I recently came upon these unique little Sonab OD-11 floor standing speakers from another AK member. I'd heard of these little Swedish design miracles online, but never actually HEARD a pair before. The unusual design and small size meant I just had to have them, right? Right!
Restoration has begun. Enough to get them sounding good. The foams were gone and the cones had sagged almost all the way to the bottom of their travel. Using solar energy I was able to get the spiders to sit in a neutral position and conduct the refoam. A quick glance over the crossovers shows they are a very simple 2nd order 2-way. The Peerless cone tweeters are quite capable from about 2500 Hz on up. And the tweeter level can be adjusted by pulling out the little blue plug on the top of the speaker. putting it in drops the resistance on the speaker from 4 ohm to about 1.2 ohm. Probably a 3 dB difference. it's noticeable.
I then had to fix the euro style 2 pin connectors and found these little banana plug pigtails on eBay for $10. They are used on RC cars and are the perfect solution for the bare wire ends that came with the speaker. A little clean up, and they are sounding perfect again!
Here are some pics. Note, I did not realistically think these speakers could compete with the KEFs, but just for a size comparison, these little things can really sing. The sound is diffuse, but not in a negative way. Very easy to listen to. Easy to power. Easy to place. A fantastic design!
The enclosures are a combination of MDF with a very thick lacquer coating, and some kind of molded ABS plastic housing on the top and bottom.
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The same crossover board, with some adjustments to the components, was used on the OA-12, which was slightly larger a 2-way, with 2 tweeters.
Ready to fire up!
New pigtails
Size comparison
If I do any more with these, it will be to refinish the wood sides and replace the 4 caps on the crossover. In due time!
Restoration has begun. Enough to get them sounding good. The foams were gone and the cones had sagged almost all the way to the bottom of their travel. Using solar energy I was able to get the spiders to sit in a neutral position and conduct the refoam. A quick glance over the crossovers shows they are a very simple 2nd order 2-way. The Peerless cone tweeters are quite capable from about 2500 Hz on up. And the tweeter level can be adjusted by pulling out the little blue plug on the top of the speaker. putting it in drops the resistance on the speaker from 4 ohm to about 1.2 ohm. Probably a 3 dB difference. it's noticeable.
I then had to fix the euro style 2 pin connectors and found these little banana plug pigtails on eBay for $10. They are used on RC cars and are the perfect solution for the bare wire ends that came with the speaker. A little clean up, and they are sounding perfect again!
Here are some pics. Note, I did not realistically think these speakers could compete with the KEFs, but just for a size comparison, these little things can really sing. The sound is diffuse, but not in a negative way. Very easy to listen to. Easy to power. Easy to place. A fantastic design!
The enclosures are a combination of MDF with a very thick lacquer coating, and some kind of molded ABS plastic housing on the top and bottom.
The same crossover board, with some adjustments to the components, was used on the OA-12, which was slightly larger a 2-way, with 2 tweeters.
Ready to fire up!
New pigtails
Size comparison
If I do any more with these, it will be to refinish the wood sides and replace the 4 caps on the crossover. In due time!
