[djn]

George and I spent yesterday building a pair of Open Baffle, Line Array, EconoWaves.  He got here at 11:00 and left at around 5:00.  I think we made good progress. But we were both tired when we assemble the second speaker.....can you see the mistake.  It will be fixed today when I finsh the wiring.

The drivers are PE 69 cent NSB close outs.

The horns are JBL 6"x6" wave guides with Selenium D210T

The cross overs are stock eWave

They ar 48" tall and 24" wide.

George is the tall old white guy and I am the shorter fat old white guy.  Who says old white guys don't know how to have fun.

[mcgsxr]

A very interesting design, I will be looking forward to see what you think when you fire them up!

[djn]

Thanks Mc.  I finshed the first one at about noon today, and hooked it up and have been playing it since as I finish the second one.  I can't find the L pad for the second one and I am tired and done for the night.  I am running the one with a boombox, but even with that, I think they sound very good.  There is good enough bass but I have three subs in my room so that is not an issue.  The midrange is absolutely fluid.  The smoothist I've every heard and with just the mids acting as OB, wood instruments sound very live.  The wave guide is exacting and well detailed without being fatiguing.  They do start rolling off a bit to low though.  I know the Selenium D220T goes higher.  I have friends in the area that have those drivers so we will be doing some swapping this week.

They look kind of cool and I have some red stain I will be staining them with.  My wife and I were just out in the garage listening to them and she thinks they are the best speakers Ive ever built.

More to come as I get the second one done and tweek them throughtout the week.  Cheers.

[mightym]

are you going to build 2 left side speakers to go with your 2 right's?


Carpenter over at DIYAudio did something like this a couple of years ago, using the CV 6" from Apex Jr., and a JBL 2406(?) in the Baby-Butt-Cheeks horn.  He was very high on them then, I haven't asked him if he's still using them though.  His were taller, and had like 8 of those 16 Ohm 6" drivers above and below the JBL horn.  I can't recall what he did for XO.  He's got an amp of his own design stable to 1 Ohm too to drive them.

Keep us posted, there's others out there itchin' to  use some of those PE buyout drivers......

John

[Hebrew Hammer]

are you going to build 2 left side speakers to go with your 2 right's?
John

all he will have to do is move the base to the top and flip it upside down   

[djn]

Yep, I just flipped it and finished the wiring this morning.  I am SOOOO impressed with these.  My expectations were low to begin with, so I have to do some serious listening in the next couple days.  I have friends coming over that all have very well tuned ears as well.  More to come.

PS, I'd love to get my hands on more of these drivers.

[mightym]

Yes sir Mr. Hammer ( love your work BTW )  I was:

Pick one,

1 Pointing out the obvious ( with tongue firmly in cheek )
2 Just trying to help the guy out
3 Hoping there was a prize for being first poster to identify the anomaly.
4 Being a WiseA$$

As ever
John

[djn]

I've been listening to them in the garage for the past 5 hours and I still think this is a winning combo.  I now see some areas for improvement, but I will wait until I drive them with something other than a boom box.

[djn]

I just bored holes through the plywood and attached the drivers.  Will it change, help, or hinder anything if I champher the back of the holes so the back of the driver will be more exposed???  Thanks in advance.

[Rudolf]

Will it change, help, or hinder anything if I champher the back of the holes so the back of the driver will be more exposed???

It will be VERY helpful IMHO. After looking at the pictures I would have mounted the NSB drivers from the rear and chamfered the front of the holes, giving the drivers a sort of little waveguide.

[djn]

I thought about doing just that Rudolf, but the hole my hole saw made was too big.  When I am totally satisfied after I do all the tweeking, I will build another pair of these with Teak and Mahagony planks, just like the old Christ-Craft's deck.

For that I'll use an adjustable hole saw and get it right.

Another question:  These drivers (as I am told) have a max of 10w handleing.  With 8 of them, does that change?  With they handle more power?

[Rudolf]

Another question: These drivers (as I am told) have a max of 10w handleing.  With 8 of them, does that change?  With they handle more power?

Don't worry. Certainly you will connect the drivers in some series/parallel combination. That way the individual powers will add up to a 80 W handling. But power handling will not be your limiting factor. Since dipoles don't have the "air suspension" of a closed box speaker in the back, most drivers will run out of excursion long before running out of power.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Yes sir Mr. Hammer ( love your work BTW )  I was:

Pick one,

1 Pointing out the obvious ( with tongue firmly in cheek )
2 Just trying to help the guy out
3 Hoping there was a prize for being first poster to identify the anomaly.
4 Being a WiseA$$
As ever
John

LOL...   ... and thank you 

[djn]

Don't worry. Certainly you will connect the drivers in some series/parallel combination. That way the individual powers will add up to a 80 W handling. But power handling will not be your limiting factor. Since dipoles don't have the "air suspension" of a closed box speaker in the back, most drivers will run out of excursion long before running out of power.

Thanks Rudolf, that makes sense.  I've not wanted to crank it up because I didn't know.  These little driver have an Xmax of .6 and a QTS of .6 (so I was told) so they make fairly good OB drivers.

[djn]

Last Saturday I brought these over to your local SMAC gathering (Southeast Michigan Audio Club) and they were a big hit.  We had another pair of EconoWaves with EPI woofers and cabs, and Polk 7s.  Neither of them played very long as everybody wanted the OblaWaves in the system.  We were driving them with Kegger's EL500 SET prototype and they sounded great.  The amp only puts out 3wpc and that was more than enough to fill the back yard.

[panomaniac]

Very cool.

Nice to have the meet outside, too. 

[djn]

Yep, it was nice being outside but the distance and lack of wall reenforcements made the bass (what there is of it) a little shy.  Back in the house and these things have much more bass then I'd ever imagine.

[tubesguy2]

Teak and Mahagony planks, just like the old Christ-Craft's deck.

I didn't think he needed a boat, what with all the walking on water.

Nice work. Have also been following the project on the AK site. - Pat

[gvimhoof]

It will be VERY helpful IMHO. After looking at the pictures I would have mounted the NSB drivers from the rear and chamfered the front of the holes, giving the drivers a sort of little waveguide.

This would also line them up a bit more vertically with the depth of the Selenium's diaphragm.  I kinda like the grain of the baffles.  Gives a visual texture that doesn't rely on paint for character.

[djn]

Hopefully by the weeks end, I'll have the drivers mounted on the back with the fronts rounded over.  The new plan is to use the baffle boards at canvases and my wife and I will each take one and do a painting on it.