[rklein]

Hello:

I am presently building a tubed based system to compliment my upcoming vinyl playing(Empire 598 aa).  I have spoken with Danny about the challenges my listening room presents.  It is on the small side (15 x 13) and I am worried about placement issues with open baffle options such as the OB-5.  I am going to be auditioning his NEO 2X sealed speakers which would enable me to place them relatively close to the wall.  I could then build one of Danny's servo subs as well.  I am somewhat concerned about the tube amp I plan on using(Bob Latino Dynaco St-120 - 60 watts per channel) in regards to driving either the OB-5 or the NEO 2X.  I also will be using a Mapletree Ultra 4A SE as my pre.

My thinking is that a monitor speaker coupled with a sub would work better in this size room.  However, I am not sure.  Any suggestions or advice on these speakers or any other "tube friendly" speakers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

rklein

[Daygloworange]

rklein,

I can give you a bit of perspective on your questions. I have had both the OB 5's and OB 7's. I have heard the OB 5's driven by a modified Dynaco ST-70 during our 2007 Amp Comparo at the Toronto Area Audio Society's get together. The ST-70 drove the OB 5's easily to a measured 95 db at the sweet spot 8' back from the plane of the front baffles in a very large room, and sounded very nice. You'll have no issues with an ST 120. Danny always makes an effort to make each speaker an easy load on an amp.



My listening room is about the same size as yours and I have the OB 5's in about 2' from the wall. I don't feel the need to run my GR sub along with the OB 5's. They will play nicely into the 30's. I have custom made diffusors on the wall behind the speakers and rigid fiberglass panels in 4 spots in the room, as well as 2 big bats of R-12 fiberglass insulation in the corners behind the speakers, which really made a large improvement in tighening up the bass in the room.

The NEO 2x is going to be a great performer, and will have a similar character because of the unique performance of the Neo3 tweeter, but isn't going to have the power handling of the OB 5 or the low end extension. It's going to need a sub. That can make it a little trickier to integrate in a small room.

I'll let the cat out of the bag here. Danny is working on updating the A/V 3 by changing out the tweeter from the GR dome tweeter to the Neo3. This is a speaker you might really want to consider. The TL design of this speaker loads a room diffferently than a traditional rear ported speaker. It is much easier to place in a room. I have the original dome tweeter version of this speaker, and still love it. The Neo3 tweeter upgrade will make this already great speaker, that much better. IIRC, the crossover point from the tweeter will be lower, which will make it faster, image better, and enable the mid's to play cleaner. They also have a smaller footprint than the OB 5. The A/V 3 won't play as low in room as the OB-5, but you still might not feel the need for a subwoofer. I often ran the A/V 3 without my sub quite happily.

Cheers

[Bill Baker]

Hi rklein,
 Dayglow is corrent in that the OB speakers will have no problem driven by a 60 watt tube amp. I have a pair of the OB-7's that have been driven by a 50/60 watt tube amp for several months and have used these speakers to voice our tube amps and other products.
 My room is VERY large and the speakers have to fill close to 1300 sq. ft. Not a problem with 60 tube watts and up.

 I have run everything from 8 to 200 watts of tube power and they all sound great. Obviously with the lower wattage amps, below 25 watts, I was not able to achieve higher volume levels without the amp breaking up a bit. With 200 watts, total control of the speakers

[rklein]

Thanks to both of you for responding to my post.  Whatever speakers I choose I will still probably build a GR Servo sub to compliment them.  I really wanted a floor stander over a monitor (still want to hear the Neo 2X) and it looks like I will have two good choices in the OB-5 or the new AV-3 with the Neo3 tweeter.

Yours,

rklein
Randy

[Bill Baker]

No problem rklein.
 Maybe sometime in the not to distant future we can compare  notes on subwoofers. I am building a stereo pair of Danny's open baffle subs with dual woofers.

[Hank]

Randy, I built the A/V-3's and loved them - a great design.  I built Al's RAV-6's with my design tower cabinets more recently.  They have Danny's latest/greatest mid-woof, the 165X and a modified Arum Cantus ribbon tweeter and Danny-designed crossover.  I've assembled Danny's new NEO2X and compared the Neo 3 planar magnetic tweeter in it to the much more expensive AC ribbons in the RAV-6's, and I can't really say the AR's are better.  I think a new design A/V-3 with the Neo 3 as tweet would be a killer two channel very musical speaker.

[Danny Richie]

If you are in line to audition the Neo-2X speakers then you may know real soon how well they will work out for you in that room.

No bigger than your room is the tube amp you are trying may be plenty of power for you. It will be more than plenty if you go with a larger and higher sensitivity OB series kit.

You really do need to get that OB series speaker at least three feet off the rear wall (from the front baffle) though.

Room treatment can be used to allow either of them to work out well, but the room treatment type and placement may be a little different between those two types of speakers.

[rklein]

Hi Everyone:

Thanks again to those who have offered up advice to me regarding speaker choices for my new "man cave".   In speaking at length with Danny, I have come to the conclusion that the NEO 2x probably is not my best choice.  In fact, I probably will build some OB-7's    The reworked AV-3's are still in the mix but I really want the added transparency that the OB-7 brings to the table.  In addition, I have absolutely no WAF issues in regards to this room. 

I am sure that I will be asking some advice during the building process.  However, workworking does not scare me in the least and I really look forward to this project.

Thanks again,

rklein