[Danny Richie]

my mids are round also, they are going to be spaced farther?

Just space them as per the plans. They will overlap as designed. The tweeter is recessed while the woofers surface mount. See pic below.

Also, send me your old tweeter face plates and I'll send you the new ones.

[gprro]

Ohhhhhhh! I get it . I'll send em , thanks a ton!!! I'll have to start a thread for my build.

I hope I can get them looking anywhere close to those. Dayglow may have inspired me to go with a dark stained veneer.

[Kevin Haskins]

Cheers

Wow... you do great work.   Those are delicious looking.

[ewarren]

Hey Denny,  Those are great looking speakers.  I ordered the new ob-7 and am trying to finish them up this week.  I was also wondering about the crossover.  After building them, theses things are really big.  If I mount them internally are they going to take up valuable box space?  Or should I do an external crossover?  Also, I would like to see how you did the wires on the open baffle section.

[Daygloworange]

Thanks for the compliments ewarren. I look forward to your thoughts once you hear the OB 7's.

The new crossover is smaller than the original one. It's still not tiny, but I don't really think it's something to agonize over volume wise. I don't really think the impact with it internal vs external would be substantial. You could always, install it in the speaker, break it in for a while, then just pull it out, and listen the speaker then.

The thing with external crossovers is that it's more components to find a place for, and unless you put them in a chassis, they're not much to look at.

Here are a few more pics. This is how I wired up this customers pair. The 2 runs come up through the top of the sealed enclosure through some rubber grommets that are inset flush with the top. Also a pic showing the overlap of the M-130's over the BG Neo 3 tweeter.









Cheers

[zybar]

Simply outstanding work Denny.

I know you are very high on my list if I ever need a pair of speakers made.

George

[mcullinan]

Wow.. gorgeous...
But how do they sound??
Im a little late here.. O well.. let me go read whats up.
Mike

[ewarren]

Thanks Denny,  That is exactly how I was planning on doing the wiring.  Those pictures sure help out a lot.  I will try and post some pictures of my build in a couple of days.

[Danny Richie]

I wired mine a little different.

[IronForge]

We've finally found the time to finalize the design of the bases, they definitely add to the overall look. They are finished in a charcoal grey metallic pearl. I've tried to highlight the curves that we've incorporated. Not only are the sides curved, but the baffle front as well. I'll post some better pics shortly. 

Outstanding, very nice.

You said finished in a charcoal grey metallic pearl.  Is that strictly a paint or a finish/stain on veneer?

[Daygloworange]

The bases are 7/8" thick MDF. 3/4" looked too thin, and 1" too thick. The 7/8" thickness looks just right with the proportions of the OB series speakers. They are sealed with epoxy, then primed with primer/surfacer. Then it's the grey metallic pearl paint. Basecoat/clear, just like automobiles.

Wow.. gorgeous...
But how do they sound??
Im a little late here.. O well.. let me go read whats up.
Mike

If you look around on the GR Research circle here, you'll find plenty of threads and posts about them. I've posted tons about their performance. They are everything I want in a speaker, otherwise I wouldn't have gone to town on refining their appearance like I did. I want a pair!!

Seriously, short of line arrays, I haven't heard a speaker that I would want more. I will have 2 pairs. One pair as reference monitors in my recording studio, and a pair in my home 2 channel. That's how much I like this speaker, and how much I love it's performance. Both systems will run with the GR Research PR sub added to the OB 7's.

Cheers

[IronForge]

The bases are 7/8" thick MDF. 3/4" looked too thin, and 1" too thick. The 7/8" thickness looks just right with the proportions of the OB series speakers. They are sealed with epoxy, then primed with primer/surfacer. Then it's paint. Basecoat/clear, just like automobiles.

Excellent paint job.    How did you get the lines/grain type look on the front?

[Daygloworange]

Excellent paint job.    How did you get the lines/grain type look on the front?

Mother nature is responsible for the vast majority of it.    These speakers are in veneer. Curly maple veneer on the enclosures, and tiger sycamore for the front baffle. This dark charcoal color is one I developed for a client a number of years ago for a large media center, that I really like. It's a 4 step process. At various angles and lighting conditions it sometimes looks like an opaque dark charcoal, at others it's a translucent charcoal. It's a very sleek, modern look, that blends really well with other decor.

The reason we use the two different woods is that it's hard to find maple with that kind of "fiddleback/tiger" grain in pieces wide enough to do the baffle in a single piece. The sycamore comes oftentimes in pieces averaging 11" in width. So I can do mirror imaged baffles. It's very similar in color and grain to maple. And the figuring is real vivid and from throughout the whole piece of veneer. Maple often times doesn't have the figure running all the way thoughout the piece. The veneer on the baffles is raw veneer, on the enclosures it's paperbacked.

Prior to staining:


After staining. There are three more steps to achieve the final color. To get the warm grey color, we need to get the bluish/purple tone out of the veneer that is the result of black analine dye.


This is where I first developed the color:




Cheers

[Daygloworange]

I've had a number of inquiries about the curved parts for our OB 5's and 7's. If people are interested I can make available the parts for the DIY'er.

We can make curved baffles and veneer them for you. You could purchase those ready to go, then build the enclosure on your own. If you take your time you could come real close to having it look like our model. 

If anyone is interested PM me here. I have in stock, some curved enclosures built, and in primer, as well as baffles curved, machined and ready for veneer.





Cheers

[Vapor Audio]

Alright, I'm not afraid to admit ... I'm in love with your baffles!  That smooth recessed look is just killer, any chance you could show us how you did that?  All I can of is cut the driver holes and use a cove raised panel bit like this, and lots of hand sanding



And how did you get the veneer so flush against all those curves in the driver recessing?  I assume it would be impossible with raw wood veneer, is paperbacked a must? 

If I build an OB-7 (or similar), which I might because I'm speaker crazy, I'd want to do a 2 piece construction, with the upper OB part a separate laminated curved construction, similar to what Tony Gee did with these



That could have benefit of isolating the upper section from the bass section resonances, and you could move it back for time-alignment. 

Again, killer and quite original work! 

[klh]

Denny... you do some seriously good work. I'd planned on doing kits with whatever speakers I end up buying, but after seeing these pictures, I'm beginning to revisit my budget. Thanks for posting so many photos and cluing us in to the process you go through. Very well done.

[Daygloworange]

That smooth recessed look is just killer, any chance you could show us how you did that?

I do like those Tony Gee baffles, they're cool!

The method we use to achieve that look is something that is the result of many years of striving to achieve unique details in craft manship, as such, the techniques I've developed over the years for things such as this are ones that I haven't inherited from anyone else, but developed on my own, and, as such, are things I'd prefer to keep proprietary.     

I've decided to offer the option to purchase our baffles, to get that really unique look. We can produce these for what I feel is a reasonable price given the quality of workmanship and materials.

Denny... you do some seriously good work. I'd planned on doing kits with whatever speakers I end up buying, but after seeing these pictures, I'm beginning to revisit my budget. Thanks for posting so many photos and cluing us in to the process you go through. Very well done.

klh,

If you still have the DIY desire in you, then you could have the best of both worlds by having us do the baffles and then attach that to your own DIY enclosure, and do you own finishing and final assembly. We would also be glad to do a pair of complete turnkey speakers in any custom finish for you as well.

Keep in mind that we've got a 10% off offer on our prices for the OB series speakers for a limited number with the hope of stimulating some interest for our turnkey speakers. We will not be able to continue to offer them at that price beyond that however.

Cheers

[Daygloworange]

For those interested in DIY, these are pics of our OB 7 flat pack kits.

These include all the raw MDF pieces you need to build your own OB 7's. These flat packs will be CNC machined and pre fit. All you need is glue and clamps. Bases are included. They include 1/4-20 threaded inserts for spiked feet.

Front baffles are triple 3/8" laminated MDF, and are 1 3/16" thick. These are much stiffer than solid 1" or 1 1/8" MDF. All driver holes are cutout, and the backs of the driver holes and side baffle edges rounded over.

Prices for flat packs,

OB 7:  $350.00 U.S.

OB 5:  $325.00 U.S.

These prices include crating. Shipping is extra. Shipping is generally between $50 to $65.

We can also offer curved sides, curved baffles, veneered curved baffles upon request.







Cheers

[klh]

Denny...

1. Are the prices you quoted per pair or per unit?
2. Will there be a discount for bulk purchases (like 7 kits)?
3. What is the price for O-3 flat packs?

On a separate note, the other day I thought of a hybrid O-3 to go with the OB-7x speakers. You would use the same O-3 enclosure, but it would be sealed and only have one mid on top (the one towards the front would stay as it is). The BG would face forward as it does, then two XBL mids would be forward facing but towards the bottom of enclosure. Since four sealed M135x's replace two ported M135's in the OB7x, the ratio of sealed M135x's to ported M135's would be no different (in this case 2:1 instead of 4:2). Since this hybrid O-3 wouldn't be ported, it might also be easier to locate it closer to a rear or side wall, and since the same woofers, mid and tweeter are used, the sound should integrate with the OB7x well. What do you think?

[Daygloworange]

1. Are the prices you quoted per pair or per unit?

Per pair.

2. Will there be a discount for bulk purchases (like 7 kits)?

There would be, as those prices include the shipping crate and the time it takes to package the flat pack. If you decide you want to go with that many, we'll work something out. We have to keep it under a certain weight to be able to ship it as a parcel with UPS, so we may have to do 2 crates.

3. What is the price for O-3 flat packs?

O-3 flat packs would be $175.00

On a separate note, the other day I thought of a hybrid O-3 to go with the OB-7x speakers. You would use the same O-3 enclosure, but it would be sealed and only have one mid on top (the one towards the front would stay as it is). The BG would face forward as it does, then two XBL mids would be forward facing but towards the bottom of enclosure. Since four sealed M135x's replace two ported M135's in the OB7x, the ratio of sealed M135x's to ported M135's would be no different (in this case 2:1 instead of 4:2).

Yes, we could do enclosures for a modded version. I'd consult with Danny, just to get his thoughts on it.

Since this hybrid O-3 wouldn't be ported, it might also be easier to locate it closer to a rear or side wall,

(edit)  See next post. 

since the same woofers, mid and tweeter are used, the sound should integrate with the OB7x well. What do you think?

The O-3 was designed for the purpose of being compliments to the OB series speakers in an HT setup. It uses the same drivers as the OB series speakers, so naturally, yes, it would be the perfect choice for surrounds.

Cheers