[restrav]

Valab or Vintage Audio Lab was kinda big a few years back. I remember between 2009 to 2012 the silver IC fad was trending between audiophiles and everyone was hearing improvments left a nd right and a lot of people bought Valab silver interconnects for like 100 bucks. So i know Valab from back then. since then they barely come up anywhere but they are still selling their blingy products with dubious quality on eBay. After all audiophiles cant get enough of shiny stuff.

so I was looking at their RCA connectors when I saw this by accident: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Valab-Dolphin-Stand-mount-BookShelf-Speaker-Pair-/301964359793?hash=item464e7a7871:g:5vUAAOSwNsdXQ0Fa

now i love the concept of two full range drivers and a planar tweeter so It really tickled my fancy so i thought maybe someone knows something about then or at least is familiar with the driver complement. does anyone know anything about them?

there is literally nothing online about them.

[mresseguie]

Hi, Dadbeh.

I Googled and also looked into the eBay thing. Valab seems to be alive and well. The gear is from Taiwan. I don't know about the speakers though.

[JLM]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.   

Looks like small/cheap Vapor Audio speakers.  Speaking of which I heard the Nimbus White at a gathering a couple of months ago.  They needed a bigger room (overloaded a 2,000 cu. ft. room) and to be heard from farther away.  They use a vertical ribbon between two midrange drivers too and was extremely sensitive to vertical listener location.  Everyone was moving up and down trying to avoid phase issues between the midrange drivers and stay within the vertical ribbon's sweet spot (looked like a room full of bobbing head dolls).   

Ad says frequency response 70 - 40,000 Hz, but wonder what the F3 is (could be anywhere between 40 and 200 Hz).  Ad states tweeter going up to 30,000 Hz but the speaker goes to 40,000 Hz??  And what's that blips regarding mm versus mc about?  90 dB/w/m at 4 ohms (if true) for an MTM is not impressive.  Wonder what the interior volume/shape is like.  Wonder how loud they can go?  Wonder what the wood species it's made of.  Wonder how much of the asking price is tied up in tariffs/shipping.  I'd never pay $600 for something like this. 

I recently hosted an audio club meeting where we compared 7 pair of speakers, most being small 2-way stand-mounts.  The most impressive were JBL LSR305 ($300/pair, active designs).  Why fool around with an unknown quantity when you can pick up a good sounding speaker for half the price from a known source that already has the amplifiers built in?

[srb]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.   

Ain't that the truth!  While I've often admired the beauty of vertically laminated Baltic Birch plywood sanded smooth, this speaker with with unfinished stacked MDF looks like crap!

I've been disappointed in the past with most eBay Chinese offerings that I've seen or bought.  Although I prefer made in North America or Europe, I don't necessarily have a problem with Chinese manufacturing, particularly if it's in an ISO 900x facility where quality can be excellent.  But the majority of the Chinese conceived, designed and manufactured stuff is disappointing on so many levels, with a few exceptions.

And feature #5 didn't do anything to bolster my confidence:

5. Only for MM cartridge, need step-up transformer for MC cartridge

Steve

[wushuliu]

Not a speaker expert but

1) those full range drivers do not inspire confidence. They look kind of cheap to me.

2) Full range drivers as a general rule should not be used in m-t-m format. The two 4in drivers will exhibit lobing issues, the further apart they are. And they look pretty far apart in the photo. If using two full range drivers per side, they need to be as close together as physically possible.

3) No frequency response is posted, so that's a red flag right there.

[Tomy2Tone]

The most impressive were JBL LSR305 ($300/pair, active designs).  Why fool around with an unknown quantity when you can pick up a good sounding speaker for half the price from a known source that already has the amplifiers built in?

Amazon has these for $249 and free shipping for prime members at the moment. I've heard people say they prefer these to the ELAC's by AJ.

http://smile.amazon.com/JBL-LSR305-Professional-Studio-Monitor/dp/B00F1DEI8G/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1464620720&sr=1-1&keywords=jbl+lsr305

As far as impressions go with the Valab Dolphins, they don't look that bad to me. Ive seen worse at shows. I remember last year at the Newport Show walking in to the Lambert room laughing and thinking the setup was from some kind of "precious moments" collection as the speakers and electronics were super tiny with what appeared to be cheap looking drivers. They sounded incredible with a huge soundstage for their size. Cost was not cheap though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBsH7I8u3r8

[Bob in St. Louis]

Why did they stop halfway through the build process?   
Also, why would you put the terminals all the way at the top?

[restrav]

Why did they stop halfway through the build process?   
Also, why would you put the terminals all the way at the top?

it is not at the top. in the pictures the speaker is upside down. im mean the design is symmetrical so whichever way you want is the top. doesnt matter. in the picture the trminals qare up but you can just flip it over upside down.

[Bob in St. Louis]

OOhh well.,... that make sense, thank you.

[restrav]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.   

Looks like small/cheap Vapor Audio speakers.  Speaking of which I heard the Nimbus White at a gathering a couple of months ago.  They needed a bigger room (overloaded a 2,000 cu. ft. room) and to be heard from farther away.  They use a vertical ribbon between two midrange drivers too and was extremely sensitive to vertical listener location.  Everyone was moving up and down trying to avoid phase issues between the midrange drivers and stay within the vertical ribbon's sweet spot (looked like a room full of bobbing head dolls).   

Ad says frequency response 70 - 40,000 Hz, but wonder what the F3 is (could be anywhere between 40 and 200 Hz).  Ad states tweeter going up to 30,000 Hz but the speaker goes to 40,000 Hz??  And what's that blips regarding mm versus mc about?  90 dB/w/m at 4 ohms (if true) for an MTM is not impressive.  Wonder what the interior volume/shape is like.  Wonder how loud they can go?  Wonder what the wood species it's made of.  Wonder how much of the asking price is tied up in tariffs/shipping.  I'd never pay $600 for something like this. 

I recently hosted an audio club meeting where we compared 7 pair of speakers, most being small 2-way stand-mounts.  The most impressive were JBL LSR305 ($300/pair, active designs).  Why fool around with an unknown quantity when you can pick up a good sounding speaker for half the price from a known source that already has the amplifiers built in?

i have heard the JBL's and i loved them and i definitely agree that the sound is better balanved than Elac B5s.
I am mostly curious about these speakers' sound. im not necessarily doing a value comparison.

I personally think the cabinet here has a lot of potential. it looks really good to me. i mean one could paint it. but the size and shape and weight and construction looks good. also the price is high in that link it is for sale for 400 bucks actually

[srb]

it is not at the top. in the pictures the speaker is upside down. im mean the design is symmetrical so whichever way you want is the top. doesnt matter

Almost symmetrical.  There is a little more distance from one driver's edge to the top/bottom of the cabinet than the other.

Steve

[poseidonsvoice]

Not a speaker expert but

1) those full range drivers do not inspire confidence. They look kind of cheap to me.

2) Full range drivers as a general rule should not be used in m-t-m format. The two 4in drivers will exhibit lobing issues, the further apart they are. And they look pretty far apart in the photo. If using two full range drivers per side, they need to be as close together as physically possible.

3) No frequency response is posted, so that's a red flag right there.

Bingo. There is actually a whole bunch of other things but the above list is a great start.

If he just sold the enclosure with a blank front panel, that would probably serve a market.

Currently as advertised on EBay, it's a complete failure in design and engineering. The aforementioned JBL LSR305 and Elac U5 will blow it away.

Best,
Anand.

[restrav]

Bingo. There is actually a whole bunch of other things but the above list is a great start.

If he just sold the enclosure with a blank front panel, that would probably serve a market.

Best,
Anand.

yes i guess that's about it.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Almost symmetrical.  There is a little more distance from one driver's edge to the top/bottom of the cabinet than the other.

Steve

Yea... the lack of "perfect" symmetry kills me, I would fixate on that if they were in my room. The center driver isn't centered with equal layers between its flanking drivers either. I understood what he meant by them "being symmetrical", but this level of symmetry isn't "audiophile grade symmetry", by any stretch of the imagination.
I am WAY too OCD for these speakers. 

[Peter J]

While I don't think they're beautiful I can get my head around the looks to some extent, kind of like a puffy down vest or even an oddball Art Deco design. But then I like out of the ordinary stuff.

From a finishing perspective,(assuming that one wants a flat and smooth surface like seems to be preferred in most gear), they would be a nightmare. All those individual vees formed by the roundovers would have to be sanded by hand between coats...forget cut an polish...

Best bet would be to texture them in some way. Maybe do them when you're repainting the room and just hit 'em with the roller. But it wouldn't make them prettier design wise.

[Bob in St. Louis]

^ Agreed.
What they've done is gotten past the age old question/problem of the"line" between layers of MDF not taking a finish. It always cracks, splits, etc..etc.. by exaggerating the problem and making it a design element.
Take your weakness and make it a strength.
As a woodworker, I see what they've done and why. Not impressed (because it's the lazy way out), but I give them credit for being clever.
Certainly gets you to a lower price point, that's for sure.

[restrav]

hahaha .... i see so many black rectangular boxes with a total of $400 bucks worth of electronics and drivers with a price tag of $2000 that I thought this looks really cool .... but damn you guys are hard to impress lol

   

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yea.. It looks like a high school project the kid got tired of working on and said, "Screw it... I'm gluing it together". 

[srb]

What they've done is gotten past the age old question/problem of the"line" between layers of MDF not taking a finish. It always cracks, splits, etc..etc.. by exaggerating the problem and making it a design element.

Along those lines, it's what I've seen in a lot of budget furniture made out of veneered MDF with solid hardwood corner pieces.  They route a 1/8" - 3/16" groove at the joint as a "design element" and avoid having to produce a clean, tight and long-lasting joint.

Baltic Birch laminated cabinets have very high materials and labor costs and will never be part of a budget speaker, so I'm not making a comparison.  But while this particular speaker's economical construction approach appeals to some, I would actually just rather have a common satin black rectangular MDF box.

Just daydreaming here and certainly off the subject of $550 - $600 speakers, I really do like the "old style" Magico Mini cabinets (before they went to the aluminum structure).  The laminated plywood with contrasting black aluminum baffle and rear plate is very striking - and very expensive!

 

Edit:  The circular grain effect is actually an artifact introduced by scaling down and wasn't present in the original size photo.  At first thought I figured this was due to quick and dirty Windows Paint scaling, but I actually got similar results with GIMP using a variety of ppi and interpolation methods. (Hmmm ... something to investigate.)

Steve

[Bob in St. Louis]

Agreed. ^^^
Baltic Birch construction of that size would have $500 just in plywood.
You could put a small bomb in that cabinet. That MDF... not so much.
Like everything else, you get what you pay for. But then again, this is the C&C section, so we're not building BB stacked cabinets, afterall.