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Was the Snell Secret a Wide Baffle?

I often regret not buying old Snell A/III when I had the money and the space.

One of my all time favorite speakers. By now I'd have certainly had to throw it away. I'd not have the space, and those woofers with extra mass would long ago have pulled out of their frames.

One thing you don't realize unless you go looking for the pics, or owned one, was that the tweeter and midrange of these  speakers were, in my mind, very wide baffle designs. Yes, curved, but very wide.

Another Speaker I like, which I believe is based on a Snell design, is the Audio note AN/J, also has a relatively wide baffle, as do the Devore Orangutan. Of course, among my all time favorite speakers is the Sonus Faber Stradivari, a speaker I know can sound excellent even in acoustically challenged rooms.

What do you all think, have you heard the wide baffle magic?
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,021 posts
 
Really thorough take, Duke.

I think if it was made today, he could have gotten away without adding mass to the woofer, or as Vandersteen and others do, using a separate plate amp to power the woofer alone, because all that mass poured into that woofer was going to deteriorate the suspension no matter which direction it points.
audiokinesis
2,734 posts
 
" ...all that mass poured into that woofer was going to deteriorate the suspension no matter which direction it points. "
You're probably right, but with the woofer cone in the vertical rather than horizontal plane, you'd at least have the option of rotating the woofer cone 180 degrees every six months or so, as the Lowther guys do. 

That being said, yes nowadays a powered woofer section would arguably make the most sense. 

Duke
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,365 posts
 
One of my good .friends bought the original Snell Type A Speakers back in 1976. I remember taking the speakers back to the factory in Newburyport, MA to have them upgraded.  We also met Peter Snell. My friend had the speakers in his large living room right up against the wall and he was driving them with the mighty GAS Ampzilla amp and GAS top preamp. He was using a Technics DD table that came without an arm. He had the Infinity Black Beauty arm wit a GAS Sleeping Beauty MC Cartridge.   What a magical sounding system back in the day.
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
513 posts
 
I agree that wider baffle speakers tend not to image as well as narrower ones.There are exceptions however.It would be more interesting to know why some image well and others don't.I have owned Yamaha NS1000 speakers that have quite poor imaging and yet also own Yamaha NS75T speakers that have an identical size and shape box and which use very similar driver types and yet they image very well.Which leads me to suspect it must mostly be about crossover design.The NS75Ts are a later design than the NS1000 and perhaps Yamaha learnt how to make a better imaging crossover by then.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,365 posts
 
In my post above, I meant Infinity Black Widow tonearm, not Black Beauty. Hey, I'm old!

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