Baffle size for prototype open baffle

[Stratomundo]

Hi everyone, I have a pair of old 5" Onkyo drivers that sound somewhat full range. After seeing the open baffle epiphany thread, I thought these little speakers might work for an experimental open baffle project. I'm familiar with the sound of open baffle guitar amp speakers, but not open baffle hi-fi. I'm hoping these might give me an idea of what an open baffle stereo speakers sound like.

What would be an idea baffle size for these drivers? 12" x 10" or so? How should they be positioned? I'm assuming centering them is bad idea. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Poultrygeist]

JE Labs model in cardboard or foam board to see how they sound. Don't expect a lot of bass.

 

[nfafan]

Good question, have a ton of leftover HTIAB speakers that could be recycled into multi-driver OBs...

 

[Stratomundo]

JE Labs model in cardboard or foam board to see how they sound. Don't expect a lot of bass.

I'm not too worried about bass response at this point, it's just an experiment to get an idea of the open baffle sound. I see JE Labs has a chart for the required baffle length to reach a certain frequency, I should be able to determine adequate dimensions from that.

Good question, have a ton of leftover HTIAB speakers that could be recycled into multi-driver OBs...

I've also been intrigued by the idea of an open baffle line array.

 

[Poultrygeist]

I'm not too worried about bass response at this point, it's just an experiment to get an idea of the open baffle sound. I see JE Labs has a chart for the required baffle length to reach a certain frequency, I should be able to determine adequate dimensions from that.



I've also been intrigued by the idea of an open baffle line array.

With a single driver not designed for OB's the sound can be very thin and unlistenable.

 

[Stratomundo]

With a single driver not designed for OB's the sound can be very thin and unlistenable.

Indeed, I have no specs on the drivers, but they sound ok in open air. I would think an open baffle would help somewhat.

 

[bigaltx24]

The measurements are metric, but this makes it easy.

http://www.tolvan.com/edge/help.htm

 

[Stratomundo]

The measurements are metric, but this makes it easy.

http://www.tolvan.com/edge/help.htm

Yeah, that's a neat program, thanks. Interesting that I get a large peak around 1000 Hz, unless I put the driver right in the corner of the baffle.

 

[CopperWizard]

I'm not too worried about bass response at this point, it's just an experiment to get an idea of the open baffle sound

Then just grab a piece of cardboard and cut a hole. This will give you that idea. If you fret about dimensions right now, on a piece of cardboard than your going to procrastinate on it the rest of the year.

 

[Stratomundo]

Then just grab a piece of cardboard and cut a hole. This will give you that idea. If you fret about dimensions right now, on a piece of cardboard than your going to procrastinate on it the rest of the year.

Haha yep you're probably right; might as well try it and hear what happens. I think I've got the gist of how big the baffle should be now.

 

[Stratomundo]

Well I finally got around to making some prototype baffles for these drivers. I probably should have put this in the open baffle epiphany thread, because I'm surprised by how good they sound. The imaging is really focused, and there is a good amount of detail. They're definitely shy on bass though.

I based the baffle on a scaled down version of the JE Labs baffle mentioned earlier. Now I need to build a real two-way design with a good full range driver and a big woofer!

 

[Poultrygeist]

Now you're hooked and that's a good thing.