Can you get "bookshelf sound" from a floorstander?

Bobby,

Thanks for your kind offer, but there is not much technical info available that I know of for the OHM SBA other than some tidbits on the OHM site that describes what it does for the listener with specific speaker models in very general terms.

The SBA is a circuit board that inserts inline between crossover and woofer and provides a combo tailored boost and filter there as I understand it.

The kit also comes with a port adapter that you insert into the built-in port to tune it to a somewhat lower frequency, I believe.

OHM sells this as a low end enhancement for most every speak they've ever sold, both conventional and Walsh, plus use it in most all newer speaks out of the factory as well, I believe. There have been dozens of models of OHM speakers sold over the 30-40 years they've been around I'd say. The kit cost me ~$70 dollars for a pair of OHM Ls that listed for about $500 new 30 years ago.

I suspect the exact technical specs of the SBA device might well vary by model in terms of the boost, filtering and frequency the port adaptor is designed to tune the specific model to, but I do not know this for fact.

mapman, yes, it should be designed with a specific model of speaker in mind to have its effects as positive as possible. let me know if anything ever gets published. have you read the page on the sbam?
http://merlinmusic.com/vsm_bam.htm
this describes it and its effects quite well.
best, b

Bobby,

Yes, Merlin BAM and OHm SBA do appear to be very similar in concept.

Cheers!

m, is the sba passive or used in the line level signal path like the sbam?
there is no doubt that these types of devices work and work very well indeed. i am totally surprized that more are not using them. the positive aspects totally out weigh any negative ones that you could think of. however, they are not easy to make sound like they are not there.
best ,b

Ron,

Your capacity for error is impressive.

I never said 1st order crossovers were worse than any other design, merely that they presented their own advantages AND disadvantages. I assure you that Thiel, Vandersteen, and Dunlavy would be the first to agree with this statement. They prefer working around the trade-offs presented by first order crossovers.

OTOH, designers from several other respected companies go a different way. Current favorites from Magico and YG are good examples as are the most recent top models from Revel, among many, many others. Maybe they missed the news. But I'm sure you can point out their errors to them - maybe in a peer review journal.

Now, let's talk about someone with real credentials - Sigfried Linkwietz, who literally wrote the book on modern crossover design. If you have any willingness to explore the issue (which I doubt), I'd suggest you look at the work posted by Linkwietz at his website where he explains the advantages and disadvantages of various crossover designs. Oddly, he uses different crossover slopes for different projects, as he deems optimal. He rarely first order designs, though, finding that the DISADVANTAGES usually outweigh the advantages. Of course, I'm sure you'll explain to him why he is wrong. In one of those peer review journals you seem to enjoy so much.

Are you really arrogant enough to believe that every attempt at SOTA loudspeaker design must perforce employ first order crossovers? Because less than a handful of respected designers chose that route? While so many others have gone a different way?

I guess you are. And just plain smug, to boot. And wrong. Again.

Marty