Chance to buy Bozaks...

[Mr L]

There are some Bozaks for sale I might wanna get and was wondering if the model number is right.They have them as BOZAK E-300 Century Speakers,12"
But when I google them, they come up as saying "Did you mean Bozak B 300 century speakers?". Either way, they are asking $180 for them and are in good shape. So did the seller make a typo and they are B"s and not E's ? $180 too much for them? Those that are in the know, are they a fairly large speaker? They look like they are in the pic. Thanks.

 

[dnewma04]

They should be B-300s. Very similar to B-302s, which you'll find to be more common. If you search B-302, you'll find that most people consider them to be decent old speakers.

 

[tensleep]

I have a pair of Bozak B-302a speakers. Here is a link to my original thread regarding my purchase and early experience:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=173796&highlight=bozak

As far as price goes, that is a fair to good price, if the speakers are in very good condition. Often, because of the cabinet size, the drivers get parted out for higher resale value. The cabinets are very large (see my thread for scale), but are usually very beautiful. My cabinets are made by the Barzilay company, and the original owner assembled the cabinets with his wife. They did one very smart thing - they mounted the dual tweeters high in the cabinet to improve HF dispersion. Most B-300 and B-302 have the tweeters mounted in a coaxial configuration in front of the woofers on a very substantial bracket. I believe the tweeters can be dismounted and repositioned in the baffle board for better performance.

The B-300 will be missing the famous Bozak midrange driver. It is available on CL and eBay and is regarded as one of the best midrange drivers ever conceived. Adding the midrange driver completes the B-302A system. Rudy Bozak built his speaker systems using a modular approach. He used the same drivers, but in different cabinets with different numbers of drivers in different positions on the baffleboard to create his product line.

The crossovers are very robust, with some impressive inductors included in the circuit. I have yet to rebuild mine - I probably need to sell something soon to fund this project. I also have to add a curtain to mine - it hangs from the top of the cabinet to the bottom and helps to improve bass response in the infinite baffle design.

There is a very active Yahoo group full of enthusiastic fans of all things Bozak. Here is the link:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bozak_speakers/

I can think of few better vintage speakers that are still affordable for you to play around with. The Bozaks fill my room with warm, full, effortless sound. They are very good with solid state amplifiers and are efficient. I use them for FM radio - our public radio station here plays an excellent mix of music. I also like to listen to classical on these as well.

 

[dnewma04]

My B-300 has the bozak midrange. Interesting.

 

[tensleep]

My B-300 has the bozak midrange. Interesting.

Again, I am no Bozak expert, but from my research, that would make yours a 302.

 

[dnewma04]

It could have been an add on later, but the label shows B-300 pretty clearly.

 

[rage]

I am a new Bozak owner and have been fooling with my set for a month or two now.

I enjoy them a great deal. They are one of the better vintage speakers I've heard.

I wouldn't buy them if they don't have the aluminum midrange and tweeters.

Mine produce some pretty impressive bass and sound good with everything. They seem a bit forgiving to me so they now do well even with rock and moderately poor recordings.

I suppose rolling off around 12k will have that effect.

Doing the tobin mods on mine helped quite a bit also, but did mellow them out even more.

I'm running B305s. They are 16 ohm speakers and have 2 12s, 1 midrange driver and 4 tweeters. The midrange and tweeters are coated black but made from aluminum.

 

[tensleep]

It could have been an add on later, but the label shows B-300 pretty clearly.

Yes, it probably was originally a 300. At some point, it was upgraded with the addition of the midrange, making it a 302:

http://www.hifilit.com/hifilit/Bozak/Bozak.htm

 

[ArtD]

E-300s exist, I'm looking at an image of E-300 Urbans at the moment. I'm no expert, I just like the look of them and have collected images off the net. I've never seen a pair of Bozaks in my country.

 

[bobinaz]

Just yesterday I bought a set of B-302's in a thrift store. Under $40. These were in the furniture area. They do look like big end-tables, Italian Provincial style. The curtain is in good shape along with the wire mesh in front. My first Bozaks. I have them running thru a Denon pra-1500 pre, then into a marantz 1060 for the amp. The sound is pure heaven. Later when I get around to it, I will open up the backs and check things out, see if I need to replace anything.

 

[tensleep]

Just yesterday I bought a set of B-302's in a thrift store. Under $40. These were in the furniture area. They do look like big end-tables, Italian Provincial style. The curtain is in good shape along with the wire mesh in front. My first Bozaks. I have them running thru a Denon pra-1500 pre, then into a marantz 1060 for the amp. The sound is pure heaven. Later when I get around to it, I will open up the backs and check things out, see if I need to replace anything.

Congratulations on your new Bozaks! They look great, and by having them that high off of the floor, the tweeters are at ear level, enhancing their performance.

Bobinaz, once you get your backs off, you should start a new thread of your own so we don't hijack this one. I would be very interested in seeing the inside of your cabinets.