Open Baffle Speakers
Open baffle speakers are the simplest speakers to build. Consisting of a single baffle (board), speakers attached to the board, and a means of holding it up. Because of their design, it is not possible to run a Lowther full range on an open baffle, and some bass reinforcement is required.
Dick Olsher began using Lowthers in his open baffle design, called the BassZilla. Nelson Pass and Martin King both worked on open baffle speakers. Using their work to build off of, I have built two highly successful open baffle speakers.
The first, shown above, is the smaller one. I call it TOA (Tiny Open baffle Alnico). It utilizes the PM6A and a Tone Tubby Alnico 12" woofer with a series crossover at 200 hz. Both drivers were 15 ohms, and 96 dB/watt efficient. The lows extend to about 65 hz, and a sub-woofer fills in below that.
These sound much, much bigger than they look. The rear wave of the driver reflects off the rear wall, creating a large and open soundstage that can be intoxicating. There are no cabinet resonances, as there is no cabinet.
Below is the larger open baffle, called LOB (Larger Open Baffle). This started with the PM5A Lowther, and the Great Plains Audio reproduction of the Altec 416A for bass.
Dick Olsher began using Lowthers in his open baffle design, called the BassZilla. Nelson Pass and Martin King both worked on open baffle speakers. Using their work to build off of, I have built two highly successful open baffle speakers.
The first, shown above, is the smaller one. I call it TOA (Tiny Open baffle Alnico). It utilizes the PM6A and a Tone Tubby Alnico 12" woofer with a series crossover at 200 hz. Both drivers were 15 ohms, and 96 dB/watt efficient. The lows extend to about 65 hz, and a sub-woofer fills in below that.
These sound much, much bigger than they look. The rear wave of the driver reflects off the rear wall, creating a large and open soundstage that can be intoxicating. There are no cabinet resonances, as there is no cabinet.
Below is the larger open baffle, called LOB (Larger Open Baffle). This started with the PM5A Lowther, and the Great Plains Audio reproduction of the Altec 416A for bass.
These drivers are both 99 dB/watt efficient. An active crossover, the First Watt B4, was used to cross these over at about 120 hz. A small amount of low bass boost was used, so that no subwoofer was required. Bass was flat to approximately 40 hz. Follow this link to get a little of the show report on these, about 1/2 way down the page: RMAF 2009 Coverage. For plans and information, go to the Larger Open Baffle page.
Plans are available for either of these systems, just write and ask for them. Although normally these are a do-it-yourself project, we are happy to build these for you if you wish.
Plans are available for either of these systems, just write and ask for them. Although normally these are a do-it-yourself project, we are happy to build these for you if you wish.