open baffle speaker question


i see lots of designs for the diyer. i have never heard a pair of these [except magnepans] and need some advice if this is a project that would be worth attempting. the costs are minimal evidently but would like to hear from someone with experience about the sound quality of this design using quality drivers etc. are super tweeters needed? thanks
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Showing 1 response by jedinite24

Hi everyone

Do any members have experiences, thoughts, opinions on JE Labs type Open Baffles? Did you find the soundstage to be low? Do you think OB set-ups primarily benefit from using quality tube gear or can budget solid state gear be used along with them?

JE Labs OB

The reason I ask all this is because I auditioned an OB set-up based off the designs in the above link and it had Audio Nirvana 12" Full Range Drivers. They were powered with a quality flea-watt tube integrated and the sound was heavenly. I bought the OB speakers thinking that wonderful sound could now be in my 2nd system. My 2nd system is all solid state budget gear. (re-built Hafler DH-220 amp, power cord speaker wire, Monster ICs, Pioneer receiver as a preamp, Sony SCD CE-595 as a source) When I listened to the OBs I found the soundstage to be low. When I auditioned them I set them up like how I would listening to them. Distance apart and sitting distance away. The only difference though is that in the audition room there was a wall behind me. I knew there would be some differences in sound because of the room and gear used but the differences I heard were drastic to me. I got lucky and the guy took them back. I still want to try an OB set-up but now amp wondering if I need to buy more expensive quality tube gear to get the best sound out of an OB set-up.

I was looking at the Tekton OB4.5en and may be even the Tekton OB 6.5en speakers.

Thanks in advance.