he kindly offered to lend me his so will even hear in my own system

[Marco]

I don't think it's PP vs SET it's more about power and loudness. Ok PP is generally more powerful than SET but that's all. Try some of the powerful SETs with a couple of thousand volts driving the power valve, you'll get the same effect.

Yep, I get what you're saying and don't doubt that's true.

When things like this raise their head I just find it intriguing and like to get to the bottom of it, that's all

Marco.

[alb]

Simple Open Baffles. The details.

For each speaker.
You will need....
Two panels cut to 38"x10"
One panel cut to 38"x16"
Two lengths of piano hinge, if you want it to fold up for space reasons. Otherwise, make the front panel 26"x38" instead.
I used 18mm MDF because these were originally only prototypes. Never felt the need to change much. However, thicker is thought to be better.

Drivers.
I use a pair of Audio Nirvana 8" STD full range drivers from here...
http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/

Bass drivers are Eminence Beta 15 from Maplin.

Drivers are mounted at centres of 6" and 22" when measured from the top of the 38x16 panel.

I have a 150uF Mundorf capacitor in line with the full ranger, along with a 2.2ohm 7watt wirewound resistor.
http://www.hificollective.co.uk/comp...p_bipolar.html

Something like this in line with the bass driver.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Subwoofer-filt...1%7C240%3A1318

[evozero]

Hi All and Al.
These speakers look fantastic! Just the sort of project I am looking to try.
Is anyone else interested in pooling our resources to buy the components. It could help save on shipping, especially the Audio Nirvana's from the states?
Al, are the Eminence Beta 15 Speaker 8 Ohm with model number EM124G1. The Maplin pictures look different?
Cheers
Ian

[SteveTheShadow]

Hi Guys,

I'm very very late to this thread but having heard both Steve's and Al's baffles, I have to say they are excellent sounding devices. I was so impressed with them that last year I set about designing and building my own.

Whereas Al's and Steve's baffles are passive, mine have active bass. The bass unit is an Eminence Delta 12, the full-range unit is a Goodman's Axiom 401 and the uppermid/treble unit is a Fostex FE108EZ 3" driver.

The passive section is driven from my Jack Elliano inspired PX25 Direct coupled ultrapath DRD amp.

My room is only 12 x 12 feet x 9ft high yet these speakers produce the best sound I've ever had in that room, despite being, like all open baffle full range speakers, quite large.

Here's a pic of them in situ.



The main drivers:



and the various inputs



Active bass section is fed by the red/black section of the Linn K400 bi-wire cable. Passive section fed by the other half of the cable into the bottom Speakon connector.

Steve

[John]

Nice baffles Steve

[Ali Tait]

Look forward to hearing them Steve.