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I built a pair of open baffle speakers many moons ago. I found that adding weight to the base tightened up the imaging and ended up using a couple of heavy slate slabs. It made a noticeable difference. I presume the large drivers could rock the frames slightly, causing a smearing of the sound which the ballast cured. I recommend anyone with open baffles should give it a try - it needn't cost much, a couple of paving slabs would do.
Thank you for consolidating all of the build information. I also noticed on discord that someone I think (Terry) created a spread sheet to show the impact of various changes, this is very helpful when developing a new design. Good job, Again!
Great video James, bringing it all together with how this project has progressed. I have my LDA15.1 kit on order and will build the baffle without the 18" as my 1st version. I am really waiting for the Baby Baffle to come out as I have really small rooms here in Japan. PS> Don't sweat the haters... there will always be keyboard trolls.. :)
I don't have the time to do a built etc. I saved an awful lot of my pennies for a couple of years and bought Nola Champs. Open baffle twetter and mids with a sealed dipole bass driver. I am very happy. A mix of both worlds.
OMG! The weight is the worst part! I have my fingers crossed for fast shipping. I know that Terry just got another big shipment of drivers recently, so hopefully very soon. Thanks for the comment. Glad you’re here.
When you mention the upper drivers being slot loaded, is it the small difference between the hole in the baffle and where the driver frame screws down? If that's the case, then the hole cutout is just slightly smaller than the cone. How did you arrive at the dimension?
Correct. We found the sweet spot with the LDA driver to be 50% of the surface area of the driver. It will vary depending on what your goal is and the driver you use.
Ever think of putting 5-7 horizontal 5/8 to 3/4 thick slats covering 20-30% of basket opening. And twist the center cover over 18in to 15° to 45° instead of vertical to push sound differently. Just idea.
Outstanding. Kinda been following the transformation and am highly curious about the end product. Would it be at all worth it to create a more diminutive version, or are the current dimensions and drivers fine for even a small space? Possibly something that’s still accurate and clean with nice smaller drivers but could pair well with a sub - which actually helps with room modes atm. Thanks for breaking the mold and making these excellent OB’s a reality!
Thank you!! So much fun. - We have a new model LDA just designed. Basically a “Baby Baffle” based on the big brother. I’ll be reviewing and revealing soon
Really excellent set of videos. I have Spatial M4 Turbo S and love what they do. This will be a project one day when I retire soon. Probably like to make something not as wide. As for the GR Research fanboy assuming he was not spoofing as a gag he needs to think of his nx-otica on its own against your speaker if he wants to compare. The fact that they need to add H Subs to be full range is not a minor thing. The so called audiophile snobs need to lighten up music is about enjoyment.
Have you tried charge coupled xovers in any projects? - Good to see a diffraction slot - The first commercial R-J speaker had a lopsided "diamond slot" which later was revised to a "lemon shape". I play with Karlson stuff where there can be considerable cavity resonances - that said, they can sound pretty good. (I've not yet listened to this video as am battling uber high blood sugar problems)
I have not tried them. This is really our first dive into open baffles as a community. The guy, or the brain behind helping us all has been designing and building amps and speakers for 40 years. I’m just the guy who gets excited and builds stuff. 🤣🤣. Best wishes on your health my friend. Happy holidays.
Yeah, those Russian capacitors have been one of our favorites. And we’ve been through a lot of of them! Thank you for your comment, I appreciate you being here.
Bi-amp and computer dsp crossover with something like J River? Provides parametric Eq and time delay. I’m an OB Vet, more or less. Is the rear tweeter wired out of phase to avoid bipolar behavior? Your work is fascinating.
Does the spacer between the CD and woofer bring them back into time allighnment? You say phase correction (with the shim) which is probably the same thing. Also, I didn't hear what your crossover points and slopes are. I like to cross the CD to mid driver at 900 hz Butterworth. Eminence sells a couple of great 1.4" exit drivers that work well to 900 hz. Not sure if they are threaded but could use an addapter. I'm just thinking of upgrades here. I'll post a couple of photos of my 2way using a pair of neo 8s per side, in a couple of hours. I may want to build with La Dolce driver kits but need to know more. Frequency graphs of the woofers would be nice. Thanks for the great work. The best. Ron
Thanks Ron! The shims were all just developed by ear, no measurement, just the distance that gave us what we liked. Little too aggressive with no shim. Much sweeter, balanced, and overall pleasing with the shim. crossover points all depend on which value of cap or coil the person uses. This is more personal DIY rather than a finish product. So one gets the drivers, which is 90% of the sound and performance covered, and then mess with values and baffle to taste. Most of he info is on the LDA website and in our Discord.. Cheers.. :)
I like that idea about the backside of the "slot/center". It is very close to an idea I came up with some years ago but never tested. The idea was to use the "compression chamber" behind the slot as a low pass filter and in that way reduce the high frequencies from the woofer. Many OB woofers have rather high peak at 2 kHz that can mess up the mid. I was thinking about two different ways to do this. Alternative 1. By put a thin layer of cork on the inside of the center piece. Cork will absorb higher frequencies (>300Hz ?) but almost nothing below 150 Hz. Alternative 2. By having a lot of small helmholzt resonators on the center piece tuned to the frequencies that you want to reduce. Think KEF LS50 Meta. Alternative 3. Combine 1&2
@@abxaudiophiles I had kind of same idea but not as advanced as your. More a clean cone to get a better airflow and avoid pressure to build up at the center. At that time I was thinking about larger volume of the compression chamber like a ripole woofer (but still for one 15" OB woofer). The idea was to experiment with compression volume, slot and damping material and see if it was possible to build a speaker without any crossover. I was thinking about a back mounted woofer with round sheet (around 17") in front of the driver. The slot being the distance between the baffle and the round front sheet. Glad to see that somebody had kind of the same idea and made something of it. Maybe time to see if it works. I have some nice drivers and some wood over.....
Totally!! We were just talking about that same thing in our discord yesterday. Terry posted a photo from the 1950’s of someone doing the same thing. The cool thing is we’re not inventing anything here, this has all be done before. It’s just been forgot by most.
Do you have any measurements of these changes? Do you have any room or gated measurements to help people know what they might sound like in their room? Any off axis impulse sweeps to show the difference between 10" slot load etc. ?
Tons. Posted all the time in our discord. Although each build varies, and also room is a big factor… but yes, there has been tons of measurement shared in our community and in previous reviews. 😊😊
Also, open baffles are so room dependent, most measurement will be pretty generally speaking in most cases. Probably even more so with these open baffles than box speakers in my mind. Also, all driver specs and stuff are posted on the LDA website if anyone wants to deep dive. Also if you reach out to Terry, he is always more than happy to share everything. What we are doing here is a cool group project. I don’t make a DIME off any of this stuff at all. Just having fun watching our community do a cool project together. Feel free to jump in the discord and check it all out. Or reach out to LDA if you have questions specifically about the drivers. 😊😊
@@abxaudiophiles Discord is the absolute worst when it comes to someone coming into the information from the get begining. If you've been there the whole time it's great because it's just a running conversation but it's not organized at all. A single thread with this information would be so helpful for those looking for it.
It's not so much the drivers but seeing the measured changes from the changes you are all making in your designs. It's very interesting to see the differences and try to correlate the measurements to what you or others hear. @@abxaudiophiles
@@NakeanWickliff. Oh yea, I get it.. We do that constantly. It’s literally every day in our discord. Add something in, run a sweep, take something out, run a sweep. Add a different choke, run a sweep… We’ve been at this for almost a year just on this baffle alone. 😊😊😊
great video, i was looking at the pure audio project as an example. I wanted to know what brought you on deciding on which speaker drivers to use? Did you think about full range drivers? This there a material list on your site?
Thanks my friend. So, these drivers are a collaboration between one of my buddies on our Discord, who owns La Dolce Audio and him working with Eminence to design these specific for our group diy baffle. I have had and heard a few “full range” drivers and they are a simple and decent solution to open baffles, but I always felt it was asking too much of a driver. Our baffles are essentially a three way, with very very simple first order crossovers. All the info is on our website. If you want to deep dive it all, jump in our discord. We’ve got guys putting $15K speakers up for sale after building these. Think we’re up to about 20 pairs build by our community now. Fun stuff.
Nice Informative Video! How does the newest updated DIY Baffle speakers sound compared to the MACO MACARIA Speakers and which speakers sound more detailed?
Different animals. MACO are slightly more genre specific but a touch more detailed in the mids. These baffles are a full rage machine that hits hard from 30hz to 20K
Wish I had room. I've got Maggie's, beautiful hardwood framed ones, just sitting around. All near field time being. LS50 Metas and CSS 1TDX Superiors and M&K S1bs. 2 subs.
I've never listened to open baffle speakers before and wanted to get a taste. If I'm hearing correctly I just need a set of the 15in drivers with tweeters from LDA and 1.5-2.2 mh Chokes and 3.3 pio caps to build a basic baffle with, correct?
@@abxaudiophiles I've tried but get verifications and other checks that prevent me from connecting on my PC. Tried on my phone and I get invalid invitation.
Now you need to make a small pair meant for desktop use, as my office is far to small for something like this. Something good for near field and good up against a wall. Should be pretty straight forward to get the appropriate near field mid and tweeters and an open baffle design. Just scaled down.
@abxaudiophiles Sweet! I'm gonna have to take a look! Also live in the PNW, some time this year I'm gonna setup my CNC router and could make kits if that interests you at all.
James thinking seriously of building a pair but worry my room is too small. My LR is 12x12 with an 8x10 area rug on the floor. Currently running an Akitika PR-102 preamp I built and a pair of Dynaco ST-70’s I’ve restored. As these may be too large for my room is it possible to scale them down perhaps with different drivers? Will instantly join the discord if building these is a possibility for me. LOVE the project and the vids! Keep em coming!
We don’t, wasn’t really an issue from a sound quality standpoint from the feedback we got from those folks building it. Just really not an actual audible issue for our community I guess. Maybe an issue paper tells us is there, but not really a glaring issue in real life. 😊😀👍🧐
have you tried KZK White (Blue / Orange) Line capacitors? Also Russian but modern ones. I'm currently waiting for them to arrive to use them in my DIY DAC
These look great and I'm working backwards though the discord history.. Been looking for a OB design for my 211-SET. The published crossover network shows an l-pad yet you referenced removing it. Does that put all three drivers in parallel or are the two drivers of the coax in series which are then in parallel to the 18?
@@ny384388- each driver has its own first order crossover (basically just a cap or choke) the L pad only controlled the tweeter. With the PIO cap we found that the Lpad was not needed to attenuate the tweeter and blended perfectly.
Thanks for all this work in developing these speakers. I'm very budget confined so I will be going with the original drivers/tweeter combo because as you stated back then they sounded amazing, and will be doing the compression openings with the cheap Russian cap. Can't wait. Any thoughts on how this might sound coming through a John Lindley Hood style class A amp? Hi from Australia.
I am having all kinds of trouble. I want to build a set of baffles with high-end parts. The problem is I can't get on Discord because my email is already registered and it won't let me claim. I can't contact you other than this way, and the speaker company has no contact info I can find. So how do I get a blueprint, wiring schematic, parts list, and where to buy and where I can actually talk to someone?? Please help me.
Lot better than the 60 each Jentzens we were using, but yes, look around elsewhere, may find better deal. Shipping is crazy these days, but $20 each is a steal in my mind and ear… 😊😊
Yea. We’ve had the Lii drivers and they are much more restrictive in range. They are what I call “one trick ponies” vocals and acoustics, but don’t feed the Lii complex music as it gets bad quick.
Thanks for the response. I currently have a pair of the GR research triple threats. My sub bass extension is taken care of. Thinking of seeing what the 15’’ driver tweeter combo might sound like paired with them. How much baffle do you think I need for just the 1 driver? Has anyone tried a 3’’ baffle that has a slight curve to it? I’ll drop by the discord and discuss. Thanks for the information. Peace and happy listening.
Sorry.... Good build love the enthusiasm but let's be honest.... Gr research is #1 diy open baffle BY FAR. Like its not a question far. I have a pair of gr research nx otica and stereo triple servo subs and they are better than the multiple million dollar rooms I heard at axpona 2023. Get those iron core inductors out of there, only good under 200hz otherwise it smears the sound. The connectors while easier will also substantially effect sound quality... Good for testing them a must remove and solder. Also if you want to really really bring the sound up use a vcap odam for your cap... Yes they are expensive but the improvement will be night and day.
Yea.... We are well aware... Although not really what we are doing as a group right now.. Very bold claims from someone who has had ZERO seconds hearing these baffles... But hey, we all love to pound them keyboards away dont we.. HA
And if you actually listened, I said that my real crossover parts were at a buddies as he was doing some testing.. And the connectors were just for testing stuff out... Some people have trouble listening apparently.. I am sure GR research are great! But for us, we have heard a lot of baffles this year. These will punch right up there with many of them.. Build them or at least hear them before you come blasting off about stuff you don't even know... Shit, at least pay attention to the video... LMAO
@@abxaudiophiles I'm not pounding but your title is an exaggeration... Maybe best sub X price? And I'm genuinely talking from experience as the gr research open baffle has blown away million dollar systems I've heard at axpona.
@@abxaudiophiles you said you need those connectors, not they were for only testing and someone should solder the end result. That's all I'm saying. Not hating at all, that's why I said great build. I am sure for the money these sound really good because open baffle does bunch way above if done half way right even from my experience. Bold clames of best diy open baffle is what wasn't true. Best under 1k? You have a serious contender likely for #1.
@@ClassifiedBrief Yea, you’re hating. Don’t try and hide it. Read the title man. We’re working with a guy who’s been building and designing speakers for over 40 years…. So yea…. Back in your cave sir.
I love these kinds of comments from people have not spent a single second with any of these speakers. And you’re kind of right, with an open baffle, it’s impossible to create all the issues box speakers have. Cheers. 🍻
@@abxaudiophiles Ok, ich habe zwei Breitbänder in Open-Baffle zusammen mit zwei RePol Subwoofer; ich vermisse bei Deinem Vortrag einfach ein wenig Klang ...
BEST DIY speaker?? You guys do not even seem to have a grasp on speaker design/measuring and theory. How do you address "Baffle step loss"? How do you address "Dipole Peaking"? Let me guess, by pretending neither exist and making some "Know it all" type comment as you have done with several other posters that try to point out your flawed but well intentioned design. There is a HUGE reason most people do not do this type of "Open Baffle" speaker. Its not cause of the simplicity, but because the implied simplicity, creates something that is not accurate or great sounding. It if was that simple to make a great sounding speaker, everyone would have done this by now. Your "Discovery" of Open baffle speakers as great and simple are based on not knowing what you do not know. Ask Danny at GR Research for some help. He might even do it free of charge!!
Man, to be so crusty and sure of yourself... I am sorry, but you are just wrong here. Why don't you jump in our Discord and talk that kind of trash and hear from the 30 people and designers who have worked and built these over the last year and are setting $15,000+ tower speakers aside? You just lack actual experience in front of these baffles, and that's okay. Danny is a cool dude, but measurements only tell us about 20% of the story..... Cheers and swing by and have a REAL conversation with your peers in this space and get schooled up by the folks actually putting in the work.... No need to reply here....
@kevintomb - I'm no expert by any means, but I'm pretty confident that open baffle speakers don't exhibit baffle step loss or need baffle step correction. They do exhibit baffle rolloff of about 6db at 90º off axis where the front-wave and back-wave intersect at the baffle edge. Even your buddy Danny has a series on open baffle basics that discusses how a wider baffle works to eliminate dipole peaking, requiring less equalization or crossover components for filtering. My advice here is really basic: Don't assume the folks you're speaking to aren't just as intelligent (if not more so) than you are and that a short video on the internet is not going to encompass the hours and months of actual research, measurements, and tweaking that has gone on behind the scenes.
Concidering the size of the baffles, can building short rear loaded bass horn improve the low output of this pair of drivers? the size will remain the same, ony more depth will be needed, but i see ppl mounting "wings" to open baffles to extend the lows so...;)
I will say, in my large room, even with the original ABX baffles, that bass is slamming! Especially on an amp with a nice high dampening factor of 500+
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@pt265 And that’s what’s up! If it sounds good to you, then that’s all that matters. 🥰✊🏼😊😊
Thank you for using your skills and taking the time to make this video
My pleasure!
I built a pair of open baffle speakers many moons ago. I found that adding weight to the base tightened up the imaging and ended up using a couple of heavy slate slabs. It made a noticeable difference. I presume the large drivers could rock the frames slightly, causing a smearing of the sound which the ballast cured. I recommend anyone with open baffles should give it a try - it needn't cost much, a couple of paving slabs would do.
Lots of cool options in this space. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for consolidating all of the build information. I also noticed on discord that someone I think (Terry) created a spread sheet to show the impact of various changes, this is very helpful when developing a new design. Good job, Again!
You’re welcome and thank you!! The discord is PACKED with all the cool info. ❤🎉😊
Great video James, bringing it all together with how this project has progressed. I have my LDA15.1 kit on order and will build the baffle without the 18" as my 1st version. I am really waiting for the Baby Baffle to come out as I have really small rooms here in Japan. PS> Don't sweat the haters... there will always be keyboard trolls.. :)
Thanks buddy…. I should have the baby baffles for review SOON…. Damn haters man, they always get me in the feels. 🤣🤣
I don't have the time to do a built etc. I saved an awful lot of my pennies for a couple of years and bought Nola Champs. Open baffle twetter and mids with a sealed dipole bass driver. I am very happy. A mix of both worlds.
Always cool options out there.. :)
These parts and kit overall keep looking better and better!!!!
Thank you
Soon! Waiting on the drivers ! I'm ready
OMG! The weight is the worst part! I have my fingers crossed for fast shipping. I know that Terry just got another big shipment of drivers recently, so hopefully very soon. Thanks for the comment. Glad you’re here.
Never heard an open baffle but man do they look cool.
They sound cool too!! :)
Remarkable work! Really enjoying it.
Glad you enjoy it!
Hi James. Like the upgrades. I look forward to building this during the Winter.
Exciting!! If you need anything or if I can help, let me know buddy.. :)
@@abxaudiophiles I really appreciate it. I’m sure I will have questions along the way.
Love it my friend look fantastic 👍
Thank you! Cheers!
When you mention the upper drivers being slot loaded, is it the small difference between the hole in the baffle and where the driver frame screws down? If that's the case, then the hole cutout is just slightly smaller than the cone. How did you arrive at the dimension?
Correct. We found the sweet spot with the LDA driver to be 50% of the surface area of the driver. It will vary depending on what your goal is and the driver you use.
Ever think of putting 5-7 horizontal 5/8 to 3/4 thick slats covering 20-30% of basket opening. And twist the center cover over 18in to 15° to 45° instead of vertical to push sound differently. Just idea.
All kinds of cool stuff to do! 😊😊
Bro, you've finished to convince me Will build'em and report ;-) I have all similar parts . Chris from France :-D
Lets GO!!!! :) Awesome bro! Keep us posted
My preference is to add more drivers instead of slot loading but the added cost may defeat the point of the project.
Many cool ways to create. 😊
Outstanding. Kinda been following the transformation and am highly curious about the end product. Would it be at all worth it to create a more diminutive version, or are the current dimensions and drivers fine for even a small space? Possibly something that’s still accurate and clean with nice smaller drivers but could pair well with a sub - which actually helps with room modes atm. Thanks for breaking the mold and making these excellent OB’s a reality!
Thank you!! So much fun. - We have a new model LDA just designed. Basically a “Baby Baffle” based on the big brother. I’ll be reviewing and revealing soon
Great video brother!
Appreciate it! 🥰🥰😎
Really excellent set of videos. I have Spatial M4 Turbo S and love what they do. This will be a project one day when I retire soon. Probably like to make something not as wide.
As for the GR Research fanboy assuming he was not spoofing as a gag he needs to think of his nx-otica on its own against your speaker if he wants to compare. The fact that they need to add H Subs to be full range is not a minor thing.
The so called audiophile snobs need to lighten up music is about enjoyment.
Well said sir!! 🥰🥰✊🏼✊🏼
Wife would definitely not approve of open baffle speakers.😆
It’s a thing. 🙃
Love these green Soviet PIO caps. Heard that Klipsch used them back in the days as reference when developed the k-horn and la scala.
Now that is great info and feedback!! Thank you Tom... :)
Have you tried charge coupled xovers in any projects? - Good to see a diffraction slot - The first commercial R-J speaker had a lopsided "diamond slot" which later was revised to a "lemon shape". I play with Karlson stuff where there can be considerable cavity resonances - that said, they can sound pretty good. (I've not yet listened to this video as am battling uber high blood sugar problems)
I have not tried them. This is really our first dive into open baffles as a community. The guy, or the brain behind helping us all has been designing and building amps and speakers for 40 years. I’m just the guy who gets excited and builds stuff. 🤣🤣.
Best wishes on your health my friend.
Happy holidays.
Fun project
I agree!! Last I talked to Terry, there were 35 building the baffles.
Its the shape. There is a reason why drivers are usually a circle and a not a square or rectangle shape.
Yes, many variables. ☺️
Those Russian chokes are legit. Assuming the values are true. Nice work y’all.
Yeah, those Russian capacitors have been one of our favorites. And we’ve been through a lot of of them! Thank you for your comment, I appreciate you being here.
Please link to the capacitor seller as promised in the video
Don’t the cables rattle in those wooden brackets, and that diffuser on the front with two thin wood holding it buzz and resonate? Just a thought
Not at all...
Please try bypass capacitors. You might be pleasantly surprised, although they work well with dome tweeters.
Many have. Some stuck with them and some went back.
Bi-amp and computer dsp crossover with something like J River? Provides parametric
Eq and time delay. I’m an OB Vet, more or less.
Is the rear tweeter wired out of phase to avoid bipolar behavior? Your work is fascinating.
Just all single order crossovers…
Rear tweeter can have many things done to it to adjust for preference. I do not wire mine out of phase.
Does the spacer between the CD and woofer bring them back into time allighnment? You say phase correction (with the shim) which is probably the same thing. Also, I didn't hear what your crossover points and slopes are. I like to cross the CD to mid driver at 900 hz Butterworth. Eminence sells a couple of great 1.4" exit drivers that work well to 900 hz. Not sure if they are threaded but could use an addapter. I'm just thinking of upgrades here. I'll post a couple of photos of my 2way using a pair of neo 8s per side, in a couple of hours. I may want to build with La Dolce driver kits but need to know more. Frequency graphs of the woofers would be nice. Thanks for the great work. The best.
Ron
Thanks Ron! The shims were all just developed by ear, no measurement, just the distance that gave us what we liked. Little too aggressive with no shim. Much sweeter, balanced, and overall pleasing with the shim. crossover points all depend on which value of cap or coil the person uses. This is more personal DIY rather than a finish product. So one gets the drivers, which is 90% of the sound and performance covered, and then mess with values and baffle to taste. Most of he info is on the LDA website and in our Discord.. Cheers.. :)
I like that idea about the backside of the "slot/center". It is very close to an idea I came up with some years ago but never tested. The idea was to use the "compression chamber" behind the slot as a low pass filter and in that way reduce the high frequencies from the woofer. Many OB woofers have rather high peak at 2 kHz that can mess up the mid. I was thinking about two different ways to do this.
Alternative 1. By put a thin layer of cork on the inside of the center piece. Cork will absorb higher frequencies (>300Hz ?) but almost nothing below 150 Hz.
Alternative 2. By having a lot of small helmholzt resonators on the center piece tuned to the frequencies that you want to reduce. Think KEF LS50 Meta.
Alternative 3. Combine 1&2
Totally!! And the new compression cone seems to be a winner as well. Very cool and fun stuff for sure. 🥰🥰☺️☺️
@@abxaudiophiles I had kind of same idea but not as advanced as your. More a clean cone to get a better airflow and avoid pressure to build up at the center. At that time I was thinking about larger volume of the compression chamber like a ripole woofer (but still for one 15" OB woofer). The idea was to experiment with compression volume, slot and damping material and see if it was possible to build a speaker without any crossover. I was thinking about a back mounted woofer with round sheet (around 17") in front of the driver. The slot being the distance between the baffle and the round front sheet. Glad to see that somebody had kind of the same idea and made something of it. Maybe time to see if it works. I have some nice drivers and some wood over.....
Totally!! We were just talking about that same thing in our discord yesterday. Terry posted a photo from the 1950’s of someone doing the same thing. The cool thing is we’re not inventing anything here, this has all be done before. It’s just been forgot by most.
Do you have any measurements of these changes? Do you have any room or gated measurements to help people know what they might sound like in their room? Any off axis impulse sweeps to show the difference between 10" slot load etc. ?
Tons. Posted all the time in our discord. Although each build varies, and also room is a big factor… but yes, there has been tons of measurement shared in our community and in previous reviews. 😊😊
Also, open baffles are so room dependent, most measurement will be pretty generally speaking in most cases. Probably even more so with these open baffles than box speakers in my mind. Also, all driver specs and stuff are posted on the LDA website if anyone wants to deep dive. Also if you reach out to Terry, he is always more than happy to share everything. What we are doing here is a cool group project. I don’t make a DIME off any of this stuff at all. Just having fun watching our community do a cool project together. Feel free to jump in the discord and check it all out. Or reach out to LDA if you have questions specifically about the drivers. 😊😊
@@abxaudiophiles Discord is the absolute worst when it comes to someone coming into the information from the get begining. If you've been there the whole time it's great because it's just a running conversation but it's not organized at all.
A single thread with this information would be so helpful for those looking for it.
It's not so much the drivers but seeing the measured changes from the changes you are all making in your designs. It's very interesting to see the differences and try to correlate the measurements to what you or others hear.
@@abxaudiophiles
@@NakeanWickliff. Oh yea, I get it.. We do that constantly. It’s literally every day in our discord. Add something in, run a sweep, take something out, run a sweep. Add a different choke, run a sweep… We’ve been at this for almost a year just on this baffle alone. 😊😊😊
great video, i was looking at the pure audio project as an example. I wanted to know what brought you on deciding on which speaker drivers to use? Did you think about full range drivers? This there a material list on your site?
Thanks my friend. So, these drivers are a collaboration between one of my buddies on our Discord, who owns La Dolce Audio and him working with Eminence to design these specific for our group diy baffle. I have had and heard a few “full range” drivers and they are a simple and decent solution to open baffles, but I always felt it was asking too much of a driver. Our baffles are essentially a three way, with very very simple first order crossovers. All the info is on our website. If you want to deep dive it all, jump in our discord. We’ve got guys putting $15K speakers up for sale after building these. Think we’re up to about 20 pairs build by our community now. Fun stuff.
Nice Informative Video! How does the newest updated DIY Baffle speakers sound compared to the MACO MACARIA Speakers and which speakers sound more detailed?
Different animals. MACO are slightly more genre specific but a touch more detailed in the mids. These baffles are a full rage machine that hits hard from 30hz to 20K
Anyone doing these with a digital crossover? Seems like using some sort of miniDSP and creating a digital crossover would be an interesting way to go.
I believe a few in our Discord group are.
Can I make a reaction video to this video? ❤🤪
We got no rules here... Hahahah
You do You Boo.. HA...
I’d love to see an OB diy’ers reaction to another OB Diy’er
That would be badass if he actually built these and reviewed. 😍😍
@@abxaudiophiles I believe that his next speakers will need to be waterproof ;p
Wish I had room. I've got Maggie's, beautiful hardwood framed ones, just sitting around. All near field time being. LS50 Metas and CSS 1TDX Superiors and M&K S1bs. 2 subs.
Those CSS are awesome. We’ve got a few in the group that love them. Nice gear you got.. 😉😉
@abxaudiophiles yeah! Orchard Audio amps, great Dac, all that. Heaven. Great channel with zero bull.
@@Audfile Thanks buddy. Love our Orchard audio gear. Just bought the duo and pi+. 🥰🥰
@abxaudiophiles tell me something. I've got a Gustard X26pro Dac. Dual mono, dual dac, dual supplies, runs in class A. How would I like that Pecan?
@@Audfile wont know till you get it. 🤷🏻♂️
I've never listened to open baffle speakers before and wanted to get a taste. If I'm hearing correctly I just need a set of the 15in drivers with tweeters from LDA and 1.5-2.2 mh Chokes and 3.3 pio caps to build a basic baffle with, correct?
Pretty much. 👌😊 Feel free to jump in our discord and get a crash course from the community. Always helpful folks.
@@abxaudiophiles I've tried but get verifications and other checks that prevent me from connecting on my PC. Tried on my phone and I get invalid invitation.
Have you experimented with driving these actively?
Some folks are in the discord. Not me.
Great video , and Ideas
Glad you liked it!
Now you need to make a small pair meant for desktop use, as my office is far to small for something like this. Something good for near field and good up against a wall. Should be pretty straight forward to get the appropriate near field mid and tweeters and an open baffle design. Just scaled down.
Yes 🙌 it’s in the works in our discord. Prototypes already built. 🫡
@abxaudiophiles Sweet! I'm gonna have to take a look! Also live in the PNW, some time this year I'm gonna setup my CNC router and could make kits if that interests you at all.
That would be awesome. We’re going to be a pacific audio fest this year. Reach out to me on our website so we can get In touch.
@abxaudiophiles Already did! Can't wait to start cutting wood again!
James thinking seriously of building a pair but worry my room is too small. My LR is 12x12 with an 8x10 area rug on the floor. Currently running an Akitika PR-102 preamp I built and a pair of Dynaco ST-70’s I’ve restored. As these may be too large for my room is it possible to scale them down perhaps with different drivers? Will instantly join the discord if building these is a possibility for me. LOVE the project and the vids! Keep em coming!
We almost have our baby baffle design finished. It will have a 12” and 15” driver and be much smaller. 😊😊😊
@@abxaudiophiles looks like it’s time to join the discord lol. Sounds awesome. What size baffle is there with the smaller design? Thanks!
I don’t remember what the exact dimensions the group ended up at, but it’s much smaller. 18x30 or something like that. Vs 24x48
@@abxaudiophiles Want that baby baffle, too. I've also got a smallish room.
@@grgapitic5768 ohhh yea!! Baby baffle plans are almost ready from LDA
James, given the large baffle size how do you address step baffle lost from a xover prospective?
We don’t, wasn’t really an issue from a sound quality standpoint from the feedback we got from those folks building it. Just really not an actual audible issue for our community I guess. Maybe an issue paper tells us is there, but not really a glaring issue in real life. 😊😀👍🧐
have you tried KZK White (Blue / Orange) Line capacitors? Also Russian but modern ones. I'm currently waiting for them to arrive to use them in my DIY DAC
I have not.. I will check them out. THX... :)
Awesome update
Thanks 👍
Looks great but how many have the space? Maybe 2 out of 10?
Impressive though even if widely impractical. I'll stick to my Hestias.....
Pros and cons, pros and cons... It's a thing.. :)
Way too cool!
:) And much more to come.... :)
Thinking before about putting a horn on the back of a compression driver has anybody tried
We have.. Good stuff :)
Looking at the drivers I suspect this OB-design is highly efficient; is this an 8 ohm speaker design?
Yes sir. 97db sensitive overall. I drive these off 2.5 watts 😊😊
These look great and I'm working backwards though the discord history.. Been looking for a OB design for my 211-SET. The published crossover network shows an l-pad yet you referenced removing it. Does that put all three drivers in parallel or are the two drivers of the coax in series which are then in parallel to the 18?
@@ny384388- each driver has its own first order crossover (basically just a cap or choke) the L pad only controlled the tweeter. With the PIO cap we found that the Lpad was not needed to attenuate the tweeter and blended perfectly.
I wonder about modifying for a small room with 12" or 10" woofer?
Totally!! We are actually working on a "Baby Baffle" that will have a 10" coaxial and 12" bass driver in our Discord right now
@@abxaudiophiles I will keep an eye out for that.
So are you guys running them just with a set tube amp?
I have run about 15 different amps, dacs, streamers, etc on the baffles. Anything around 5 watts or more is plenty!! They are 97db sensitive overall.
I like this but is this worth supporting from another country say the UK because this seems all US???
Yeah, shipping can get a little bit expensive. But just you being here in the community and commenting really helps us out! Glad you’re here.
Thanks for all this work in developing these speakers. I'm very budget confined so I will be going with the original drivers/tweeter combo because as you stated back then they sounded amazing, and will be doing the compression openings with the cheap Russian cap. Can't wait. Any thoughts on how this might sound coming through a John Lindley Hood style class A amp? Hi from Australia.
Only class as A I’ve had on them was the first watt F7. It was very nice.
how come we never get an audition of the sound?
Cus CZcams don’t let me. Go to our website as we have a ton of videos and sound clips. Cheers.
Do you think 30w per channel would be enough to power this design?
I run them of a 2.5 watt amp, so yes. Them being 97db sensitive, they will scream loud off very little power.
@@abxaudiophiles excellent was not sure with all that crossover wiring
That is the great thing about the first order crossover, it really limits the efficiency reduction that would otherwise take place. :)
I am having all kinds of trouble. I want to build a set of baffles with high-end parts. The problem is I can't get on Discord because my email is already registered and it won't let me claim. I can't contact you other than this way, and the speaker company has no contact info I can find. So how do I get a blueprint, wiring schematic, parts list, and where to buy and where I can actually talk to someone?? Please help me.
You can message me on our website. All of the info, plans, links. Etc are on our website. 🙂
Thank you I really appreciate your channel.@@abxaudiophiles
I must be blind. I'm not seeing the link for the new caps.
www.ebay.com/itm/284000215322
caps linked are 20 bucks each after shipping 😿
Lot better than the 60 each Jentzens we were using, but yes, look around elsewhere, may find better deal. Shipping is crazy these days, but $20 each is a steal in my mind and ear… 😊😊
Anyone know what the sensitivity is with the updates? Above 96db?
Still right around 97db. Running them with a 4 watt, single ended Pentode amp. 🤩🤩
The L in L-pad doesn’t stand for level. L-pad gets its name from the shape of the circuit.
Nice! Good info
those condensators made in Russia.
Yep 👍🏼
Has anyone compared these drivers to the Lii Song that seems to be all the rage?
Yea. We’ve had the Lii drivers and they are much more restrictive in range. They are what I call “one trick ponies” vocals and acoustics, but don’t feed the Lii complex music as it gets bad quick.
Thanks for the response. I currently have a pair of the GR research triple threats. My sub bass extension is taken care of. Thinking of seeing what the 15’’ driver tweeter combo might sound like paired with them. How much baffle do you think I need for just the 1 driver? Has anyone tried a 3’’ baffle that has a slight curve to it? I’ll drop by the discord and discuss. Thanks for the information. Peace and happy listening.
Sorry.... Good build love the enthusiasm but let's be honest.... Gr research is #1 diy open baffle BY FAR. Like its not a question far. I have a pair of gr research nx otica and stereo triple servo subs and they are better than the multiple million dollar rooms I heard at axpona 2023.
Get those iron core inductors out of there, only good under 200hz otherwise it smears the sound. The connectors while easier will also substantially effect sound quality... Good for testing them a must remove and solder.
Also if you want to really really bring the sound up use a vcap odam for your cap... Yes they are expensive but the improvement will be night and day.
Yea.... We are well aware... Although not really what we are doing as a group right now.. Very bold claims from someone who has had ZERO seconds hearing these baffles... But hey, we all love to pound them keyboards away dont we.. HA
And if you actually listened, I said that my real crossover parts were at a buddies as he was doing some testing.. And the connectors were just for testing stuff out... Some people have trouble listening apparently.. I am sure GR research are great! But for us, we have heard a lot of baffles this year. These will punch right up there with many of them.. Build them or at least hear them before you come blasting off about stuff you don't even know... Shit, at least pay attention to the video... LMAO
@@abxaudiophiles I'm not pounding but your title is an exaggeration... Maybe best sub X price? And I'm genuinely talking from experience as the gr research open baffle has blown away million dollar systems I've heard at axpona.
@@abxaudiophiles you said you need those connectors, not they were for only testing and someone should solder the end result. That's all I'm saying. Not hating at all, that's why I said great build. I am sure for the money these sound really good because open baffle does bunch way above if done half way right even from my experience. Bold clames of best diy open baffle is what wasn't true. Best under 1k? You have a serious contender likely for #1.
@@ClassifiedBrief Yea, you’re hating. Don’t try and hide it. Read the title man. We’re working with a guy who’s been building and designing speakers for over 40 years…. So yea…. Back in your cave sir.
Den Klang einer Lautsprecherbox kann man nicht herbeiquatschen ...
I love these kinds of comments from people have not spent a single second with any of these speakers. And you’re kind of right, with an open baffle, it’s impossible to create all the issues box speakers have. Cheers. 🍻
@@abxaudiophiles Ok, ich habe zwei Breitbänder in Open-Baffle zusammen mit zwei RePol Subwoofer; ich vermisse bei Deinem Vortrag einfach ein wenig Klang ...
I don't understand that mostly covering the driver can be useful.
Many don't... "It's a thing," as the designer likes to say often... Jump in the discord and learn all about it!! Fun times. :)
BEST DIY speaker?? You guys do not even seem to have a grasp on speaker design/measuring and theory. How do you address "Baffle step loss"? How do you address "Dipole Peaking"? Let me guess, by pretending neither exist and making some "Know it all" type comment as you have done with several other posters that try to point out your flawed but well intentioned design. There is a HUGE reason most people do not do this type of "Open Baffle" speaker. Its not cause of the simplicity, but because the implied simplicity, creates something that is not accurate or great sounding. It if was that simple to make a great sounding speaker, everyone would have done this by now. Your "Discovery" of Open baffle speakers as great and simple are based on not knowing what you do not know. Ask Danny at GR Research for some help. He might even do it free of charge!!
Man, to be so crusty and sure of yourself... I am sorry, but you are just wrong here. Why don't you jump in our Discord and talk that kind of trash and hear from the 30 people and designers who have worked and built these over the last year and are setting $15,000+ tower speakers aside? You just lack actual experience in front of these baffles, and that's okay. Danny is a cool dude, but measurements only tell us about 20% of the story..... Cheers and swing by and have a REAL conversation with your peers in this space and get schooled up by the folks actually putting in the work.... No need to reply here....
@kevintomb - I'm no expert by any means, but I'm pretty confident that open baffle speakers don't exhibit baffle step loss or need baffle step correction. They do exhibit baffle rolloff of about 6db at 90º off axis where the front-wave and back-wave intersect at the baffle edge. Even your buddy Danny has a series on open baffle basics that discusses how a wider baffle works to eliminate dipole peaking, requiring less equalization or crossover components for filtering. My advice here is really basic: Don't assume the folks you're speaking to aren't just as intelligent (if not more so) than you are and that a short video on the internet is not going to encompass the hours and months of actual research, measurements, and tweaking that has gone on behind the scenes.
@@fuzz_spl BOOM BITCHES!!! 😆😆😆
Concidering the size of the baffles, can building short rear loaded bass horn improve the low output of this pair of drivers? the size will remain the same, ony more depth will be needed, but i see ppl mounting "wings" to open baffles to extend the lows so...;)
Great thing about DIY….. ANYTHING is possible.
I will say, in my large room, even with the original ABX baffles, that bass is slamming! Especially on an amp with a nice high dampening factor of 500+