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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
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,327 posts
 

Here’s a quote from Peter Comeau, the guy who designed the recent Lintons.

"Th[e] larger ported box, with its subsequent increased baffle size, helps solve a major problem in modern speakers, namely, the baffle step.

I grew up with large speakers with wide baffles, but, as speakers reduced in size over the years I noticed that something was missing from the sound and, when I stuck my head firmly into speaker design, I began to understand the acoustic problems caused by the baffle step.

Put simply, as the baffle size decreases, the point at which the acoustic radiation changes from hemispherical to spherical goes up in frequency. It also becomes sharper and narrower in bandwidth as the sides of the cabinet, and the walls and floor of the room, are further removed from the equation. So, this 6dB step in the power response becomes acoustically more obvious.

I believe that a thin speaker always sounds thinner throughout the midrange when directly compared to a speaker with more generous baffle width. Of course, as designers of modern, slim speakers, we compromise by adjusting for the baffle step in the crossover, but in doing so, we also compromise sensitivity. What starts out as a 90dB at 1W drive-unit often ends up as an 85dB system once we have adjusted for the power loss due to the baffle step."


unsound
7,365 posts
 
Many years ago, I was present when the late great Jim Thiel was demonstrating his then new CS 5's. At that time he pointed out that amongst many other things the curved baffle helped with early cabinet diffraction issues. Later, I asked him why he didn't use an even narrower, more tapered baffle. He responded by saying the baffle dimensions were in part due to market considerations, and that he would have actually would have preferred to use somewhat wider baffles. He explained that a wider baffle would permit a more consistent user experience as it would help mitigate the effects of placement for different users with different room dimensions.
 
erik_squires OP
16,898 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
2,772 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
6,569 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.
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