Old Japanese woofers reborn

[Poultrygeist]

These woofers were rescued from a blown pair of 4 way Sansui SP-X9700's. They were the only drivers in the cabinets still working. When speakers are blown the woofers often survive. These are HE full ranger as many of the vintage Japanese woofers were and make excellent bass using a 80hz low pass XO filter. I painted the discolored cones with PE's "Wet Look" cone paint.

[Poultrygeist]

Anyone home?

[Ajani]

I really wish I was your neighbour... I'd love to pass by for the yard sales, whenever your collection of cool DIY projects gets out of control...

One day your threads will force me into action... these OB designs look simple enough...

[Poultrygeist]

Ajani,

I wish you were my neighbor. No one on my street gives a hoot about audio. The guy next door keeps asking me when I'm going to buy some Bose speakers. WTF?

My DIY is already way out of control but I'm making room by selling commercial gear. I couldn't help throwing these together as the donor Sansui's were free.

The OB bass helper pictured here is the simplest build yet. Two pieces of scrap plywood held together with L shelf brackets. They are extremely sturdy and if the baffles were taller, mid drivers could be added and it would still be very stable.

I've already inspired several members on other forums to build OB's and have received a good many PM's thanking me. I'd love to have the same effect here but I'm afraid the traffic/interest these days is way down. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself so thanks Ajani for your reply.

[Enochrome]

No way Poultry!!

I always look forward to your DIY posts! If I wasn't strapped for cash and have a DAC and stupid headshell higher on my Audio inventory list I would be right there with you.

I have some drivers ( that I mentioned before) that are not made for OB designs (except maybe the titanium Vifa tweeter) so I would have to be all the parts new.

One day I will get there; maybe by this time next year. I really want to try using full-range drivers.
I forgot to ask you before, but does OB speakers require a lot of watts?

[Poultrygeist]

In a 2 way OB the mid/high frequency driver is always full range and highly efficient in most cases. I drive mine with 2a3 SET tube amps making all of 3.5 watts. 90% of all music is played in the mid-range and that is the strength of full range drivers which produce mids to die for.

The bass OB woofers ( like the Sansui above ) I drive separately ( bi-amp ) with more powerful solid state amps. My Dayton mono-blocks make 150 wpc and the av receivers are around 100.

The older and cheaper non HDMI AV receivers are perfect for bi-amping the bass OB's as they will accept the digital signal from the CDP while the tube amp simultaneously drives the mids/highs with the CDP analog signal. High end solid state is not necessary for good bass in OB.

What you get from bass augmentors like the Sansui OB pictured here is bass weight. We obsess over plumbing the depths but extension is not near as important as weight. Bass weight is what gives music it's foundation and without it, music sounds thin and non involving.

[Poultrygeist]

If any of you want to try OB on the cheap all you need is $100 and a sheet of plywood. Home Depot will make the cuts if you buy the plywood there.

Wild Burro Audio Labs - DIY Full Range Speakers

I received a p.m. from a forum member who sold his Omega's after building the Betsy's. The Betsy's sure got me hooked on OB..

[manlystanley]

Nice looking project!!

[Poultrygeist]

Thanks manly,

To reiterate these are passive open baffle bass augmentors and not subs. They are fast in free air and nothing like a plodding sub that can't get out of it's own way. I've never heard a musical sub but I have heard subs that claimed to be musical but weren't in the least. These my friends are musical along with the OB Alpha 15A's.

Yesterday I tried a conventional powered sub ( Bob Carver Sunfire ) crossed at 50Hz with these bass augmentors and it did nothing but detract from the musical bass. I sent big Bob back to HT duty to reproduce earthquakes and cannon shots.

[Poultrygeist]

A poll was conducted over at Audio Circle regarding "Best Bass" from the following speaker configurations: sealed, vented, infinite baffle, transmission line, open baffle, and horn/varients.........open baffle won

[Luvin Da Blues]

A poll was conducted over at Audio Circle regarding "Best Bass" from the following speaker configurations: sealed, vented, infinite baffle, transmission line, open baffle, and horn/varients.........open baffle won

Looks like "Bob" was begging for pity votes.

Open Baffle Guys........UNITE!!!!!

[Poultrygeist]

Yes and I got there too late to cast mine.