gofar99 Messages: 1950 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi Everyone, Anyone out there doing simple open baffle speakers? As in simple crossovers and not so monstrous baffle sizes. I have been playing around with a winged baffle about 30 inches wide and 26 tall with a two way speaker system that lets the woofer roll off naturally and a single capacitor to the tweeter. Lots of fun and pretty cheap.
gofar99 Messages: 1950 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi Wayne, Actually they sound pretty good. Some refinements are in order though. For one I am going to enlarge the baffles to the more common size of 36 wide and 31 tall (now are 29 wide and 25 tall). This will increase the bass response with the speaker I'm now using by about 3 db all the way down to 40HZ and not mess up the lower mids in the range up to about 500HZ. Modeling indicates a response from 40 to 500 as +/- 2.5 db and a lot flatter above that. Right now I'm using a GRS car audio woofer (high Q and low cost - about $15 each from Parts Express) and a Goldwood GT25 tweeter from Madisound ($4 each)with a 2.7uf PIO crossover and a -3 db network on the tweeter. The original plans call for use of a Zenith 12 inch woofer (lots on Ebay) with the GT25 on the small baffle. If found that combination lacking in bass and it had a significant bump at about 200HZ that colored the sound. Cheap though. The GRS woofer is even cheaper and seems a better match. I tried a few other things.... 15 inch infinite baffle sub from PE (good on bass, bad in mid range without a choke to hold it to under 1K), a pair of vintage Lafayette radio tri ways, 15 inch as well (OK, but just didn't do what I thought they should), a Fostex FE126E for the upper end (too forward), some B&G Neo 3 planers on the top end (OK but perhaps too bright).
The idea is to come up with a cheap easy to do speaker system that has good performance. Hopefully with a cost of under $50 per channel. With the GRS woofer and GT25 tweeter it is close.
You're an animal, you know that? Keep tinkering, people can learn a lot from what you do. They look good and I'm sure they sound good. When I retire this is a hobby I want to spend more time on.
Those baffles look a lot like my first baffles back around 2003. Mine sounded good enough to convince me this was the way to go. Now I have tall thin baffle with 10" mid-woofer, 6 x 12 horn from 1100 Hz up, and 15" bass driver. The possibilities are endless! The common factor is that natural midrange (voices are superb!), and ultra clean bass.
They look good. Keep experimenting. there is more...
gofar99 Messages: 1950 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I have made a number of changes since the first posting. The baffles are now about 6 inches wider and 6 inches taller (see photo). They still use a GRS 12PF-8 driver but include a pair of Goldwood GT25 tweeters one of which faces rearward. I am putting together a write up on them as they are a great sounding diy project. Cheap - all electronics for a pair can be obtained from Parts Express for under $100. All else needed is a sheet of plywood, some glue and misc fasteners. Great sound, solid bottom end to about 40 HZ, high sensitivity, really nice sound stage and of course....the fun factor of turning a chunk of wood into a set of speakers. It will probably take about a week to do the write up and plans.
Do you have a link to the electronics projects? I wouldn't mind tackling some under $100 amp/preamp projects. Would like to find a really cheap SE amp project and/or a preamp (preferably with phono stage). I need to get back into this hobby after a couple years hiatus with something to hold my attention. I'm happy with my speakers and source, so electronics win by default.
gofar99 Messages: 1950 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I'm afraid you lost me on the question. Which projects? If you were thinking of some that I posted (as well as numerous ones from other folks) then they are on the diyaudioprojects.com site. I use the same user name (gofar99) there as here. As this is getting a bit OT...if you want some of my thoughts on simple projects just PM me.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18792 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
Sorry for another off-topic but I just noticed your select-A-tenna in your first post. What stations do you listen to that are so far away you need that? Or is your area just kind of dead for AM radio?
gofar99 Messages: 1950 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi Wayne, I don't use it any longer as there are no worthwhile stations within range that I could find. Yes it does work well though. Mine is a thrift shop find ($5) a few years back and is in perfect shape. It an original from the mid 70'S.
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Keep experimenting. there is more... 
