DBX Soundfield speakers. Anyone still running them?

[rjw1678]

I have a pair of DBX Soundfield 1000 speakers that will be put back into use once I get the woofers refoamed. The DBX Soundfield 1, 1A, 10, 100 and 1000's were made by DBX - some of the other models were not. The ones that were not made by DBX but were "branded as DBX" were sold by DAK.

But with speakers it is a matter of personal taste, whether a person likes their sound or not. I personally like the sound of my DBX Soundfield 1000's.

 

[arjentsbag]

I have the dbx soundfield 3X2, 2 6.5's 12db/crossover 120hz the satilites are 4.5 and 11mm polyethermide fime tweeter. this is a sub that input fron sub out on my denon avr 900 then out put to satilites. had 20+ years, they are mellow good for jazz and folk everyone who heard them liked them. I am now a/b them with pioneer sb 22s.

 

[tygr]

Sold my DBX Soundfields a while back.

 

[arjentsbag]

Is it worth it to use just the sub 2 6.5's 12db/crossover 120hz and feed it to my new pioneer bs22.s or run the sub on its own channel?

 

[loose ends]

We still have Soundfield 5's at deer camp. They sound good out on the lawn around midnight.

 

[analog addict]

There is a SF-10 controller on ebay: search for:
DBX Sound Field SFC- 10 Speaker Electronic Crossover
starting auction price is $120.
14 Jan 2014

Ouch. I'm not sure I need it that badly....

 

[Masterdraco]

I love my dbx dual voicecoil passive 15'' subwoofer it rocks the house.

 

[dan-c]

Ouch. I'm not sure I need it that badly....

Most things made from unobtainium are worth the price if you have the speakers. The difference is really astounding, at least it is for the SF1A

 

[BarryTampa]

Total high-end Soundfield V rebuild

I have a pair of dbx Soundfield V's. I am the original purchaser from DAK industries in the 80's. At the time I thought they were really good. Time and experience changed my mind as I aged, got more experience, and got back into audio (this time with money).

I found 3-4 years ago the 8" midranges needed refoaming and read up on the speakers. Finding that they were a great "idea" but a very mediocre implementation by BSR/DAK, I made the decision to try to realize the 'original potential' of these guys, relive my youth, and actually replace all the drivers with medium to high-end drivers and build a new crossover. I thought the design concept was great and my cabinets are in perfect condition. I reinforced the cabinets with a hardwood brace between the 15" and 8" drivers and sealed all corners with silicone. The tweeters now sit on top and the 'holes' they were in are now a top-firing 'vent' (the design is not the original acoustic suspension, now vented) and the top of the cabinet can now deliver the full range of frequencies, not just the upper-mids and highs of the original design. The new crossovers I designed and built are massive and can handle some serious power.

The rest of this post is exact text from a comment I made on the 8" Peerless nomex drivers on the PartsExpress web page when I did the rebuild. I post this as I now love these speakers and perhaps this would be interesting and helpful for any other owners. I welcome discussion! I have all the original drivers still (now in boxes) and actually found a set of perfect empty cabinets for sale near me on Craig's list for $35, in the hopes that one day I may build a couple more!! But for now with just the two there is no need for so-called "surround sound." My room does not have a single "sweet spot" --- they are well balanced and the sound quite natural with incredible (real) deep bass from anywhere, even the second floor of our house which is open to below. I now drive them with a Denon AVR-X3000.

"Used as midrange driver in dbx Soundfield V rebuild: this driver [Peerless Nomex 8"], Dayton Series II 15" woofer, HiVi RT2C-2 ribbon tweeter for the main drivers. Also Goldwood GM-65/8 5" Sealed Back Midrange pointing straight up from top face of speaker, and Dayton DC28FT-8 1-1/8" Silk Dome Truncated tweeters sitting on top of speaker but directed to speak 90 degrees from the mains towards the left and right walls. Lpads on both midranges and both tweeters. Ported instead of original acoustic suspension design.

Main drivers are crossed over at 220 Hz (3rd order woofer/1st mid) and 2200 hz (2nd order) with a complex, custom, impedance-matching 5-way crossover.

I tried Eminence sealed back 8" midrange first---sound was great BUT the woofer/mid crossover wasn't right, the drivers don't work well with each other. Male voices never sounded good. Dayton Series II needs to be crossed steeply at 200-300 hz to avoid ugly breakup above 500 Hz and the Eminence needs to be crossed above 500 Hz. So I tried this driver which has amazingly flat response like the ribbon tweeter.

These Nomex 8" drivers are spectacular. Soundstage is very wide and open and they sound rich and detailed as advertised. After a week break-in playing 4-6 hours per day, the bass warmed up and opened up. The Eminence drivers were very directional and the sound changed dramatically if you moved left or right, with these the sound changes hardly at all until you're about 45-60 degrees off axis. And the response is indeed amazingly flat --- no ear fatigue after long periods at any frequency.

These drivers were a great match for the other drivers in my design and I am very, very happy with them. Highly recommended. These would also work very well in 2-way design crossed around 2200-3000 Hz.

Mine was a very expensive rebuild but the results are well worth it, they sound very natural and totally real. All drivers deliver the same high quality, high-definition, flat, detailed sound in their range, each ends up covering 3-1/2 octaves so they share the work equally."

 

[analog addict]

Finally...

Took a chance and jumped on a SFC-10 on Flea Bay for $50 shipped, refoamed all the woofers and fired them up for the first time. I have a lot of highly regarded speakers, but I must say. I really like these so far. I contacted Dave Moran an AK'er who used to work at DBX, and he is looking for an OM for me. In the mean time, I'm running these on a Yamaha C4/M2 combo and they throw an amazing soundstage. I think the woofers need some break in time, but the big yammie seems to be a good choice for powering them.

 

[cbrown094]

Finally...

Took a chance and jumped on a SFC-10 on Flea Bay for $50 shipped, refoamed all the woofers and fired them up for the first time. I have a lot of highly regarded speakers, but I must say. I really like these so far. I contacted Dave Moran an AK'er who used to work at DBX, and he is looking for an OM for me. In the mean time, I'm running these on a Yamaha C4/M2 combo and they throw an amazing soundstage. I think the woofers need some break in time, but the big yammie seems to be a good choice for powering them.

I realize that this is an old thread but have been looking for a pair of Soundfield 10's and their controller. Can you provide Dave Moran's contact information for me? Many thanks to you!

 

[audiomagnate]

I have SF2500's. I use them for surrounds in my bedroom mini HT system. They're OK for that.

 

[analog addict]

I realize that this is an old thread but have been looking for a pair of Soundfield 10's and their controller. Can you provide Dave Moran's contact information for me? Many thanks to you!

Afraid I don't have that info any longer. Searched my PMs and came up empty. if it's any consolation, he never sent me the OM.

 

[Todd MacDona]

I realize that this is an old thread but have been looking for a pair of Soundfield 10's and their controller. Can you provide Dave Moran's contact information for me? Many thanks to you!

PM sent, on a CL ad in Mass

I have a pair of the 50's and I do like the sound. Going to try to sneak them into the house for awhile. Good luck with your search.

 

[lchiu7]

I realize that this is an old thread but have been looking for a pair of Soundfield 10's and their controller. Can you provide Dave Moran's contact information for me? Many thanks to you!

Man I wished I lived in the US :-( I have a pair of SF10's and controller I bought many moons ago when I lived in CA and shifted them back to NZ when I returned home. They haven't need used in years, mainly because they require active equalisation and the current crop of multi-channel receivers (unless you buy high-end) have no pre-amp out and in connectors into which you connect the equaliser. So they sit around as large pedestals on which my wife places picture frames and other stuff :-(

 

[analog addict]

Man I wished I lived in the US :-( I have a pair of SF10's and controller I bought many moons ago when I lived in CA and shifted them back to NZ when I returned home. They haven't need used in years, mainly because they require active equalisation and the current crop of multi-channel receivers (unless you buy high-end) have no pre-amp out and in connectors into which you connect the equaliser. So they sit around as large pedestals on which my wife places picture frames and other stuff :-(

Actually, if your receiver has a tape monitor loop, you can use it there. If you do fire them up, make sure the foam surrounds are still intact.

http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/dbx-soundfield-10-509.html

 

[lchiu7]

Actually, if your receiver has a tape monitor loop, you can use it there. If you do fire them up, make sure the foam surrounds are still intact.

http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/dbx-soundfield-10-509.html

When I first got my DBX Speakers I bought a Proton D940 stereo amp with it. It has pre-out and mains in so I just inserted the equaliser in that loop.

As an aside I bought my SF10's based on a review by Julian Hirsch in Stereo Review but I did go to a local store to listen to them first.

When I upgraded to multi-channel sound it was first with a Kenwood KR-V990D receiver that has Dolby Surround PLII with pre-out but no mains in. So I used the tape monitor loops as you say.

I was using a laserdisc player at the time as my main video input (before DVD!). Then I upgraded my LD player to play the "new" AC-3 discs, the Kenwood having an RF input to take AC-3 digital audio from the LD player. It was then I discovered that the Kenwood (and all AVR's since) don't send any analogue signal out from an original digital source so no signal appeared at the tape monitor loop when playing AC-3 laserdiscs. So I took the pre-amp out signal from the Kenwood and wired it into the mains in of the Proton through the DBX equaliser, so using the Proton power amps for the front channels.

That worked fine until I upgraded to a receiver that supported Dolby Digital/DTS and had no pre-amp out. It was then I had to give up on the DBX because there being no way to use the equaliser, the speakers sounded unbalanced and not really listenable.

I think the only way I can use the DBX speakers now is to either go with separate pre-amp and power amps or find an AVR that has pre-out and mains in and they tend to be the higher-end units now. So the speakers now are used as pedestals for potted plans

I did notice that the main drivers do need re-foaming which I would do if I could find a way to use the speakers.

 

[david moran]

I cannot tell if any of these posters did not get satisfactorily answered, and it is months old anyway, but anyone who needs dbx info (of any sort) can get in touch w me at drmoran at aol dot com . Including many manuals, which I wrote, w. engineering colleagues.

The dbx Soundfield line for sure worth owning (and repairing) comprises the One, 1A, Ten, 100, 1000, 1500, 150, 50, 2500, and 5000, and that is it. Everything else is DAK junk, the V and subs and all that. Some of those may be sonically acceptable, no idea, but they have nothing to do w dbx engineering and do not follow (as in having zero relation to) the Mark Davis (MIT PhD EE/psychoacoustics; AES Silver Fellow) computer-vetted empirically derived phased-array design work published in the AESJ, which achieves quite a good measure of offcenter centered image formation. And uniformly airy and spacious and detailed balanced sound when you sit still in the middle.

 

[jazzmans]

I cannot tell if any of these posters did not get satisfactorily answered, and it is months old anyway, but anyone who needs dbx info (of any sort) can get in touch w me at drmoran at aol dot com . Including many manuals, which I wrote, w. engineering colleagues.

The dbx Soundfield line for sure worth owning (and repairing) comprises the One, 1A, Ten, 100, 1000, 1500, 150, 50, 2500, and 5000, and that is it. Everything else is DAK junk, the V and subs and all that. Some of those may be sonically acceptable, no idea, but they have nothing to do w dbx engineering and do not follow (as in having zero relation to) the Mark Davis (MIT PhD EE/psychoacoustics; AES Silver Fellow) computer-vetted empirically derived phased-array design work published in the AESJ, which achieves quite a good measure of offcenter centered image formation. And uniformly airy and spacious and detailed balanced sound when you sit still in the middle.

I'd be fascinated to hear details about the Mark Davis (MIT PhD EE/pschoacoustics; AES silver fellow) computer-vetted empirically derived phased-array design work......)


and no, I'm not 'taking the piss' I'm fascinated.

 

[audiolama]

I play my SF 10's daily .. juicing them with mc2500 ..it's insane ..your favorite part of a song is coming, go ahead walk around, it's ok. The sweet spot follows you..
I have read , thanks to dr moran , all the fascinating literature on this apeaker and its big brother the 1A. How the 1A was a and b tested with other great speakers of it's era only to win the shootouts.