UNUSUAL speaker designs

Some mentioned isobarics these are just two woofers 180 out of phase facing at each other I was told by a stereo installer when I was young that they were more for woofer control?

Jaycar a local Australian electronic parts retail store used to sell a kit for isobarics Jaycar is like radioshack but Australian. Infact I have two 15" venom woofers that were used in the kit but they stopped selling their plate amps with phase control so I wont bother.
 
Also something not mentioned but I believe needs a say is danly sound labs matterhorn. It was made for a purpose is built to the limits of a shipping container and delivers the goods. Very unique in my opinion because it is effective but yet cheap with price per performance.

matterhorn.jpg
 
Yes, isobarics, used in some like Wilson Benesch, Linn, Totem and also musical instrument/sound reinforcement cabinets. Could be in phase if one speaker was behind the other both facing same way. Other arrangement out of phase with the magnets facing each other or cones fronts facing each other. Allows low frequency sound of a large cabinet in half the size dimensions with weight similar to the larger cabinet. I think some are still made currently.
 
JoeESP9, thanks for that great photo, fellow Philly, I used to live near Broad and Ontario, on Park ! Nelson had a lot of hair then !
 
mbl's shown earlier look intriguing. Also, those resonant panel-type described earlier are cool, are those the piston-type as different than dml's (possibly using piezo elements) ?...combining both achieves better full-range. I think the sound can also emerge bi-polar if needed.
 
Anyone know if HPM's (like in Pioneer) are the tweeter Philips uses in some past speakers that they labelled as "ribbon" tweeters, or were Philips' real ribbons actually ?
 
I think the dbx SF1's are rather unusual in approach. I know they sound great in the right environment.
 
Dr. Morbius said:
The JBL Paragon looks pretty unusual to me. Very mid-century.

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was sorting out my living room the other day; trying to fit my pair of Jamo's on the new furnitures and was thinking.. "what about something designed to fit standard, tall speakers without looking awkward or something"

some people may like it, others gonna hate...

anyways fi you have gravels in your living room, at this point anything will fit in. i never thought of this but that looks like a cool idea.
 
Anyone else remember the Mordaunt-Short "System 442" speakers?
That was an interesting design... in affect, they rigidly mounted the drivers/speaker board to the base, while allowing the (open backed) enclosure to "float" independently. Dual woofers, on separate speaker boards, one in front of the other, as well! I only heard them briefly, at a dealer, but they seemed to work pretty well... then again, I don't know if they were any better than much simpler designs, but they were "unique", that's for sure.
 
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TimF said:
I don't know how to post a photo yet, never tried, but I find my Larsen Model 4's to be a bit odd looking. But I love the music they make! www.larsenhifi.com/larsen4.htm

Sounds great on the end of a Naim-Audio Uniti. Tim
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Yes, those are interesting, I've never even heard of them, and they bring to mind the whole category of indirect radiating designs, like Sonabs, or Shahinian Arks.
 
Frommer, they are pretty much in the family of the Carlsson/Sonab line of speaker. Mr. Larsen worked with Stig Carlsson for a number of years on the OA speakers.

I just got these a week ago, have been waiting for them for almost 2-months. Still wrapping my head around them, but they are indeed a very open and spacious sounding speaker, which is just up my alley, as I also love Ohm's and also have a pair of the Direct Acoustics Silent Speaker 2's. Tim
 
TimF said:
Frommer, they are pretty much in the family of the Carlsson/Sonab line of speaker. Mr. Larsen worked with Stig Carlsson for a number of years on the OA speakers.

I just got these a week ago, have been waiting for them for almost 2-months. Still wrapping my head around them, but they are indeed a very open and spacious sounding speaker, which is just up my alley, as I also love Ohm's and also have a pair of the Direct Acoustics Silent Speaker 2's. Tim
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Great meeting up here with another Winslow Burhoe listener (D.A. Silent spkr). The inverted dome, concave tweeter Burhoe put in Epicure/EPI remains one of my all time fav tweeters, edged out by true ribbons. Burhoe has some great ideas. Can you describe the characteristics of sound the Ohm's have ?; always been intrigued by Walsh...have you ever heard 300's, and if so, what did you think ? Ever any problems with the cylinder staying seated and centered properly ?
 
frommerstop said:
Anyone else remember the Mordaunt-Short "System 442" speakers?
That was an interesting design... in affect, they rigidly mounted the drivers/speaker board to the base, while allowing the (open backed) enclosure to "float" independently. Dual woofers, on separate speaker boards, one in front of the other, as well! I only heard them briefly, at a dealer, but they seemed to work pretty well... then again, I don't know if they were any better than much simpler designs, but they were "unique", that's for sure.
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A fellow Unitrac owner ! We may be a rare breed, and then I'm diverging off thread !
 
Ls4

Looks a little different than run of the mill speakers -- This speaker's performance is second to none.
 

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Luvmusik, I think that Winslow's Direct Acoustics Silents are a very good speaker, and not just for the money. One of those that flies under most radar on the hifi scene, shame too as they are an incredibly fun speaker to listen to, as were his older designs from years ago.

I have never heard the 300 Ohm, but can tell you that this speaker is not the same as the "true" Walsh driver that was used in the A or F. The 300 uses drivers similar to what Ohm uses today in the CLS 1000 series speakers. So typically you do not have the same issues with the "newer" drivers that you had with the A or F.

Someone else may chime in here on the 300, I do not know if the surrounds are foam and might need refoamed or what there, potentially. There are a lot of opinions on the sound quality and also general upkeep of Ohm's. Personally, I have had OW2's, 3XO's upgraded to new 3000 series drivers, and also a pair of MWT speakers in the omni- configuration, and I loved all of these. The CLS drivers are definately more bullet-proof and require less care than the true Walsh drivers, but I cannot comment on sound quality comparisons here.

The Larsens that I have now provide pretty much all of what the Ohm gave me, in just a bit different package. Tim
 
JeffCullen said:
Interesting! I didn't know he did that -- I'm familiar with the TLS speakers but would love to see a picture of this setup...
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Here are a few pictures of one of my pairs of the 3 way Fried designs. They are the grey speakers.


http://audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=6062653&postcount=10313

The links contain some expert description of the crossover designs used by Fried. Dr.Karl Schuemann of Audio Machina went by the user name of Karls when he use to post on Audiogon.

There are a few other highly knowledgeable people that added some very educating points of view about these type of designs.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1113252618&openflup&51&4

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1115259466&read&keyw&zzslanted+baffle

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1099455617&read&keyw&zzaudiomachina
 
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