[Joey Skinner]

When I first built my OB7s I was having some imaging/soundstage problems due to my room setup. I had a big RPTV, equipment rack and cd storage tower in between the speakers. I knew this was causing problems but had to live with it. Now I have a new flat panel TV on the wall and  I removed everything that was in between the speakers and moved them a little closer together. The difference is amazing. Before you could localize the sound coming from each speaker; now the speakers disappear into the room. I have this great 50" plasma TV but I'm listening to two channel music more than watching TV. I'm thinking about an OB center to replace the AV-3s I have now. Would an OB 5 horizontal with the OB section flanked by the two woofers be possible?

[klh]

It looks like the back of the speakers are about 20" out from the wall... is that about right? Have you noticed if they sound different closer or further away. Just curious as I'm saving for the new OB-7s and the front baffle will be about 24-30" or so from the wall (hopefully the latter).

Hey... why not a WWMTMWW with the W's sealed like they are in your OB7s. Cross it over at 80Hz... your font end would rock .

The only difference between that CC and your OB7s is it wouldn't have the sub and enclosure wouldn't be as long. Should be very easy to do .

[Joey Skinner]

The back of the speaker is actually 12" from the wall. This is as far as I can go due to the room size. I haven't tried moving them any closer in or further away. You'll probably be fine with the front baffle 24" to 30" away. More is better but not always possible. Maybe Danny will chime in on this.

I first thought about an OB7 without the sub section; it would be the same width as the TV. That would put the woofers pretty close to the mains and I'm not sure how that would sound for home theater(although it would look awesome ). I'm no expert so if anyone has any thoughts on this I would appreciate it.

My current center is OK but it somtimes gets overpowered by the mains when there is dialog and music at the same time. Running it +4db sounds good but really I'm just itching for another speaker project  .

You're going to love your OB7s. They are a lot of work to build but the effort is worth it. If I were to do it all over again I think I would build them without the sub because I have an attic IB and don't really need the extra bass.

[cujobob]

Your speakers look amazing, I have to say.  Too bad you can't get the OB7s a bit further apart, this has been an issue with most of my setups, as well.  When the center is so close to the mains, I find it better to use a phantom mode as a center channel...might just be in my system, though.

[gongos]

Must buy room treatments immediately.

[Joey Skinner]

I have some 2' x 4' x 4" rock wool ready to be made into panels. I'll post on the Acoustics Circle when I'm ready to start.

[Danny Richie]

Dang Joey, those look great.

You can build a single OB-5 on its side with only one of the low frequency woofers on each end. To really work well it would need to be out into the room about as far as your main speakers though.

A single O-3 would work well and match the sound too, but it would also need to be placed fairly even with the mains.

[klh]

If you did a single O-3, you could also drop the flat screen down a little bit to ease viewing. Then, since the subs fire out, you build two smaller cabinets to house the electronics that would go between the three speakers. If the two new cabs are short enough, they should minimally impact imaging, and you could stain them to match the three speakers. That would look sharp!

[KCI-JohnP]

Wow, those look nice! You did an excellent job on them, congrats.

John

[Joey Skinner]

Thanks, it wasn't a weekend job , but well worth the effort. One building tip: get help applying the veneer; it's a two person job.

klh, the single 0-3 idea sounds good but after thinking about it the OB-5 might work too. Since I would only use it for HT I don't think the close proximity to the mains would matter. For music I use the mains in stereo.

[klh]

O-3, OB-5, OB-7... all would be wonderful. You're lucky to have so many options. I think I still like the horizontal OB-7 without the sub. The lower mid range wouldn't be as tight with the OB-5 as it has two ported W's instead of 4 sealed W's... I would think the that would allow a slightly easier transition from L to C to R. Then again, it may be so subtle nobody would notice. Maybe I'm just a fan of symmetry and knowing it's the same as the uprights. Which ever way you decide to go will sound fantastic. Please keep us up to date on your decision and ultimately how things turn out.