Pure Audio Project Open Baffle Speakers

This is a thread for anyone who owns or is interested in Pure Audio Project speakers to share ideas and experiences.

I’ve always been fascinated by open baffle speakers and have enjoyed the few that I’ve heard - but I’ve never heard any PAP ones.

@Ola79
@JohnWillmott

Are you able to give an update on your PAP speakers please, and say how they work with Naim and other sources and amps?

How did the process of building them go for you?

If anyone knows where a pair of Pure Audio Project or Spatial Audio speakers can be heard - apart from Expona and Munich - please let me know.

Also, any other experiences of open baffle speakers are of interest too, including Troels Gravensen and others.

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Here’s a good thread on @AlexP 's DIY open baffle speakers

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gthack - thank you for posting the link.

The latest version of this DIY speaker system now uses 2 x 15 inch Bianco 15 OB woofers. They are wired mono into 4 ohms - the Genesis is capable of circa 300 watts into 4 ohms on channels 3 and 4 when bridged.

I’ve also added a pair of (currently) rear firing Audison tweeters which have certainly helped to add top end sparkle to the sound. I need to finalise the exact position of the tweeters then I can mount them properly and neaten up the wiring.

I enjoy them very much.

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My speakers are also open baffle. You do not want box speakers after you have heard what really good OB can do.

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Yes, I’ve heard that said before.

As I remember you have large home-made or kit made OB speakers in a lovely room.

Did you hit in a design you loved first time, or did you try other OB speakers before that?

I used a TAD 2402 clone with JBL drivers first, but this is a normal reflex speaker. Booomy bass compares to open baffle.
First open baffle was 2x15" JBL 2226 in an open baffle. 90cm high. 85cm wide. Was good.
Now it is a slot loaded open baffle . We used a few years on the design of prototypes. Time pass too fast.

Did you and a friend who is a carpenter with electrical skills work together on it?

What a wonderful thing to do to design and co-create a pair of speakers with somebody.

He and another senior did the calculations. I did not help much. We got a furniture maker to build the speakers and spraypaint them.

I bought my PAP Trio 15 Classics in March 2020 and ran them with a full Naim set up … NDX/252/300 … for a couple of years … after being a Naim owner for 35 years I traded out the entire system and replaced it with Aavik separates (streamer/DAC/amp) and Ansuz cabling. The amp puts out 300WPC … The PAPs work flawlessly and wonderfully … my end game speakers.

Each speaker has 2 X 15" woofers and a Voxativ AC-PiFE full range driver covering 20HZ to 20KHZ … I believe the sensitivity to be 93db making them fairly easy to drive with low power amps … give them more power and they will move some air in your room !!

A couple of things to bear in mind with these OB speakers … you need rather a lot space between them and the front wall. I have 4 ft (1.21M) in my room … this specification is far more important than the space between the speakers or the space between the speakers and the side walls … the speakers sit 5ft 3" apart, 5ft 4" from each side wall and the seating position is 9ft from the center point between them … excellent imaging and staging …

These speakers are relatively large (21.25" wide, 49.4" high, 10.63" deep, weighing about 55lb apiece ) … I asked Meg to stand next to one of them so you’d have a sense of perspective … she is average size:

Two things I’ve updated since my initial purchase have been the internal wiring (a breeze, a snap) and I replaced the capacitors on the cross overs with a new release from Mundorf. It’s worth mentioning all the connections on the cross over are screw threaded … no soldering required …

These upgrades are offered on the PureAudioProject web site, along with others …

“Process of building them?” … took about an hour and 15 minutes … it was helpful to have another pair of hands … but level of complexity was minimal …

Hope this helps …

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Hi John

Thank you so much that’s very interesting.

Can you say why you changed out your Naim gear for Aavik?

Was there something about the way that your Naim system sounded with the open baffle speakers that didn’t quite work, i.e. is the Naim sound suited to PAP speakers?

Also, what speakers did you have beforehand?

Thanks
James

My decision to change platforms had nothing to do with my speaker choice … they worked just as fine with the Naim as with the Aavik … different sound signatures of course but nothing untoward to do with Naim …

My previous speakers were Totem Hawks …

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Excuse the off topic comment, but love your kitty! She has amazing colors.

The forum has a fine heritage of off comment comments …

I will pass your kind comments on to Meg I’m sure she’ll be pleased. It’s not often she gets compliments, they are usually reserved for her brother who is larger, fluffier and far more social.

This is Meg at her imperious best having been woken from a nap by a strange noise in the house:

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I like the baffle-shaped crop of the standing pose.

Ha ha! Impressive!

“Who goes there? Identify yourself, else I will beat you senseless with my big fluffy paw”

Nice system!

Sorry for hijacking this topic:

Been on the lookout for Aavik for a time by now. Opportunity has com le to buy a u180. Nicest thing to do would be to put an S180 in front of it. Does it have the same system integration as Naim? Volume control of the amp via streamer/app?

Rene … I would be more than happy to share whatever knowledge I have, but feel a tad awkward discussing Avail kit on the Naim site … please contact @Richard.Dane and ask for my email address so we can have this discussion off-line …

Regards …

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@feeling_zen

On another thread you asked me:

“Their power handling is far far below what anything except a Nait50 or Atom offer though.

Are you thinking of conventional drivers in open baffle or single driver full range open baffle?”

I’m open to any type of OB speakers - whatever would sound best.

What I’ve considered so far is Pure Audio Project, Spatial Audio, GR Research, and Troels Gravesen OB15s, among others.

I know that the PAP speakers, for example, use Eminence bass drivers that are specifically designed for open baffle, as well as a variety of drivers to handle mid and high frequencies including horns and especially their ‘Classic’ uses two different Voxativ full range drivers.

As regards power handling I know that many users have very low wattage tube amps, but I’ve also been told that higher power and solid state amps inc. Naim.

But, yes, it worries me that if I get a pair they may not work well with my system.

So I may have to try a Nait 50 to make them work in my room - or even try other brands of amp!

I was specifically referring to the Decware OBs I was considering. They have a upper limit of about 50w. Being designed for tube amps rated a 1 - 2w typically.


image courtesy of decware dot com

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Thanks FZ - I have seen them en passant but didn’t realise how nicely made they are and what a great company Decware is.

I notice that they have licensed their design from the original maker, Caintuck Audio, and also licensed their design out to Lii Song who make a cheaper version which is not with a hardwood baffle, but a veneered MDF baffle.