I am in the process of revamping my open baffle speakers with a new baffle, and I'm wondering if there is an obvious upgrade route for the woofers (one per side) from my Eminence betas. I'm not particularly disappointed with the betas, but I suspect there are options that are audibly better. Unfortunately, the Hawthorne Augies are no longer available, and Pure Audio Project no longer sells their woofers separately. What else is out there that works well in open baffle speakers?
Here is my (slightly weird setup):
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15" covering most of the audible spectrum.
Eminence Beta 15" handling the low bass
Biamped using first watt b5 crossover
ACA driving the Tannoys
For now the crossover point is pretty high - 80hz -to take the load of the ACA, but I'll experiment with different settings when I finish building my First Watt m2.
To some extent the speakers were made with available components, but they do sound good.
Here is my (slightly weird setup):
Tannoy Monitor Gold 15" covering most of the audible spectrum.
Eminence Beta 15" handling the low bass
Biamped using first watt b5 crossover
ACA driving the Tannoys
For now the crossover point is pretty high - 80hz -to take the load of the ACA, but I'll experiment with different settings when I finish building my First Watt m2.
To some extent the speakers were made with available components, but they do sound good.
More is better IMO.
I had quad Goldwood 1858s in HFrames and never did the Eminence thing. There are lots of great drivers catered to the open/infinite baffle crowd out there. It's a matter of what you want to spend and how much space you have.
The Eminence are no slouch, but there is definitely room for improvement I think. I would look for something with a bit more XMax as you needn't a woofer that plays upto 2khz the Beta. Acoustic Elegance gets lots of love and have always intrigued me. They make OB/IB specific woofers. Dayton do as well I believe. Some higher end pro woofers would probably work well with EQ if a sub driver isn't your bag.
Heck, my friend used 8 12" GRS poly woofers to make slot loaded bass for his stereo setup that I never got to hear, but reckon they'd have left the Betas in the dust, and they cost only what 1 Beta and a six pack would set ya back. The type of baffle plays just as much part as the woofer IMO.
I had quad Goldwood 1858s in HFrames and never did the Eminence thing. There are lots of great drivers catered to the open/infinite baffle crowd out there. It's a matter of what you want to spend and how much space you have.
The Eminence are no slouch, but there is definitely room for improvement I think. I would look for something with a bit more XMax as you needn't a woofer that plays upto 2khz the Beta. Acoustic Elegance gets lots of love and have always intrigued me. They make OB/IB specific woofers. Dayton do as well I believe. Some higher end pro woofers would probably work well with EQ if a sub driver isn't your bag.
Heck, my friend used 8 12" GRS poly woofers to make slot loaded bass for his stereo setup that I never got to hear, but reckon they'd have left the Betas in the dust, and they cost only what 1 Beta and a six pack would set ya back. The type of baffle plays just as much part as the woofer IMO.
Thanks for that info. I've always been intrigued by slot loaded bass. The Acoustic Elegance drivers cost about six times what the betas cost - a little rich for my tastes.
My Goldwoods in the HFrames don't need much EQ, and ran them with a 24db active crossover. Not ideal. The passive XO solution of a 125hz LR2 got extension to like 200hz in the MJK white paper IIRC. I definitely liked crossing them lower than higher, to keep male voices out of them.
When I put them on a flat baffle that was 72x24, they were definitely good, but don't think they hit as low as the HFrames. Different rooms made it hard to get anything beyond an impression of the differences. No measures. When my friend got me thinking about slots, I had some pieces ripped up to place over top of my 18s on the flat baffle, effectively slot loading the front of them. The bass definitely improved over the sound of the plain flat baffle.
I run all active and don't concern myself with what kind of loads my pro amps see. Surely modifying speakers mechanically will change impedances and such seen by some gear. Someone with more knowhow should chime in... But it's safe to say, there is lots of ways to massage good sound out of different types of drivers.
Have you considered slot loading your Betas? If you're just working with a rough baffle ATM, two 18"x6" boards per woofer, on each side, leaving a 1/3ish air gap up the middle will give you an idea of how it sounds. Experiment with the slot size. Also, Nelson Pass used to have a slot loaded Beta15 with a Lowther full ranger... Can't be that bad. His baffle and how he had the slot was super slick.
When I put them on a flat baffle that was 72x24, they were definitely good, but don't think they hit as low as the HFrames. Different rooms made it hard to get anything beyond an impression of the differences. No measures. When my friend got me thinking about slots, I had some pieces ripped up to place over top of my 18s on the flat baffle, effectively slot loading the front of them. The bass definitely improved over the sound of the plain flat baffle.
I run all active and don't concern myself with what kind of loads my pro amps see. Surely modifying speakers mechanically will change impedances and such seen by some gear. Someone with more knowhow should chime in... But it's safe to say, there is lots of ways to massage good sound out of different types of drivers.
Have you considered slot loading your Betas? If you're just working with a rough baffle ATM, two 18"x6" boards per woofer, on each side, leaving a 1/3ish air gap up the middle will give you an idea of how it sounds. Experiment with the slot size. Also, Nelson Pass used to have a slot loaded Beta15 with a Lowther full ranger... Can't be that bad. His baffle and how he had the slot was super slick.
I think I saw that design with the slot loaded Beta15. The slot was horizontal on the bottom, and the driver faced down. Wish I could find it on this site.
Have a look at Acoustic Elegance and the new SB Audience open baffle drivers,
e.g.
Acoustic Elegance Dipole15 woofer for Open Baffle Applications
BIANCO-15OB350
e.g.
Acoustic Elegance Dipole15 woofer for Open Baffle Applications
BIANCO-15OB350
Apparently the woofer Pass used is an Eminence 4015LF... I seemed to recall reading it was a Beta. My mistake.
If you read this then all the theory applies... The slot ratio is the key.
https://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_slob.pdf
I snagged these pics off AK...
If you read this then all the theory applies... The slot ratio is the key.
https://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_slob.pdf
I snagged these pics off AK...
