After far too long, I have finally finished construction of my transparent Open Baffle speakers. I've just bolted the drive units in and taken a couple of pictures. I'll wire them up tomorrow.
Here are the piccies,
Front View
Back View
ciao
James
Here are the piccies,
Front View
Back View
ciao
James
Wow! Terrific looking speakers!
Perhaps, this is another form representing function? Transparent and CLEAR sound built as a Transparent and CLEAR enclosure. Great job! It looks like Plexi or just plain old glass to me(?)...and a Fostex driver? with some other bass driver. Are u using active cross-overs? No cross-overs?
Perhaps, this is another form representing function? Transparent and CLEAR sound built as a Transparent and CLEAR enclosure. Great job! It looks like Plexi or just plain old glass to me(?)...and a Fostex driver? with some other bass driver. Are u using active cross-overs? No cross-overs?
Many thanks for the nice comments 
They drive units are AER BD1 full range at top and Supravox GMF 285 at the bottom.
The supravox is used to provide baffle step correction to the AER as the panel starts to introduce cancelation so the AER is run basically full range and the Supravox is 18dB down by 400Hz at first order rate.
The components are available from BD Designs, I designed the baffle and Bert adopted it as it was close to his ideas for an OB, he then worked out the filter values and optimise the AER drivers for this application. My wife refused to have speakers this big in the house until I said I would make transparent ones. These have high WAF, my wife gave then 9.5 out of 10!!!
Getting the baffles built was a swine of a job. Every little mark and join has to very carefully polished smooth or it shows...
I can't wait to finish the wiring tomorrow and listen to them.
ciao
James
They drive units are AER BD1 full range at top and Supravox GMF 285 at the bottom.
The supravox is used to provide baffle step correction to the AER as the panel starts to introduce cancelation so the AER is run basically full range and the Supravox is 18dB down by 400Hz at first order rate.
The components are available from BD Designs, I designed the baffle and Bert adopted it as it was close to his ideas for an OB, he then worked out the filter values and optimise the AER drivers for this application. My wife refused to have speakers this big in the house until I said I would make transparent ones. These have high WAF, my wife gave then 9.5 out of 10!!!
Getting the baffles built was a swine of a job. Every little mark and join has to very carefully polished smooth or it shows...
I can't wait to finish the wiring tomorrow and listen to them.
ciao
James
Hi Peter,
I made a mock up in heavy cardboard from some large boxes I had. These proved the concept. The design was worked out in theory so I was confident that it would work. Bert built an MDF version to help fine tune the filter components although the final values are very close to the calculated optimum value.
I have tried for nearly a year to get these made to my design and in the end did about half the work myself. I had a local plexiglass expert make the bends in the sheets in his workshop and he cut the large holes. I did the rest and the hard hand finishing...God that was time consuming! But worth it!
I have a really nice OFC wire in about 18 guage with a very pale electric blue translucent insulation. If I dress the wires properly then it will look really nice. I have found this wire to sound nice and neutral.
ciao
James
I made a mock up in heavy cardboard from some large boxes I had. These proved the concept. The design was worked out in theory so I was confident that it would work. Bert built an MDF version to help fine tune the filter components although the final values are very close to the calculated optimum value.
I have tried for nearly a year to get these made to my design and in the end did about half the work myself. I had a local plexiglass expert make the bends in the sheets in his workshop and he cut the large holes. I did the rest and the hard hand finishing...God that was time consuming! But worth it!
I have a really nice OFC wire in about 18 guage with a very pale electric blue translucent insulation. If I dress the wires properly then it will look really nice. I have found this wire to sound nice and neutral.
ciao
James
Wow, nice !!!!!!
That's half-inch acrylic, correct? What did it cost? I can't find half-inch anywhere cheap, but then again I can't get the 1/8 inch anywhere online for under $40 for the amount that Home Depot charges $5 for.
It shouldn't be too hard to make it yourself w/ a heat gun and a good work table/forms.
It shouldn't be too hard to make it yourself w/ a heat gun and a good work table/forms.
I have received a couple of posts from people informing me that the picture links do not work. My apologises - my son erased them whilst updating some of his stuff....
so here is a link to my latests Quasar picture
Quasar pictures
Ciao
James
so here is a link to my latests Quasar picture
Quasar pictures
Ciao
James
I was one of the people who couldn't see the pictures but now I have, I am also impressed with the quality of finish.
When I designed my open baffles, I did have some reservations about using perspex or other plastics. Apart from the possibility of colouring through aging/exposure to ultra-violet light, there is a real possibility of scratching them. And then there is the cost of course!
In the end I went for glass although I can see that it would not be possible to make your folded design in glass (at least not easily).
Anyway James, welcome to the open-baffle club, clearly better sounding and clearly better looking!
When I designed my open baffles, I did have some reservations about using perspex or other plastics. Apart from the possibility of colouring through aging/exposure to ultra-violet light, there is a real possibility of scratching them. And then there is the cost of course!
In the end I went for glass although I can see that it would not be possible to make your folded design in glass (at least not easily).
Anyway James, welcome to the open-baffle club, clearly better sounding and clearly better looking!
Hi Nuuk,
Love your website! Nice piece of work.
Modern perspex is available with good resistance to aging via ultraviolet colouring - particularly if direct sunlight can be avoided. However the cost is high. For me it was the only way my wife would accept having the design in the house - she refused the glass designs I generated...
Acoustically they have exceeded my hopes for them - and continue to get better and better. I couldn't go back to closed boxes again...
Clearly better indeed! In all senses of the word!
ciao
James
Love your website! Nice piece of work.
Modern perspex is available with good resistance to aging via ultraviolet colouring - particularly if direct sunlight can be avoided. However the cost is high. For me it was the only way my wife would accept having the design in the house - she refused the glass designs I generated...
Acoustically they have exceeded my hopes for them - and continue to get better and better. I couldn't go back to closed boxes again...
Clearly better indeed! In all senses of the word!
ciao
James
Well, I've always been late for everything ... and I'm a couple years late on this thread.
I'm a lover of the boxless sound and also couldn't return to conventional enclosures.
I am full of admiration for John, and anyone who undertakes a brave project like building from acrylic ... you can hide your mistakes in wood (and believe me, I have to do some hiding at times!)
The pics are gone now, but I'd love to see them - is this possible?
ALF in AUS
I'm a lover of the boxless sound and also couldn't return to conventional enclosures.
I am full of admiration for John, and anyone who undertakes a brave project like building from acrylic ... you can hide your mistakes in wood (and believe me, I have to do some hiding at times!)
The pics are gone now, but I'd love to see them - is this possible?
ALF in AUS
ALF in AUS said:
Recent pictures of those Quasars I can be found here:
http://homepage.mac.com/scress1958/Diary/PhotoAlbum23.html
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.