Manowar - I am using 3/4 inch mdf for my panels - I added the horizontal board, above the driver, in an effort to increase the distance that the rear wave has to travel, before interacting with the front wave - without adding to the overal H of the panels, since they were already built... I was simply trying to add more bass.
Richard - you are TOO generous, suggesting that these are in anyway attractive panels - as I recorded in the giant Darkstar thread where we all were sharing some months ago, these are my skunkworks OB's, and I eventually (once I settle on dimensions etc) intend to build some using Baltic Birch ply (void free) and use a simple poly on them - I would bet they will end up similar to your own, but with a less prominent grain.
I have seen the NO BOX design, but was shying away from using a bass driver, for my initial experimentation with this style of speaker. My personal experience with doing this, leads me to believe that I may end up using a pair of powered subs, in order to get the full response I am looking for. I am still sorting out what alignment to use for the subs etc, and deciding if I will use some drivers I already have, or will want to invest in something else.
The good news is, that to me, these sound great, so I can stomach their raw appearance, and lack of deep bass, while I play around with completing the design - heck, with a listening room full of concrete and pink isulation, it is pretty hard to stand there and rant that the speakers are what should be finished!
Russell - interesting bass creature you have found, but a wee out of my price point! Those certainly are examples of a nice implementation of what I was looking for - I simply angled the baffles, to allow for varying distance to the edge of the baffle from each side of the driver, in the hopes that would spread the frequencies that they affect, rather than reinforcing just 1, but having all the distances the same.
It sure is a lot of fun, playing with a $300 source, $400 speakers, and $200 amp! Ridiculous sound, for the investment - my very good friend, with whom I designed and built some floorstanding 2 ways a couple of years ago, was staggered by the imaging, and realistic sound that the JVC, and these speakers produce.
He has continually asked me about how I am refining these, as he is half interested in setting up a set in his listening room - WAF comes into play though, when you remove some nice oak 2 ways of around 8x10x35, and replace them with these big old Frankenspeakers!
