open baffle loudspeakers and room size

[Russell Sit]

Hi,

I am planning to build a pair of open baffle loudspeakers. My room measures 11' x 12'. I am wondering if it is too small for this kind of speakers?

Thanks in advance for your kind help.


Best wishes,
Russell SIT

[paulspencer]

According to Linkwitz, you should have 1m behind an OB speaker. This would make it very difficult in your room. However, others who have built OB speakers say that you don't need that much. It is probably less than ideal, but I think you could make a compact one. It will probably be easier to get one with a reasonable bass response, less output is required.

[Dommi]

Hy,
i build ob speakers and my romm is also small. If you want you can use sheave for easy pull the speakers from the wall.But it's not absolute necessary . Also the width of the front panel don't have to be so much bigger than the width of the speaker himself. If you use Dipole Bass, you can let the Speakers near the wall. A Dipol Bass sounds better near a wall. If you wan't look at my homepage. Is an german page, but to find the pictures is easy. It's a Prometheus high efficiency speaker system and i'm verry satisfied with.
Dommi

[diypole]

Hello Russell,
RS; "I am planning to build a pair of open baffle loudspeakers. My room measures 11' x 12'. I am wondering if it is too small for this kind of speakers?"

JY; Because there is less power put to the room for a given on axis spl with a dipole, they are optimal for a small room.
You will see a reduction in floor to ceiling, and side wall to side wall, room modes. Go for it.
regards, JasonY

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Originally posted by Russell Sit
I am planning to build a pair of open baffle loudspeakers. My room measures 11' x 12'. I am wondering if it is too small for this kind of speakers?

The room will be fine. My Baffles are much closer to the rear wall than 1m and work fine.

Sayonara

[Russell Sit]

Thank you very much for the inputs, and happy new year!

My plan is to get a pair of old full range speakers (alnico or not) and put them into the open baffle configuration. It may be a bit cheaper than to get a new pair from Fostex, Tangband, etc. The Q may also be more optimal for this type of application as some of them were designed to work this way.

I would prefer a non-folded front panel, which would be easier to make (I don't have too many tools at hand). The preliminary dimension would be about 3'x6', with the speaker mounted at ear level, and off centre. They will be placed near the corner of the room, with about 30 to 40cm from the wall at the back, and probably just a few cm from the side walls. Can I have your comment on this plan?

Thanks in advance for your kind help, and again happy new year!


Best wishes,
Russell

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Originally posted by Russell Sit
My plan is to get a pair of old full range speakers (alnico or not) and put them into the open baffle configuration. It may be a bit cheaper than to get a new pair from Fostex, Tangband, etc. The Q may also be more optimal for this type of application as some of them were designed to work this way.

I would prefer a non-folded front panel, which would be easier to make (I don't have too many tools at hand). The preliminary dimension would be about 3'x6', with the speaker mounted at ear level, and off centre. They will be placed near the corner of the room, with about 30 to 40cm from the wall at the back, and probably just a few cm from the side walls. Can I have your comment on this plan?

Sounds a lot like the exact system I have playing here....



Except my Baffles are closer to 2' X 4' in size, made from acylic and I use modern Drivers, the € 255 each Supravox 215 Signature Bicone with C37 lacquered cones.

An inexpensive modern driver to try is the Beyma 8AG/N Fullrange, which will work great open baffle and not break the bank. Upgrade to Supravox later if you like.

Sayonara

[Russell Sit]

Hi,

Thank you very much for your suggestion. It seems that the Beyma is a really good choice, only if I could find them here (I am located in Hong Kong, and I have no idea whether Beyma has a distributor here, and I heard no response from Beyma via e-mail).


Best wishes,
Russell

[swak]

I`ve been experimenting with this driver. Placed it on a (roughly) 60cm x 100cm cardboard baffle (just to try out) and while I got nice dry bass, the upper freq responce was intolerable - kind of nasal bright sound, like an unboxed driver usually sounds.

I'm not trying to say OB dont do it, my implementation is perhaps wrong for using a cardboard baffle. Has anyone else actually used this driver? Is cardboard not good even for tests?

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Originally posted by swak
I`ve been experimenting with this driver. Placed it on a (roughly) 60cm x 100cm cardboard baffle (just to try out) and while I got nice dry bass, the upper freq responce was intolerable - kind of nasal bright sound, like an unboxed driver usually sounds.

I'm not trying to say OB dont do it, my implementation is perhaps wrong for using a cardboard baffle. Has anyone else actually used this driver? Is cardboard not good even for tests?

Most papercone drivers sound bad fresh out of the box. Clamshell both drivers together and wire them out of phase and let them play for a few days with high level pink noise. Then bolt into a solid baffle and try again.

Sayonara