Does anyone have experience with this SABA speaker?
- Thread starter WhiteSE
- Start date
I like domes for midrange. Compare the weight (moving mass) of a dome to a conventional cone. It's like moving a feather compared to a brick — a bit overstated but you get my point. There's far more detail and nuance, approaching the transparency of electrostatics, without the drawbacks.
Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
The Saba green cones are sought after for use in open baffles.
Don't make me think...
My amps are these:
Grundig NF10 ELL82
GRUNDIG NF20 EL80 AMP.
Blurb from www site in germany re: the NF-10
" An interesting fact is that the output power is slightly higher on 8 Ohms loads, though the amp was designed for 4 Ohms speakers."
So I imagine that the NF-20 should be ok with the 4 ohms....I hope.
These speakers are from the early seventies.
The SABA speakers from the 60s never had numbers like "60", but numbers like "I" or "II". I am not familiar with your speakers, but they were built when the decline of the brand had just begun around 1970, after Sylvania bought the factory.
The big SABA speakers from the sixties, however, are amongst the best you can a German tube amp from that time feed with.
The SABA speakers from the 60s never had numbers like "60", but numbers like "I" or "II". I am not familiar with your speakers, but they were built when the decline of the brand had just begun around 1970, after Sylvania bought the factory.
The big SABA speakers from the sixties, however, are amongst the best you can a German tube amp from that time feed with.
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Are those the ones with green cones?
Not actually. You could only find those greencones in the big tube radios (SABA "Freiburg" etc, see picture). The sound of these radios is legendary because of these speakers, the TOTL radios are the best sounding ever built. So a lot of freaks slaughtered many of these fantastic "Freiburgs" and "Meersburgs" and so on in order to get these cones and to built DIY speakers for tube amplfiers/receivers. I have all these SABA radios in my collection in working condition. They are built for the eternity. They are as sturdy as the Volkswagen cars of those days but the radios sound better... 
By the way, the colour of these greencones is rather a sort of dark turqoise than green.
By the way, the colour of these greencones is rather a sort of dark turqoise than green.
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Poultrygeist
Lunatic Member
Not actually. You could only find those greencones in the big tube radios (SABA "Freiburg" etc, see picture). The sound of these radios is legendary because of these speakers, the TOTL radios are the best sounding ever built. So a lot of freaks slaughtered many of these fantastic "Freiburgs" and "Meersburgs" and so on in order to get these cones and to built DIY sepeakers for tube amplfiers/receivers. I have all these SABA radios in my collection in working condition. They are built for the eternity. They are as sturdy as the Volkswagen cars of that days but the radios sound better...
By the way, the colour of these greencones is rather a sort of dark turqoise than green.
View attachment 1285079
IMO the great sounding SABA green cones would be wasted on radio. But each to his own.
I think that I should agree with you - however, radios were their initial habitat.
sp58
Active Member
Source: High Fidelity Jahrbuch, Deutschland 1971 , Page 673
- SABA 60 HiFi Regalbox - Volume in liters: 48, Weight: 14,5 Kilo
Freq. Response 25-25000 Hz ( DIN 45500 )
4 Way system,12dB/octave. Split freq. 210, 1.000, 4.500 Hz
-
So Saba used one of the Woofers as a Subwoofer ! Not usual in 1970 !
Think with a recap and DOT4 Brakefluid treated to the rubber surrounds they must sound very good.
What´s the price for those ?
- SABA 60 HiFi Regalbox - Volume in liters: 48, Weight: 14,5 Kilo
Freq. Response 25-25000 Hz ( DIN 45500 )
4 Way system,12dB/octave. Split freq. 210, 1.000, 4.500 Hz
-
So Saba used one of the Woofers as a Subwoofer ! Not usual in 1970 !
Think with a recap and DOT4 Brakefluid treated to the rubber surrounds they must sound very good.
What´s the price for those ?
Mister Pig
Pigamus Maximus
Well there can be a drawback with a dome midrange, and that is the crossover point. It usually is in the range of vocals, and that creates a problem in terms of getting a seamless transition, and a uniform radiating pattern. Especially if its not x overed to a small format mid/upper bass driver. Then there is phase issues and coherency issues. Do not remember a lot of companies successfully doing this.
Cheers
Mister Pig
Mine does. 3" dome crosses to a 6.5" bass/mid cone at 700Hz. And both are made of the same lightweight material, which probably helps. I'm not disputing your point in any way. Rather, my particular speakers took your point into consideration, and seemed to do so successfully.
Sadly however, one of the 3" domes fell apart last week. Not from overdriving or overheating, the glue simply failed — voicecoil separated from dome, dome separated from magnet. Probably age, as they're nearing 40.
I'll have a go at rebuilding it but it ain't easy. A conventional cone-mid is straightforward. But here the coil must attach to a very tiny lip inside the dome, only a .5mm surface to glue to. And of course it must be 100% precise or the coil will rub inside the magnet-gap. Even worse, about 2" of the coil wire was damaged, and I may have to splice a short length to replace it, not easy. On top of that, the VC-former is no longer perfectly circular, and it's a flimsy material, hard to form into a circle and hold the shape. And given the structure, all this has to be done inside the dome, invisibly. If I'm able to reattach VC to dome, I'll probably need a pro to glue it to the magnet, as I don't have a frequency generator to center it.
It's a classic driver, still available. But mine is V3 and the new ones are Version 48. So many changes the sounds won't match. So I'd have to replace both, which is costly. And I may not like the new ones — mine has a captivating expessiveness, while the new probably strives for neutrality/accuracy, as that's the trend today.
I'm new to this kind of work so any advice is not only gratefully but desperately welcomed.
Maybe this should be a separate thread?
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
Do you have a smartphone?
There are a number of good signal generator apps for Android and iOS.
