Melon Head's State of the "DUMB" Open Baffle Design

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I am not in awe of frequency response either.
There is a lot more to it than just flat frequency response.

In regard to flat frequency response the PHY OB is the clear winner, which isn't a surprise given the size of it, but it also tends to give a smoother response with out many troughs or peaks

The funny thing is I tend to like the smaller OB more. I need to verify that with more listening tests though
 
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No kidding. That was going to be my baby, but lets face it, i have enough kids. I turned down some second hand AN 12 cast. Really want the 15's. I have to pull out my Alpair 12.2's and get to work. They have just received some very positive feedback in OB setup. Too much to do and too little time.
 
People like their dipole front wall bounce, most don't like it blocked.

Dipoles 6' from the front wall sounded best to me, otherwise too much blend.

And the smaller 3 driver ob should do bass better.

My 6.5" with piezo crossed at 5khz doesn't have a problem running wide open alongside a pair of subs 18db@80hz at my usualy listening volumes (little louder than tv). Putting my hand lightly on the cone, I'm suprised it isn't more garbled than it is.


Norman
 
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People like their dipole front wall bounce, most don't like it blocked.

Dipoles 6' from the front wall sounded best to me, otherwise too much blend.


Norman
It does seem that a smaller baffle tends to create a greater feeling of having the performer in your room. I am not ready to make that conclusion though.
I will cut down the PHY and see what happens
 
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This thread is more about playing with different types of open baffle designs, not necessarily about any specific full range driver

Well in that case I have a driver alignment question that I have never seen implemented before in OB, something I've been looking to try.

What if we started with a decent quality dual voice coil, high excursion driver. Something like the 15" Dayton DVC seen here: Dayton Audio DVC385-88 15" DVC Series Subwoofer 295-190

Instead of implementing DSP or altering Q by adding resistance, we drove one of the two coils with a clean BASH style plate amp. The 2nd coil was driven normally by our full range source amplifier. The balance between the two would determine low end compensation that could be dialed-in at will.

This particular driver should be crossed low passively to a capable HF driver; something like a ScanSpeak D2604 with it's 475Hz Fs selling for a mere $53... or possibly even a CD. I would propose mounting the driver low, angled up toward the listener. We might effectively wind up with a compact 2 driver OB with lots of possibilities for not a lot of coin?
 
I am not that familiar with the construction of dual voice drivers. I am not sure how wiring up separate amps to each voice coil would be a good idea.
I like the idea of the D2604 but I honestly think once you have heard good sounding high efficiency drivers you won't go back.
My scanspeak 2.5 ways are in the garage

EDIT: I would be still happy to play around with this idea though. I would choose the Usher 9950-20 though over D2604 tweeter in terms of bang for buck
 
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Interesting idea. About woofer placement, I have played with different simulators about woofer positioning and you can get much more even roll off by moving the woofer off the ground about 20". I remember Joachim Gerhard mentioning this and saying that he thought ther was better balance in the response when this path was taken. I know a lot of folks shove the woofer down low for Fluor boost, but there is consideration needed for the side effects of this
 
This particular driver should be crossed low passively to a capable HF driver; something like a ScanSpeak D2604 with it's 475Hz Fs selling for a mere $53... or possibly even a CD. I would propose mounting the driver low, angled up toward the listener. We might effectively wind up with a compact 2 driver OB with lots of possibilities for not a lot of coin?


The fostex ff85wk is the perfect driver for your application
 
CSD PLOTS Seas FA22 vs Radian 475pb

Radian clearly superior to Seas FR
Probably unfair test, but interested to know how it compares
I am now keen to try ENabl on the Seas and see how it may improve things

The first plot is Seas FA22 and the second is Radian475pb
 

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I am not that familiar with the construction of dual voice drivers. I am not sure how wiring up separate amps to each voice coil would be a good idea.
I like the idea of the D2604 but I honestly think once you have heard good sounding high efficiency drivers you won't go back.
My scanspeak 2.5 ways are in the garage

EDIT: I would be still happy to play around with this idea though. I would choose the Usher 9950-20 though over D2604 tweeter in terms of bang for buck

And I have one 9950-20 on the shelf. Truly a neutral sounds tweeter that can be crossed fairly low.
 
I am not that familiar with the construction of dual voice drivers. I am not sure how wiring up separate amps to each voice coil would be a good idea.

EDIT: I would be still happy to play around with this idea though. I would choose the Usher 9950-20 though over D2604 tweeter in terms of bang for buck

The main purpose of DVC is wiring flexibility, as these drivers can be wired in series, parallel or only one coil, resulting in lets say 2, 4, or 8 ohms depending on each coils value. But I know of no reason why I couldn't send the same signal, crossed differently and at different levels to each of the coils, in order to balance the levels in a dipole app. The result should be a cancellation compensated single cone/single point source driver from say 1000Hz down.
 
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