Post by John on Aug 31, 2015 11:08:25 GMT
A friend asked me to write a bit more about Open baffle speakers I decided to have a quick overview
If you ever consider going down this route do hear a few first
Open Baffles Why
Open baffles are quite rare there are only a few specialist manufacturers making them. Open baffles are mostly limited to the DIY community.
Pros
A cost-effective way to get good sound quality without costing too much
Dipole bass can be quite extraordinary.
Easy to modify
The sense of pride of having your speaker in your room
Cons
Size is often big, the opposite in how most loudspeakers are designed.
Some designs will not offer great bass.
Not everyone is going to like how they sound.
For myself I fell into open baffles by accident I became friends with a person who had Open baffles, they did some things well, but I was not convinced with the bass performance. It interested me enough to research. At the time I was looking at my next upgrade from the Wharfedale Opus 3 I had tried a lot of different floor standers between the £2000 to £5000 range but had not settled on anything.
I travelled to few people homes across England to hear Open Baffles I also liked what I read on the Hawthorne site here was an Open baffle that could rock well. So took a punt.
Some lessons learnt
Baffles need to have excellent stability. Initially, I used ¾ Birch ply I now use 40mm MDF which gives a lot more body to the sound.
A baffle is easy to tweak, and over the years, I have done quite a few mods that have all helped improve sound quality.
Do not trust everything you read on the web trust your own, ears instead.
Approaches
The simplest approach would be to use a full range driver and large baffle. No need to cross over, very cost-effective but perhaps not the most room-friendly speaker to live with.
The next would be to use a full range driver with augmented bass ( The bass has a separate amplifier) This is the approach I used for the Hawthorne and even though I have moved to scaffold frames I still use this approach.
I use a duel concentric driver that has a Radian compression tweeter and bass driver. Variations of this approach seem to be the most popular method either to manufacture or build. With my system, I have the bass active but I have heard passive crossovers solutions such as Sovereigns that have sounded good.
A few months ago, I heard the Linwitz LX521 that is fully active; this is a fantastic sounding speaker, but you need five amplifiers to power it. www.linkwitzlab.com/LX521/Description.htm
The other more rare open baffle is the line array design.
www.dmitrynizh.com/labaffles.htm I have never heard one of these designs but imagine they have a massive sense of scale.
Myths
Poor bass extension Some open baffles go down to 20Hz
They have to be huge.
Links DIY Builds
Complete Builds
diyaudioprojects.com/Speakers/Cobies/
www.enjoythemusic.com/diy/0310/diy_open_baffle.htm
www.hifizine.com/2010/12/prototyping-4-way-open-baffle-speaker-with-the-minidsp-2x4/
Partial DIY Builds
www.magiclx521.com/
www.pureaudioproject.com/cube-10-open-baffle-speakers/
gr-research.com/diykits.aspx
Manufactured Open Baffles
steinwaylyngdorf.com/products/model-d-speaker
www.spatialaudio.us/
www.emeraldphysics.com/
It would be great if other people like Ali and James could talk about their Open baffles a bit
I have now updated the links as some no longer work and add some new manufacturers.
If you ever consider going down this route do hear a few first
Open Baffles Why
Open baffles are quite rare there are only a few specialist manufacturers making them. Open baffles are mostly limited to the DIY community.
Pros
A cost-effective way to get good sound quality without costing too much
Dipole bass can be quite extraordinary.
Easy to modify
The sense of pride of having your speaker in your room
Cons
Size is often big, the opposite in how most loudspeakers are designed.
Some designs will not offer great bass.
Not everyone is going to like how they sound.
For myself I fell into open baffles by accident I became friends with a person who had Open baffles, they did some things well, but I was not convinced with the bass performance. It interested me enough to research. At the time I was looking at my next upgrade from the Wharfedale Opus 3 I had tried a lot of different floor standers between the £2000 to £5000 range but had not settled on anything.
I travelled to few people homes across England to hear Open Baffles I also liked what I read on the Hawthorne site here was an Open baffle that could rock well. So took a punt.
Some lessons learnt
Baffles need to have excellent stability. Initially, I used ¾ Birch ply I now use 40mm MDF which gives a lot more body to the sound.
A baffle is easy to tweak, and over the years, I have done quite a few mods that have all helped improve sound quality.
Do not trust everything you read on the web trust your own, ears instead.
Approaches
The simplest approach would be to use a full range driver and large baffle. No need to cross over, very cost-effective but perhaps not the most room-friendly speaker to live with.
The next would be to use a full range driver with augmented bass ( The bass has a separate amplifier) This is the approach I used for the Hawthorne and even though I have moved to scaffold frames I still use this approach.
I use a duel concentric driver that has a Radian compression tweeter and bass driver. Variations of this approach seem to be the most popular method either to manufacture or build. With my system, I have the bass active but I have heard passive crossovers solutions such as Sovereigns that have sounded good.
A few months ago, I heard the Linwitz LX521 that is fully active; this is a fantastic sounding speaker, but you need five amplifiers to power it. www.linkwitzlab.com/LX521/Description.htm
The other more rare open baffle is the line array design.
www.dmitrynizh.com/labaffles.htm I have never heard one of these designs but imagine they have a massive sense of scale.
Myths
Poor bass extension Some open baffles go down to 20Hz
They have to be huge.
Links DIY Builds
Complete Builds
diyaudioprojects.com/Speakers/Cobies/
www.enjoythemusic.com/diy/0310/diy_open_baffle.htm
www.hifizine.com/2010/12/prototyping-4-way-open-baffle-speaker-with-the-minidsp-2x4/
Partial DIY Builds
www.magiclx521.com/
www.pureaudioproject.com/cube-10-open-baffle-speakers/
gr-research.com/diykits.aspx
Manufactured Open Baffles
steinwaylyngdorf.com/products/model-d-speaker
www.spatialaudio.us/
www.emeraldphysics.com/
It would be great if other people like Ali and James could talk about their Open baffles a bit
I have now updated the links as some no longer work and add some new manufacturers.
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