New Open Baffle Project

A place for DIY project discussions.
Simon Hickie
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Simon Hickie »

Yes Jammy, mine are particularly ugly. I have a mk2 version in mind that involves recycled scaffolding boards. Seriously! Fortunately I have my own study / listening room, albeit one of modest dimensions (12 x 14 x 9 feet).

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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Fretless »

If you paint them Tartan then Jammy will certainly approve! :grin:

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Ali Tait
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Ali Tait »

Jammy Dodger wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:06 pm Cheers Simon.........Nice of you to acknowledge a wee bit off light hearted banter.

Some folks heads are so far up their own arseholes, they may well miss Xmas.

I think OBs are ugly.....a very lazy option, they may well sing like an angel, but look like DIY cack.

Ali call back.....😁
LOL can’t argue with that for most of them. Doesn’t bother me much though.

Not really any baffle on the Bastanis, just enough to bolt the drivers to.

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wiicrackpot
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by wiicrackpot »

Never heard OB's before but my admiration goes to you for hunking those OB's all over the foreign country for bake-off's (5 miles outside Glasgow is a foreign country to me),
don't know what you drive but the fear of damage to those drivers must weigh on your mind.
Frank...made me do it.

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Ali Tait
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Ali Tait »

It does LOL, I’m just careful with them. When I bought them I had a Peugeot 407 Coupe, the boot of which is much bigger than it looks, and with the back seats folded down, they fitted in nicely, padded with bubble wrap and a couple of old duvets. Used same car to take to NEBO.

Have a 5 series now, haven’t tried getting them in there yet. No folding back seats though..

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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Vinyl-ant »

Was a sod to get them in through the front doors though Ali!
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Ali Tait
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Ali Tait »

Haha aye.

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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by NSNO2021 »

Fascinating subject and a very good flow of info, please keep on keeping on 👍
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Simon Hickie
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Simon Hickie »

OK, here's the latest.

1. No tartan paint applied yet (clearly the number one issue) - MacRae tartan is a tad tricky.

2. The sound is now as balanced as it can reasonably be with the small FR driver with an overall cut to the full range driver and a cut at 5khz running from 2khz to 10khz to account for a bit of a peak in the FR driver response.

3. It has also become obvious that asking a 3 inch full range driver with an xmax of only =/- 1.1mm and a cone area of a mere 32cm2 to do a good job from 150hz with full bore orchestral music is optimistic. That said, treble dispersion from the wee Monacor SPX-32M is excellent and the top end is nice and airy.

4. The miniDSP is excellent for trying out different configurations on the fly.

With all these points in mind, I will be adding the Monacor SPH-210 8 inch bass-mid driver into the mix. With an Fs of 28hz, cone area of 210cm2 and an xmax of =/- 3.5mm, they should offer more in the upper bass, lower midrange area. I have a pair in my semi-omnis that I can repurpose. They are remarkably flat all the way to 4khz with very little peakiness, followed by a nice mechanical fall-off. Thanks to some advice from The Doc, I ran a worm of blutak where the dust cap meets the cone to help with any top end peakiness. I certainly couldn't hear any nasties in semi-omni mode.

Therefore, I will run the SPH-210 with a first order high pass at 150hz with no additional low pass at the top end. As I only have the basic miniDSP, I'll have to put some caps on the 3 inch FR unit. The -6db point on the SPH-210 is around 5khz. Therefore, 2.3uF of capacitance is needed. As I don't have any of that value, it will have to be a couple wired in series: a 3.3uF and an 8.2uF will do the trick.

More to follow when I've made the mods.

Simon Hickie
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Re: New Open Baffle Project

Unread post by Simon Hickie »

UPDATE
I have now added the Monacor SPH-210 bass-mid drivers to the mix. The mid/tweeter is running from 5000khz with a 1st order XO. The 15 inch SP-382PA crosses over to the bass/mid @ 160hz with a 4th order LR XO implemented on the miniDSP. All drivers are being run flat with no EQ or level adjustments for any driver.

The whole thing seems to integrate really well. Soundstage is very 3D and instrument position is pretty good. I feel that it's good enough to warrant a nice baffle now.

On a side note, the Monacor SPH-210 is a fine driver and could be a great alternative to a doc-modded 8 inch Skytronic / QTX type driver. It's flat to 4khz with a nice smooth roll-off, especially with the blutak worm around the dust cap join. Efficiency is very decent at 90db, and a low Fs of 28hz seems to give a nice bottom end.

Especially pleasing is the performance of the TPA3116 Class D amps. Unless I have a radical change of mind, the valve amp will be heading for the World's favourite auction site.

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