Battle of the Open Baffles


Watching Jay's video today about the Maco Acoustics speakers, and saw the Caladan's late last year.  Seems like open baffle death match is brewing...

kro77

As I have been preaching....he he....make your own Caladan or use a $50 planar instead of the $39 dome tweeter in the Caladan for less than $1500 using the worlds best parts and construction.  A simple version can be built in a day......Home Depot cuts the wood and all you have to do is jig saw some holes and screw it all together.....super easy.  I just ordered the woofs and planars and in a few weeks will have it all done and will have pics on my website and if it is as good as I imagine, I will invite serious bay area people over to listen (I am not making or selling speakers....just promoting the idea).  Info on my website.

If you like the Maggie's, Hollis Audio Labs is doing some real cool things using active crossovers and OB subs.

ricevs

  "I just ordered the woofs and planars "                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Can you please advise on the woofer and tweeter model numbers and maybe provide a link in which I can find them for purchase? Thanks.

The real advantage of the OB design is that the expense of the Baffle is not too demanding on ones pocket to produce, even if a Machine Shop produces the Board for a design.

As for a Board Material, if OB's are keeper speakers, a 25mm (1") Phenolic Resin Impregnated Densified Wood Board is the material that will ,have much improved properties to Dissipate / Damp transferred energies over other materials usually used.   

The advantage of not being caught for substantial monies for a Cabinet Design and Manufacture is also able to be off set toward the Driver Selection. There are Drivers to be selected that can push the build cost toward £1500 - £2K, but such drivers found in commercial products will most likely be close to £15K as the minimum the new purchase price.

There is also the options for Passive or Active. 

My experiences ,have not left me with, any prejudices against any electronics in the signal path. I have learnt that Active for the Bass will be much, friendlier to ones pocket than going down the passive route, (think Plate Amp). 

Xovers can be produced relatively cheap and are easily upgraded with alternate components over time, upgrades can have a substantial influence for the better, especially when Drivers are becoming more settled and presenting closer to how the design is intended. 

The individual selling the Speakers in the Link has a wealth of OB experience and was very very impressed with these speakers for the associated cost. For those only interested in off the shelve options, these as a model are well worthwhile looking into.

If OB's seem too much of challenge to take on as a project, the DML Panel Speaker might be more to ones tastes, still offering all the values of experiencing unconstrained sound, as a result of not having Cabinet Influences to contend with.   

 

danbro,

Gold buttons open links to drivers. Much more to come as I assemble the speakers and test....and also more general info, including parts and construction details.

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/DIY_Bi-amped_super_speaker.html