• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Bozak B302A Econowaves

Installed one of the horns last night and running it in prototype mode now. Looks and sounds fine. I'll do the other over the weekend and start an extended listening of them, before I decide to commit. I am liking what I hear a lot and certainly could live with these guys no problem.

The question though is which do I like the best, the A7s or the Bozak Ewaves....

And as odd as it seems I am going to raise the Bozaks up a bit as I'm thinking that some of the A7s charm comes form the drivers being so much higher. you can see the 515G peeking over the Bozak in the pic below.

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • bwave4.jpg
    bwave4.jpg
    113.4 KB · Views: 117
Andyman said:
...I may be looking into more smartphone RTAs to see if I can find one I can print from, or at least export spectra from so I can post them here.
Click to expand...

Which rta do you suggest? I have an iphone and downloaded on provided by JL Audio, but I'm not sure how accurate it really is.
 
janikphoto said:
Which rta do you suggest? I have an iphone and downloaded on provided by JL Audio, but I'm not sure how accurate it really is.
Click to expand...

I have an android phone, Samsung Note 2, and the one I use the most is Audio Tool by J.J. Bunn.

Nice display, 1/6 octave metering, 5 different scales and an ability to store. But I can't figure out how to print or screen shoot spectra, so it makes comparisons a little rough. I run an online pink noise generator and ballpark level match it.

As far as objective measurements, who knows? but it's useful in comparing speakers and seeing how crossover changes move spectra.

I also loaded something called "RTA analyzer" but it's only 1/3 octave and quite limited in the free version. I didn't see enough there to make me want to pop for the full version.
 
I use iphone, so it would have to be apple-friendly on my end. I also bought that little parts express rta mic for smart phones, so one that has various mic presets would be great, too. The free program I got gives a very general ballpark, but it doesn't seem to be the most accurate.
 
janikphoto said:
I use iphone, so it would have to be apple-friendly on my end. I also bought that little parts express rta mic for smart phones, so one that has various mic presets would be great, too. The free program I got gives a very general ballpark, but it doesn't seem to be the most accurate.
Click to expand...

Yep.

I guess the value mine has is in level matching and comparative spectra for differences. I'm going to mess with it some more this weekend, so maybe I can post some results.
 
Well, been busy and haven't done much with them except listen to them. Some days they sound great, some days not so much.

I think I'm having a hard time getting used to the new found bass as most of my speakers down here had far less. Bigger drivers with higher bottoms; sort of counter intuitive, eh?? It may come down to what do i prefer the most, the Bozak bass or the Altec mids???

At any rate, I just moved them down lower to the 7" wire basket bases as the raised ones made the system almost as big as the A7s, and big was the only thing I didn't like about them. It also takes the Bozak out of the throat of the Altec, so I can A/B them better, especially when the Bozaks are unimpressive. Hopefully it might just be a lesser recording and not a speaker issue.

More listening this weekend...
 
Update and closure.

I've moved on form this project and sold off the woofers and cabs. While the Bozaks may have been fine to listen to, the bottom line is that I simply preferred the A7s over a month long back and forth listening. I honestly think the perceived added bass and some weakness in the mids was a tradeoff for me in the wrong direction, plus the Altecs just seem to make music I like sound so natural, dynamic and easy; never strained. The A7s unseated the JBL LE14A Econowaves, now the Bozak Ewaves and even a set of scratched EPI A500s cabs I econowaved with prior to swapping the drivers into a much nicer cabinet I had. I REALLY like their sound... :dunno:

Audio is a very personal thing I simply preferred the Altecs, which is certainly not a slam against the Bozaks.
 
Andyman said:
Update and closure.

I've moved on form this project and sold off the woofers and cabs. While the Bozaks may have been fine to listen to, the bottom line is that I simply preferred the A7s over a month long back and forth listening. I honestly think the perceived added bass and some weakness in the mids was a tradeoff for me in the wrong direction, plus the Altecs just seem to make music I like sound so natural, dynamic and easy; never strained. The A7s unseated the JBL LE14A Econowaves, now the Bozak Ewaves and even a set of scratched EPI A500s cabs I econowaved with prior to swapping the drivers into a much nicer cabinet I had. I REALLY like their sound... :dunno:

Audio is a very personal thing I simply preferred the Altecs, which is certainly not a slam against the Bozaks.
Click to expand...

Nobody knows better than you.
 
You gave a very honest assessment on a project, and I appreciate that. I was wondering about how the Bozaks would do in an Econowave project - now I know. So much of the enjoyment for me is about discovering what I like as far as the technology goes, so that I can appreciate the music more. Plus, the geek in me likes to play and this is an excellent thread to experience that vicariously.
 
Interesting that the JBL ewaves lagged the A7s, would that it was the other way as the A7 is a rather impractical option for most due to lack of availability and size compared to the far more compact and common Advent versions, compared to both the JBL and Altec.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Having a single a7 on my covered patio, I can understand why they'd be hard get rid of. However, I really love my 302a's in the bedroom. With the right amp, they sound wonderful.
 
Pio1980 said:
Interesting that the JBL ewaves lagged the A7s, would that it was the other way as the A7 is a rather impractical option for most due to lack of availability and size compared to the far more compact and common Advent versions, compared to both the JBL and Altec.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I always felt the JBL midrange was a little thin and the Altec excel there, albeit at 3-4x the size.

I did pickup a set of Utility Large Advents two weeks ago and plan on visiting them for a Econowave project too. Bauhausler is a freind and local and I had the pleaseure of hearing his at the SMAC met at Dennis's years ago. I'll see how they fare against the Altecs too once I'm done. and report back over in his Advent Ewave thread.
 
Andyman said:
I always felt the JBL midrange was a little thin and the Altec excel there, albeit at 3-4x the size.
Click to expand...

Just another +1 for posting the experience. Really appreciate this sort of stuff and it's cool to see open-minded people give something a fair shake.

I have very limited experience hearing Bozaks (and never those), but I suspect a lot of us have ewaved a lot of things and not posted about projects that didn't fit our preferences for whatever reason. At least that's true for me. Reading this has reoriented my thinking.

At first, reading-along, I thought "ah, it's the dynamics he prizes" more. Then I thought well, relieved of LF, there's additional MR clarity available for the A7's. Then I thought about the Altec-tone (tm) :) thing... It's the entirety of the soup, isn't it? Bass is good-stuff, but clean midbass is great-stuff, too--and if it comes with dynamics and effortlessness and scale, well so much the better, to my tastes, anyway. Still, there's some incredible clarity to an ewave top-end and it has affected me, too. And it's a nice reminder that good drivers are still/always good drivers to the beholder.

Thanks again for sharing what not many people might try with their Bozaks.
 
Have a pair of Bozak Urban's with the older paper tweeter since they have silver foil on them. The high frequencies are pretty weak like for cymbals.

I enjoy horned systems and have Altec 9844a's (with pieso tweeters added) and very large JBL pro cinema speakers with horn and dual 2225's.

Wonder how I should "repair-fix" the Bozaks. Should just replace the tweeters and crossover caps or ewave them and build a new crossover and put in a compression driver horn? Did you cut out the hole where the Urban's midrange speaker is or did the horn fit? Would be nice to leave the Bozak enclosure alone.
 
I would get the newer AL tweeters and do the Tobin mods with fresh polys, but be wary as there are some subtleties not clear in many threads like swapping leads about in the crossover. I posted some threads addressing this, so you should be able to search them out here. You may find this is what you like as many out there do; I'm the odd man out as I actually didn't prefer the Tobin mods.

As far as the E-wave conversion, I think one issue I had was asking the woofer to play too high and got a hole in the middle.

Good luck and keep us posted!!
 
Andyman said:
...

As far as the E-wave conversion, I think one issue I had was asking the woofer to play too high and got a hole in the middle.

Good luck and keep us posted!!
Click to expand...

Yep, the top end of the woofer is key. Of all the eWave systems I've built, my favorites are the JBL LE-10A with the 8X8 waveguide.
The 10" reminds me of the rolled off bass of the A7, and the mids are smooth right through to the ewave top end. Second would be the JBL 2214 paired with the deluxe QSC/DE-250, because there is a small mid hole with those. Better bass, less mids.

I just got some free 7 cu. ft. cabinets of CL that used to have Bozak's in them. Putting LE-14A and either a SEOS-12 or QSC clone wave guide in them as I type. (Have to brace and reinforce the home-built cabs a lot first though.) Baffle is removable from the front, so not that difficult to replace.

For my other project I'm adding a JBL 10" mid between LE-14A and SEOS-12/DNA-360. No hole there. I tried this earlier with the JBL 4430 components, and it sounds wonderful after minimal tweaking of the HF XO point.
 
Ok so replacing the paper tweeters and bringing the crossovers up to spec is the recommendation for old paper tweeter Urban's. I have someone who can fix (recap) and wire the crossovers correctly. What tweeters should I buy that are available now to replace the old Bozak paper tweets that would have matching sensitivity yet better range? TIA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom