Interesting speakers on eBay--Sonab

Tonto Yoder · « **on:** 2 May 2003, 12:13 pm »

Interesting speakers being auctioned, nice-looking and reportedly good-sounding (when original). The white woofer has obviously been added (intelligent audiophiles say the other woofer isn't original either). The pic is of the TOP of the speakers; the drivers are angled into the listening room and some sound is designed to be reflected off walls,

BTW, these speakers are intended as left/rights---the woofers on each speaker should be "inside" with the tweeter array nearer the side wall.
Knowledgeable audiophiles say they're intended to be used close to the wall.

Oz_Audio · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 May 2003, 12:26 pm »

I heard these in the mid 70's. A 4 channel original quadrophonic set up.

At the time they where state of the art and up until that time, the best speakers I had heard.

It would be interesting to hear them again with modern electronics, I think they where powered by a Quad channel Pioneer reciever when I heard them!

It would also make an interesting DIY project to continue the design concept.

Also, I think they had a larger woofer firing toward the floor as well.

Mark

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #2 on:** 2 May 2003, 12:36 pm »

Oz,
you can check out more pics on eBay. It's clear there's a port on the bottom of the speaker, but unclear whether there's a bigger woofer "buried" somewhere in the cabinetry.

Could be a neat project for someone who could actually pick up the speakers and save shipping expenses.

Addendum: found this picture on the web--

Oz_Audio · « **Reply #3 on:** 2 May 2003, 01:10 pm »

Interesting that I remember listening to these speakers.

All I do remember was it was a very chemical induced weekend and I did not want to stop listening to them!

Wow, the 70's, purple V-Knees, green body shirts, long hair, magic mushroom sangers and lots of hashish, interupted only by drinking beer!!!

Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Yes, Slade, Madder Lake, Lou Reed................................... ....................................... ....

Val · « **Reply #4 on:** 4 May 2003, 04:15 pm »

Sonab's Stig Carlsson in Sweden and Stewart Hegeman in the US were pioneers of omnidirectional speakers, a type Dick Shahinian has been loyal to ever since he met Mr. Hegeman and became his pupil and developer of his ideas. The first American speaker I ever bought was a Rectilinear 3, designed by Shahinian to have several tweeters around the baffle. I also believe he designed another omni speaker in the seventies or early eighties whose name I have forgotten that looked like a faceted sphere and sounded good. In general, if you like the sound of front-firing speakers, you wouldn't like omnis, and viceversa. Symphonic music sounds impressive on Shahinian Diapasons.

Sonab

Shahinian

Val

peranders · « **Reply #5 on:** 4 May 2003, 04:44 pm »

Carlsson-högtalarna was famous in Sweden but I never liked them. They sounded too soft according to my taste.

Val · « **Reply #6 on:** 4 May 2003, 04:54 pm »

I don't remember having a strong pro or con opinion of Sonabs for I was just coming into contact with audio at the time. I liked the Rectilinear sound and even more the other speaker I mentioned, and Obelisks and Diapasons in a good room are fantastic!

Val

Marbles · « **Reply #7 on:** 4 May 2003, 05:05 pm »

Don Morrison bought out Hegeman's business and continues making his speakers.

http://www.donmorrisonaudio.com/

http://www.vrilworks.com/MORRISON/history.htm

Val · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 May 2003, 05:15 pm »

Thanks, Marbles for reminding me of Morrison. I remember seeing (not hearing) one of Hegeman's speakers many years ago and it looked a lot like the Shahinian Arc, though not sloped on the corner but on one of the sides, and it was to me beautiful art when compared to the many and crude speakers-in-a-box. In any way, I know that what I said about Hegeman and Shahinian is true, and the new Morrison is probably a good speaker too, of the same omni type.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 May 2003, 08:33 pm »

Since Shahinian was mentioned, I was reminded of an earlier post re: Cosmostatic speakers with the Shahinian bottoms with omni-directional stats on top.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=294&item=3015908411&rd=1

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #10 on:** 8 May 2003, 01:55 am »

HAHA · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 May 2003, 09:10 am »

http://www.carlssonplanet.com/

This site is pretty complete. There are plenty of information on how to restore these speakers to original or better than original status. There are modern replacement drivers for most models.

The speaker originally pictured in this thread seems to be the OA14.
I sold a pair of those myself a couple of weeks ago to a friend who replaced the rotten (foam) bass drivers with new Peerless drivers.

HAHA · « **Reply #12 on:** 13 May 2003, 09:21 am »

For you guys and girls who do not yet speak Swedish.....

When you get to the http://www.carlssonplanet.com/ and want to view all speaker models: Click "Visa Carlssonhögtalarna"

That means "Show the Carlsson speakers" in english
The direct link to the OA14 is http://www.carlssonplanet.com/oa14.html
The price for a used pair of these in Sweden is somewhere between $13 - $190 according to the site.