OB speakers made with stone?

[chander]

Hi DIYers,

I have been recently toying with the idea of an OB speaker and have been researching a lot in that direction. After reading and going over a lot I decided to get on with the LII Audio FRs - either the Crystal 6, Fast 8 or the Silver 6, a friend is ready to bring these from HK so not an issue there. Being a complete noob and this being my first project I wanted to keep it simple and avoid a crossover at all costs - less to worry about and perfect the little you have to work with.

Now I have a question - maybe an absolutely ridiculous one - hence I wanted to check here; can I make the baffles with granite or marble? It is readily available here and is fairly customisable with the grooves and holes etc. Now barring the cost and difficulty to work with stone -

1 - What are the other issues I am looking at in terms of impact on the sound reproduction?
2 - Why are stone baffles not very popular (though I have stumbled upon a fair few concrete & granite baffles on Pinterest)
3 - Are there any any issues with a stone OB that can not be rectified - like driver vibration resonance on the stone etc?

Please let me know as I am unable to find any plans for such speakers and any pros & cons for stone baffles other than - cracking, difficulty to work with, cost (all of these I am OK with).

Thanks!

 

[chander]

BUMP! Anyone?

 

[amrutmhatre90]

Nice thought, but these will end up being super heavy. Positioning them, moving them will be real pain.
In case for some reason while shifting these, the speaker tips over it will shatter into pieces and cause damage to the drivers too.
I am not even going at technicalities, reflections and so on.

You might have already researched and seen this thread, just incase you missed this.

Anyone tried stone for baffle yet?

Anyone tried stone for baffle yet?

www.audiocircle.com

 

[chander]

Thanks a ton - this helps! Will go thru the post.

From what I can see it is doable! Time to get started.

 

[Bloom@83]

But why do you want to use granite or marble in the first place ? Do they have any acoustical advantage over the materials normally used for speakers?
Or has this got nothing to do with sound but rather show-off factor ?

 

[chander]

But why do you want to use granite or marble in the first place ? Do they have any acoustical advantage over the materials normally used for speakers?
Or has this got nothing to do with sound but rather show-off factor ?

For absolutely no other reason but aesthetics. Like everyone I love the natural imperfect grain on real marble/wood, each piece has a story to tell. Also I would love to work with a chosen piece of wood/marble and not just laminate or paint a piece of ply. The problem is there are rarely any wood slabs available in that size, marble/granite however is available in pretty large pieces.

Moreover - I just like to make my life difficult for no reason at all.

 

[bornfi]

For absolutely no other reason but aesthetics. Like everyone I love the natural imperfect grain on real marble/wood, each piece has a story to tell. Also I would love to work with a chosen piece of wood/marble and not just laminate or paint a piece of ply. The problem is there are rarely any wood slabs available in that size, marble/granite however is available in pretty large pieces.

Moreover - I just like to make my life difficult for no reason at all.

Please check Acora Acoustics, there is some magic with stone based cabinet (based on what I can hear on YouTube from theses speakers).

 

[chander]

BTW - just BTW - for anyone who wants to look at some crazy OBs

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=31371.0

 

[raghupb]

For absolutely no other reason but aesthetics. Like everyone I love the natural imperfect grain on real marble/wood, each piece has a story to tell. Also I would love to work with a chosen piece of wood/marble and not just laminate or paint a piece of ply. The problem is there are rarely any wood slabs available in that size, marble/granite however is available in pretty large pieces.

Moreover - I just like to make my life difficult for no reason at all.

Ply with fancy veneer?
You can try some nice burly or waterfall designs

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[amrutmhatre90]

I am in a process of making 2 pairs of Open Baffle speakers. Will be using all parts which are laying around at home, and try not use any new parts. Even the drivers used were at home.

Will be made from ply, cutting is done. This is a learning curve and not to achieve anything for accuracy, mostly they will be up for giveaway once done.

 

[grindstone]

@chander -- if you haven't heard OB or those drivers yet, mount them any which way and listen in case you don't like the sound (and save a lot of expense and work). Best (IMO) to know what you are building before committing to all that.

 

[mbhangui]

BTW - just BTW - for anyone who wants to look at some crazy OBs

https://www.lencoheaven.net/forum/index.php?topic=31371.0

The post that caught my eye in the above post is this. It took me few seconds to figure out how to drive this bicycle.

 

[chander]

@chander -- if you haven't heard OB or those drivers yet, mount them any which way and listen in case you don't like the sound (and save a lot of expense and work). Best (IMO) to know what you are building before committing to all that.

Yes that is the plan. I am going to mount these on the cheapest ply or whatever else I can find to get the best dimension possible and then finalise the shape, to get a prototype for the marble. That is the idea.