Any comments or info on Bozak LS-200's ?

[Paulfxl]

I picked up a pair of Bozak LS-200 speakers. They are more or less "bookshelf" size but rather heavy. I have a naked picture attached but they came with brown cloth grills and small but classy Bozak badges.

Google found a few bits of information, mostly positive comments on their ported design using the Bozak 8" B-800B driver.

Would anyone have any more info ? I tried them briefly, so far so good. I need to wait till morning before I can crank up the sound.

Thanks;
Paul

 

[Brian]

There is a dedicated Bozak users group on Yahoo who include former employees. Interesting history and commensts that will include the LS2x0 series. The "woofer" is a midrange originally that was reconfigured to function as a woofer. I myself, am a follower of the big box Bozaks and love them.

 

[Nat]

I have two singles, one an LS 200 or something similar and one a Sonoran. They both are rather similar with a warm balance and something of a large sound for their size. Bozak also made an even smaller speaker with a dome tweeter and the eight inch mid bass (with an odd light bulb current limiter) which was quite impressive.

 

[Tafsound]

LS 200 Info

LS200 was the smallest in the "Listener Series", from the late 70's, and one of the few systems where Bozak departed from it's traditional infinite baffle approach by using a tube duct. System reonance is 89 cps. It's a simple 2 way system using the excellent B800Bc full range with either a B200Yc or B200Zc (c means ceramic magnet) and a 6db/octave crossover @ 2000 cps.

I have an earlier pair, called "Sonora" at the time (1972) but really identical to your LS200. I think you will be amazed at the big sound and the power handling of these tiny Bozaks.The factory rating was 45-20,000 cps. 20 watts min., 70 max.

Audio mag did a review in July '73 of the earlier Sonora and found it very smooth and within 5 db from 60-15000cps.( overall room response) Superb transient response, Harmonic distortion less tha 5% down to 50 cps. Negative comments: slight boxy sound and attenuated treble. Audio mentioned the Sonora could handle a steady 24 watts @40cps &45 watts @100 cps without distress---not too bad

They are heavy little guys & 30 lbs. too!

Hope this is helpful, Dave

 

[Paulfxl]

Thanks Dave for all the great information.

Most of the online Bozak info seems to be focused on the big monster floor standing units.

I also found a reference that Stereo Review had an review of the LS-200a speakers in the May 1984 issue. I have discovered that my local university library has quite a few bound back issues of Stereo Review. I'll wait till sunday when parking is not a problem and go in and look for the article.

Thanks again

 

[Brian]

The LS-200 and LS-200A are not the same speakers. The 200A discontinued the Rudy designed tweeter and went to a dome tweeter that is not a favorite with most of the Bozak crowd for obvious reasons. The dome was brought in after Rusdy lost control and against his wishes.

 

[Toasted Almond]

I had a pair of LS-250A for a little while. I love the Bozak "B" series and feel the LS series was after Bozak's heyday. They were okay but nothing to write home about.

 

[Tafsound]

Bozak

I was aware of the transition to a dome; I don't believe it was of Bozak manufacture however. Do you know who mfr'd. the domes? I think they were even used in so called late Concert Grands in the 90's but as late as 1987 they were still using the classic Bozak cone tweeter in several models.
Bozak, another sad ending in the annals of audio ! Dave :cry:

 

[Nat]

I believe the dome tweeters in the later LS series were audaxs. The late concert grands were built by Bozak of Taftville CT, which bought the name while NEAR bought the tooling and design. The Taftville company built a range of speakers, but their big ones were clearly inspired by the original designs -- big multiple driver systems -- but used other company's drivers -- focal, vifa, and seas, it seemed to me. Their cabinets were a distinct improvement -- much less resonant, with very thick fronts and a semicircular inner cabinet.
NEAR, on the other hand, used the Bozak metal drivers with a few modifications in entirely new designs. Both companies made good products, but neither are still in operation. The Taftville company had a devastating fire, and didn't seem to recover, and NEAR was bought by Harman or Bogen or someone and disappeared, though they made outdoor speakers using the metal drivers for a while.

 

[Brian]

N.E.A.R. acquired all of the Bozak assets except the name that at the time did nt seem to have any market value; a decision that was later regretted according to the president whom I spoke to in the early 90s. They produced their own line of speakers using the technology and the top 2 models gather very good reviews. They did not advertise it but they also would build on order the 302, Symphony and Concert Grand using NOS inventory untilthe inventory was exhausted. I got a price sheet from them and the 302 was about $2,500, the Symphony $5,500 and the CG $7,500. The cabinsts were urban for the 302 and Provinciual for the other 2. Would be interesting to find out if any were actually produced. N.E.A.R. was bought out by Bogan International and for a time it ran as a separate division but then became incorporated into the company structure. Soon after as revenue started to level off at N.E.A.R., Bogan took over the production of the full range weather resistant driver used in the Bozak outdoor speaker for its own use which killed the revenues at N.E.A.R. since the company was "selling" the drivers to Bogan as part of the revenue stream and closed N.E.A.R. down. A few years ago I tracked down someone in Bogan who remembered the N.E.A.R. division and its demise and thoguht somewhere in some dark dank warehouse there was some remaining inventory but did not show up in his inventory listwhich did not surprise him since obsolete inventory was delisted from inventory. Maybe 1 day we will see an ad pop up for skids of NOS new in box original Bozak drivers and x-overs.

I remember seeing the "Bozak" CG of similar time and it bore absolutely no heritage to the real CG.

 

[Tafsound]

The last listing I have for Concert Grand is 1995 and it had become a totally different animal . At $5000/ pr and housed in a slighty smaller31 x 48 x 16 cabinet were: 4-6" polypro woofers, 2-12" passive radiators, 2-5" mids, and only one tweeter , a 1" titanium dome!

FR 28-20000cps +1, -2 db. 93db efficiency, 200 & 2000cps crossover, 180 lbs.

Almost sounds like they could outperform Rudy's best efforts. Why do I not believe it ?

Dave

 

[Brian]

N.E.A.R. disappeared I think about '93-'95. I may still have the N.E.A.R. sheets. Just pulled the file and no longer have the price sheet in it, may be miss filed. Still have the N.E.A.R. brochure. They called it the Concert Series. They had the following listed:
Concert Grand:
CS-410 Moorish
CS-410 Classic
Symphony:
CS-4000
Converto V
CS-300 (2-way)
CD302 (3-way)

The drivers were the Bozaks from earlier days. The tweeters are described as hybrid metal cone/dome high frequency speakers with the diaphram resting in a bed of soft foam.

The speaker compliment for each matches Bozaks with the exception of the 300 and 302 that did not use the twin tweeter mounted to the woofer configuration but had them separately mounted higher in the baffle.

The dimensions of the CG are 36.75"x18.25"x50.25" for the Moorish and 36.00"x19.00"x50.25" for the Classic. Each used the 4 woofer, 2 midrange and 8 tweeter configuration and weighed 300lbs. 2 of my Bozak catalogs list the lower freq response as 28hz and the weight as 225lbs. But these differences could be attributed to possibly differences in the material used in making the cabinet. Sensitivity is 94db@2.83 VAC @ 1khz @ 1 meter. Freq response is 16hz - 20khz; min power 50 watts and max of 500 watts.

The Symphony weigh in at 165lb. The specs from mine are the same physical dimensions and weight as N.E.A.R. so suspect they pretty much simply duplicated the originals.

Crossover points for all models save the 300 was 400 and 2500.

The Symphony and CG used the 6" midranges.

The Morrish design shown for the Symphony is the same design as my Symphonys from '68 or thereabouts.

The "Bozak" company was not allowed to use the Bozak technology since it belonged to N.E.A.R. and that is why their versions do not follow the oriignal design.

 

[Nat]

I would not wish to have readers assume that the Taftville Bozaks were not good speakers -- the big ones were very good, fully in the Bozak spirit but more modern in sound balance, even though they used different drivers and different topographies. They produced big, vivid soundstages, which I would consider similar to the Bozak sound, though leaner and faster. If a slighly dark image is your idea of the Bozak sound, you might not like them, but I think they are a pretty good compromise.
I admit that this is based on listening to a pair of the 'new' Concertos, not the whole new (as it was then) range, but I bet that I'm safe in suggesting that its worth a listen to the products of both the Taftville Bozak and NEAR, if any show up.