Captainhemo's OB-7 Build

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nzone

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 22
Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #80 on: 4 Apr 2013, 08:14 pm »
Thanks for all the comments   you  guys,  appreciate  them.  I was kind of hoping to be listening to these this evening but things went    slow  this afternoon  so     maybe tomorrow night.

Gijogeo,  these are going  in  a pretty small room  ,  aboout  19 x 12.5. It is not ideal  but it is  what I have so     I too was  worried about the size but Danny told me when he debutied the OB7's at RMAF  he was in a very similar sized room and they sounded great.    This  build was always something I hoped to do one day but when  my folks decided they wanted to buy my N3's,  that  just set the ball in motion.
Once I have some time on them, I will be sure to post    my thoughts and impressions.  I'll also   compare them to my N3's for you  .  Speaking of the N3's  being that you are considering them...  I am  very very happy with them.   They are wonderful and like I  mentioned ,  I really  had no intention of    replacing them until my folks    ( mainly my dad)  fell n love with them.  Very detailed  and  transparent.   I just love the Neo 3 PDR tweeters,  they are so clean  ,  bright but not   harsh in any way.  I am thrilled that the OB7 uses the same tweeter,  if it didn't,  I  would not have gone this route
They also have  very  tight   fast bass response.  People are alwasy amazed at how   they sound,  not alwasy immediately, but after about 10   minutes or so I usually get,  wow,  those  really  do sound amazing. 
Don't think you'd be disappointed in the least if you decided to go that route.  I'll let you  know   soon how  the OB7's compare

-jay
-jay

Stockholm Syndrome....justifying your purchase, Jay? 


/end joking  :lol:


 

Captainhemo

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #81 on: 4 Apr 2013, 09:00 pm »
Stockholm Syndrome....justifying your purchase, Jay? 


/end joking  :lol:

Mow that they are up and running I have all the justification I need :o

-jay

nzone

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 22
Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #82 on: 4 Apr 2013, 09:11 pm »
Congrats...these are nice built.  I don't know how you can "wing it" these up in no time.  I haven't put my N3S together yet for 4 months now.   :oops:

Do you plan on adding center/surrounds?

Captainhemo

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #83 on: 4 Apr 2013, 09:42 pm »
Congrats...these are nice built.  I don't know how you can "wing it" these up in no time.  I haven't put my N3S together yet for 4 months now.   :oops:

Do you plan on adding center/surrounds?

 Not sure if I'm  going to do a center/surronds.  Think my next   project will be a  servo sub to go with the  7's.   I seem to be watching less and less TV/Movies and  lisstening to more and more music so the center  and surronds  aren't high on the priority list.

Just work at  whatever pace is comfortable  for you  and what your scheduale permits.  You'll be happy  with your speaker when  you're done :)

-jay

-jay


Captainhemo

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #84 on: 13 Apr 2013, 04:06 am »
Hi All

Figured it  is about  time  to give some  impressions and  my thoughts so far  of the OB7's.
First off,  I have to thank Danny  for designing  these.   I love them, both in   sound quality and appearance.  The sloped tops and full length grills really give them a sleek look, I've been getting a lot of comments on  their appearance  from people coming by  to  see/hear them. .  The other night I finally  put the finishing   touches on....  adding the GR  logos/badges to the   grills  to  show  their origin :)



 Everyone who has been by  is totally amazed at the sound quality,  one of the first things they notice is the transparency ...  There is still a "sweet spot"   but  overall l they "disappear" quite a bit better  than  my N3's did. Unfortunately I do not have a dedicated listening room,  my computer is up against the rear wall  of the room  so when  I am using the PC,  my back is toward the music.  As I'm typing this,  Steely Dan- Gaucho is playing behind me.    There is no hint  that the music is coming from  2 speakers, it  just sounds  like the whole room behind me is  sound.  The soundstage is  easily as wide as the room, sometimes wider.  It  is also deeper  than    what the N3's generated.  And it sounds  wonderful

As I mentioned in  an earlier post,  I was always very impressed with the detail of the N3's.  In my opinion,   these have taken  things up a  level,  a considerable level.  Whether I'm  listening  to something quietly or  fairly loud,  there is  just so much detail and what I would call precision.  There seems to be  a lot of separation  in both  notes as well as instrument placement within the sound stage ( recording dependent).    This afternoon I listened to John Sharp's  "Better Than Dreams"  and again , the  things I mention above  (clarity,  seperation, detail)  all combine to make a    wonderful presentation.    Plain and simple, it  just sounds great

I have been listening   to  many different types of music  on these.   They have been  playing non stop since hooking them  up  2 weeks ago,   so  I guess they have  approx 300 hrs on them.  That is playtime,  not listening time.. I wish  :)

While the bass response is not as deep  as the N3's ( I knew that going into this)    the 7's   definitely have  quite a bit more punch.   I had been  running the BMS  with 1 of the extra 3 resistors  hooked up,,  the other day I removed it and  am now running them  " wide open"  This relatively small room  is not easy to get good bass  in....  I really  discovered this when I took the N3's over to  the folks and hooked them up.  Their room  is more than double the size of mine  and   the N3's really surprised me over there.  The bass response    was incredible when compared to how they sounded in this room.  I would  love to take the 7's over there  and try them  in  the large room but   don't think I'd  be happy when  I brought them home again. It's probably better not knowing what I am missing.
I'm not saying  that I am not happy  with the bass  of the 7's, on the contrary .  It is   very well defined,  tight  and   fast The quick drum rolls on  both  "Talking in Tongues" - Talking Heads,  and "Candy O" - The Cars  is  really   awesome.  The  really cool thing is that it sounds equally as good at low volumes as it does at higher  levels.  The effect is the same,  just    to a lesser degree at lower volumes.

I have been  listening  both with and without  my sub.  Unless you really  want to hear the lower  notes,  I find  you  don't need the sub.  Last night I listened to  " Planet Drum" by Mickey  Hart and  had the sub turned on.  What a great CD  I  turned down the lights and turned  up the volume ...   pretty  impressive effect.  In some of the tracks,  the sound stage  stretched out   to what  would  seem to be much wider than the room,  even  wrapping  around  somewhat.  The drums sounded so real it was as if  I was right there with them.  Just needed a  big fire,  masks, and some dancers .
I listened to the same cd this  morning without the sub just to compare.  You definitely  miss out on  some of the deeper sound  but what you  do hear is so clean and accurate,  I don't find myself missing the sub.   My plan is  to still build one of Danny's servo subs hopefully in the not too distant future and   have that to fill in those  lows
I am going to also make some bass traps to try and improve   the  acoustics in this room.  There is a lot of bass  near the ends and in the corners which I am sure bass traps will help deal with.  There seems to be a real lack of bass  in the center.  I realize  that the waves are building up  in the corners and around the edges,  hoping the bass traps will help even things out a bit although I am not sure this will help  the center of the room or not

As stated above,  I have been  listening to  a lot of different  music on these.  A bit of classical,  some reference recordings, classic rock, blues,  pop, even some heavy metal and everything is  sounding great.  One thing I have  really noticed since switching to the OB7's  is differences in recording quality. While   I could always notice  these differences ,  since switching  ,  they  have become much more apparent.  I don't think  an average recording  sounds any worse than  it did.  but  I do think  a  high quality recording sounds better  than    before.  The differences  just seem   more   evident now which  can be a little frustrating ...  why  can't everything  be a  great recording ?

Finally,  I guess I should mention vocals.   Vocal reproduction, both male and female  seems to be equally  as strong as the rest of the   sound.  I listened to some Diana Krall and Joni Mitchell ,  both sounded amazingly clear and precise yet somehow smooth.   I had no issue with   becoming fatigued at all.  Male voices also sounded   great..  Never did any become harsh or "hard" to listen to.   Everything was very clear

I rally do feel  that the open baffle deign really helps with  creating a  large sound stage and making the speakers very transparent.   I really  can't wait to get rid of that  big old TV in between  the  tow speakers  and to see how  much  more  of an improvement is noticed

Overall,  I am  just thrilled with the performance of these.  As the  hours have been  put on them, they  seem to have gotten   smoother without losing any of  the   detail.  Possibly I could  just be "getting used to"   the  new sound.  Whatever it is,  I  really  like it.
About the only  drawback  to them is the  need for the space beside/behind them  I have mine at 38"  to the rear of the front baffle from the wall.   I'd like to pull them out even further but  I just don't have the room.  As I said previously,  I  think getting rid of that  big thick TV will  make a   difference as it sticks out 20"+ from the wall in between  the speakers ,  it is taking up  a lot of  what should be open space
For those  who  really love the  deep  bass,  a sub  will definitely be in order but if you  read the   specs, you already  know that  .  I'm  not necessarily a huge  bass fan  but I'd still like to try   one of the servos to fill in the lows  but  also keep things as tight as possible. . That  fast, tight , clean bass is more important to me   than the really deep tones

I realize  this  hasn't been  the most technical  or detailed  analysis ,  I'm  still relatively new to  this   hobby or sickness as  I see it referred to quite often  :)  If I can   provide  any more  details or info  to anyone don't hesitate to ask  and I will do what I can  to help

Thanks again  to Danny,  Ron,  Neil  and Perry for all the help  you  guys gave me, I really  appreciated it

-jay

Now then, time to  queue up some more tunes 

lacro

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 602
Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #85 on: 13 Apr 2013, 01:07 pm »
Jay,
 Those look amazing. The grills really set them off nicely. I kind of like the look of speakers without grills, but yours look super with them. Kind if "incognito" Nobody knows what's making all that great sound! It must be fun to see others facial expressions when you pull the grills off.
 I like your listening description. I understand what you describe better than some of the more "glowing" descriptions I have read. I feel the same way about Bass as you, it's more important to be tight, accurate, and fast than deep. I am also thinking about a servo sub.
 Great job...can't wait to see what you do next!


Larry

Ron

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #86 on: 13 Apr 2013, 07:53 pm »
Jay,

  Great review on your OB-7's. Thanks for posting it for all of us to read. You did an great job building your speakers. They
look absolutely amazing and I know they sound amazing good too!  :thumb: Your full length grill with the GR Research logo on the bottom really
sets them off. Man, I sure do wish I lived close enough that I could listen to them in person! It has been a real pleasure following your build and offering my help if needed. Looking forward to your next speaker building project .

Ron

Captainhemo

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #87 on: 14 Apr 2013, 11:56 am »
Larry,  it is pretty cool having someone over, lisstening to a few  songs,  then  walking up and pulling the grills off.   So far it has been  about 50/50  with people  saying  "keep those off"  or  "I like them on".   In either case,  most of the peo;e are pretty impressed  when  they do come off.
I really do like the look  with  them on myself.  I find they  just look sleeker and , like you  guys said,  they  just seem  to set them off .  Plus it really  is fun pulling them off for people.

Ron,  I too wish  you could have been  here  to listen  to them  If you ever  do  happen to get up this way,  you know there is always an open invitation  for you.  It'd be great   to  have you  over,  sip on a couple cold ones,  and listen  to some tunes  :)

-jay

Guy 13

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #88 on: 14 Apr 2013, 12:40 pm »
Hi Captainhemo and all Audio Circle members.
May I ask you how much you spent to build those nice OB-7
including drivers, enclosures, etc...

Guy 13.
 

Captainhemo

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #89 on: 14 Apr 2013, 04:57 pm »
Hi Captainhemo and all Audio Circle members.
May I ask you how much you spent to build those nice OB-7
including drivers, enclosures, etc...

Guy 13.

PM'd you Guy

-jay

NeilT

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #90 on: 16 Apr 2013, 05:29 am »
Jay,
Excellent build and review. Thank you very much for sharing both with us.
I love the full length grills, the whole look is clean, clean , clean, great job.  :thumb:

Neil

Captainhemo

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #91 on: 17 Apr 2013, 01:58 am »
Jay,
Excellent build and review. Thank you very much for sharing both with us.
I love the full length grills, the whole look is clean, clean , clean, great job.  :thumb:

Neil

Thanks Neil, glad you  enjoyed them.  Thanks again for being a bit of a sounding board  for a couple of the steps along the way, appreciated the help

-jay

NeilT

Re: Captainhemo's OB-7 Build
« Reply #92 on: 17 Apr 2013, 05:49 am »
My pleasure, it was fun to help out a little.

Neil