Dbx
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shrinkboy
Addicted Member
yamaha is right about the imaging powers of the dbx soundfield speaker line. i am guessing this soundfield 1500 unit is the smallest of the line begun with the dbx soundfield 1, then 1a, the soundfield 10, and then the 1500. i have the sf-10, and recently aquired the integral controller unit. i am awaiting some replacement woofs from PE, which i discovered are a Pioneer sourced 10" woof, readily available from PE. i am guessing the 8" units in the sf-1500 are also Pioneer sourced units. i am replacing rather than refoaming so i can have a set of spares, should i need them. i have heard these units w/o the controller and two woofs needing refoam, and i can tell you that you should be prepared to be mind boggled
shrinkboy
shrinkboy
Bc
Shrinkboy (or anyone with helpful info),
I recently picked up a pair of Sounfield 1A's (4 woofers, 4 midrange, and 4 tweeters in each) in excellent physical (cabinet) shape for cheap while stationed overseas. I also got the external controller which works great. Unfortunately a couple of the woofer surrounds are now deteriorating and need repair. Since the speakers are fairly old I'd like to just replace the drivers. Where did you find the information on the drivers for the SF-10's you have? I haven't been able to get a lead on any indepth specs for these yet.
Shrinkboy (or anyone with helpful info),
I recently picked up a pair of Sounfield 1A's (4 woofers, 4 midrange, and 4 tweeters in each) in excellent physical (cabinet) shape for cheap while stationed overseas. I also got the external controller which works great. Unfortunately a couple of the woofer surrounds are now deteriorating and need repair. Since the speakers are fairly old I'd like to just replace the drivers. Where did you find the information on the drivers for the SF-10's you have? I haven't been able to get a lead on any indepth specs for these yet.
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shrinkboy
Addicted Member
welcome to AK, BC. congrats on picking up some really great, unusual speakers. i don't know what size woofs you're gonna have in those. are they ten inch? if so, here is the link to parts express http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=290-083. this driver is a perfect, drop in, plug and play replacement. i hope this gets you up and running. the mids are also available there too.
Strangely, I posted almost the exact info on another thread not too long ago. The dbx Soundfield SF-1500's were identical in all manner, save cosmetics, to the far less expensive, older SF-1000. Both incorporate identical drivers, and the identical crossover, but the newer (late 80's) 1500 (and others in the line then) differed soley in the ultra-expensive (but attractive) grilles (which fell off the larger models) and the ridiculously expensive, and equally ridiculously difficult to manufacture, trapezoidal, solid wood bases.
The lineup at that time included the SF-50, 150, 1500 and 2500. (The 1-A and 10 had been discontinued). All still provided a rather good stereo image from just about any location (that's what "Soundfield Imaging" was all about) and all sounded pretty good, considering the cheap drivers used in them. NONE had anything whatsoever to do with DAK. Shortly before the demise of the dbx consumer business (which was sold to a company called "CTI"), in an effort to raise cash, crap boxes with lots of crap drivers were sold to DAK who bought millions of them and had the audacity to call them "Soundfield." DAK never owned dbx, but had been BSR's largest customer during the time BSR owned dbx, and he (Drew Alan Kaplan = DAK) desperately wanted to sell dbx product.
When BSR hired a certain individual (I'll refrain from mentioning his name) in the mid-80's to "resurrect" the companies (BSR, ADC and dbx) this "genius" acknowledged the two problems facing the existing dbx speaker lineup: cheap drivers (which, through the excellent crossover networks actually sounded pretty good) and cosmetics. He then spent a fortune on dressing up the dbx speakers, and hired an outside company (totally inexperienced in anything to do with audio) to design the very attractive grilles you have on your 1500's, as well as those on the rest of that lineup. The same company designed the ultra costly, solid wood bases used on three of the four models.
Whereas these very good looking grilles did indeed dress up the speakers, nothing short of cast iron clamps could hold them in place on the larger models, and, consequently, those grilles constantly fell off. This "genius" somehow felt this wasn't a problem...
Worst of all though was what he did to the two top-end models (the new SF-50 and the SF-150, which was identical to the company's highly successful SF-100, save its cosmetics): he actually thought he'd fool the customers into believing that better drivers were used by purchasing ridiculously expensive cast aluminum trim rings that were put on them. As his background was with mass-market, Japanese manufacturers who routinely placed massive-looking, cheap plastic trim rings on junk drivers to make them look "impressive," this "genius" actually believed that he'd fool serious speaker buyers into believing that these "newer" dbx speakers had better drivers, by using super-costly trim rings (many of which cost MORE than the drivers he had them put on!). Needless to say, the project was an unmitigated disaster. He didn't fool anyone, and as the prices went up by 50% over the older models, sales fell off precipitously.
Then came the sale of the company to CTI, and the subsequent sales to DAK for the crap he sold under the "dbx Soundfield" name. What a crying shame!
And I was there to live through all of it, too.
The lineup at that time included the SF-50, 150, 1500 and 2500. (The 1-A and 10 had been discontinued). All still provided a rather good stereo image from just about any location (that's what "Soundfield Imaging" was all about) and all sounded pretty good, considering the cheap drivers used in them. NONE had anything whatsoever to do with DAK. Shortly before the demise of the dbx consumer business (which was sold to a company called "CTI"), in an effort to raise cash, crap boxes with lots of crap drivers were sold to DAK who bought millions of them and had the audacity to call them "Soundfield." DAK never owned dbx, but had been BSR's largest customer during the time BSR owned dbx, and he (Drew Alan Kaplan = DAK) desperately wanted to sell dbx product.
When BSR hired a certain individual (I'll refrain from mentioning his name) in the mid-80's to "resurrect" the companies (BSR, ADC and dbx) this "genius" acknowledged the two problems facing the existing dbx speaker lineup: cheap drivers (which, through the excellent crossover networks actually sounded pretty good) and cosmetics. He then spent a fortune on dressing up the dbx speakers, and hired an outside company (totally inexperienced in anything to do with audio) to design the very attractive grilles you have on your 1500's, as well as those on the rest of that lineup. The same company designed the ultra costly, solid wood bases used on three of the four models.
Whereas these very good looking grilles did indeed dress up the speakers, nothing short of cast iron clamps could hold them in place on the larger models, and, consequently, those grilles constantly fell off. This "genius" somehow felt this wasn't a problem...
Worst of all though was what he did to the two top-end models (the new SF-50 and the SF-150, which was identical to the company's highly successful SF-100, save its cosmetics): he actually thought he'd fool the customers into believing that better drivers were used by purchasing ridiculously expensive cast aluminum trim rings that were put on them. As his background was with mass-market, Japanese manufacturers who routinely placed massive-looking, cheap plastic trim rings on junk drivers to make them look "impressive," this "genius" actually believed that he'd fool serious speaker buyers into believing that these "newer" dbx speakers had better drivers, by using super-costly trim rings (many of which cost MORE than the drivers he had them put on!). Needless to say, the project was an unmitigated disaster. He didn't fool anyone, and as the prices went up by 50% over the older models, sales fell off precipitously.
Then came the sale of the company to CTI, and the subsequent sales to DAK for the crap he sold under the "dbx Soundfield" name. What a crying shame!
And I was there to live through all of it, too.
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BC77 said:
Here's the scoop, direct from an old dbx speaker catalog:
Frequency Response: 30 to 20kHz, Plus or Minus 2.5db
Sensitivity: 90db
Impedance: 4 ohms nominal (2.5 minimum)
Power Requirements: 40 -300 watts per channel @ 4 ohms
Driver components (for the pair):
4 10" acoustic suspension woofers
four 4 1/2" midrange
eight 1/2" tweeters
These are smaller versions of the original SF-1a, and have an option on the outboard controller to allow them to be placed up against a wall, which one couldn't do with the 1a. Actually, many of us who worked for dbx at the time preferred the sound of the 10 to that of the 1a, including myself. And you MUST use the controller - the speakers sound absolutely awful if you don't.
Shrinkboy and emaidel,
Outstanding! and Thanks a Million for the info! This definately gives me something to work from. I couldn't find a good technical reference to these anywhere and was pretty surprised at the inexpensive looking drivers in these considering the apparent quality of the box. Trying to correctly reverse engineer a speaker selection from the box and crossover was looking a little daunting.
Sorry to hear things were so bad at DBX. Sounds like some Seriously poor management decisions - which usually leads to loss of jobs in most cases...
Outstanding! and Thanks a Million for the info! This definately gives me something to work from. I couldn't find a good technical reference to these anywhere and was pretty surprised at the inexpensive looking drivers in these considering the apparent quality of the box. Trying to correctly reverse engineer a speaker selection from the box and crossover was looking a little daunting.
Sorry to hear things were so bad at DBX. Sounds like some Seriously poor management decisions - which usually leads to loss of jobs in most cases...
BC77 said:
You hit the nail right on the head. Not only did the "genius" I referred to in my original posting all but bankrupt the company with a grandiose and ludicrous scheme, the subsequent owners (CTI) and their lot were a bunch of ego-maniacs who, for reasons of their own, deliberately put the consumer dbx business under, and then sold off the professional business. And, of course, lots and lots of folks lost their jobs...
shrinkboy
Addicted Member
hey, i'm glad to actually be of assistance for a change, rather than just lurking around making wise cracks. i have a pair of the sf-10's and am very happy with them. found em just about a year ago in a thrift and had to really burn up the net looking for info and the damned controller. but it looks like your 1a's have the ten inch woof, so you can slide the pioneer part right in there.
ferrousmike
New Member
Thanks
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