It's only taken 7 years to make my first post...
I have recently acquired a slightly tatty pair of these beautiful late '70s speakers & I really like the look, but the drivers are not in good shape, so first stop was the Carlsson forum :
Sonab OA-14 - CarlssonPlanet .
It seems the favoured restore/upgrade process is to stick as closely as possible to the '70s design & update to modern driver equivalents via B65oa-IV - HIFI KIT / OD-11/OA-14 Delningsfilter - HIFI KIT / T22oa-II - HIFI KIT
1 x 6.5" & 4 x tweeters + updated crossover per speaker. Not inexpensive 🙁.
However, I first started wondering if a downward firing woofer could be fitted as it is in the next model up, the quite rare OA-116. There's an image here that shows how a new base board could be made for the OA-116 (but why not also the OA-14), to fit a slightly larger bass unit :
OA116F
I have a pair of AR Holographic Imaging M4 speakers with upward firing 6.5" woofers which are wired direct, ie. bypassing the crossover, and work really well, so I was thinking to do something similar. Then, I thought, why not use a 6.5" full ranger and do away with the '70s 4 tweeter per speaker arrangement ? I also found @Godzilla's excellent site in which he writes about fitting a full ranger, then adding a rearward-facing tweeter for some extra sparkle.
So whilst this is not about solely using a full-ranger, I thought to post in this forum as the proposed system is around a full-ranger & also crossover-less, at least if no tweeter is used (& at 65 I don't suppose I can hear much above around 14kHz !) ?
Could there be method to my madness !? 'Would be very grateful to hear the views of those with far greater understanding than I, including, please, suggestions as to which drivers to consider.
Photo of speakers in my living room (&, yes, the oversized fireplace surround installed by the previous owner presents its own challenges) :
I have recently acquired a slightly tatty pair of these beautiful late '70s speakers & I really like the look, but the drivers are not in good shape, so first stop was the Carlsson forum :
Sonab OA-14 - CarlssonPlanet .
It seems the favoured restore/upgrade process is to stick as closely as possible to the '70s design & update to modern driver equivalents via B65oa-IV - HIFI KIT / OD-11/OA-14 Delningsfilter - HIFI KIT / T22oa-II - HIFI KIT
1 x 6.5" & 4 x tweeters + updated crossover per speaker. Not inexpensive 🙁.
However, I first started wondering if a downward firing woofer could be fitted as it is in the next model up, the quite rare OA-116. There's an image here that shows how a new base board could be made for the OA-116 (but why not also the OA-14), to fit a slightly larger bass unit :
OA116F
I have a pair of AR Holographic Imaging M4 speakers with upward firing 6.5" woofers which are wired direct, ie. bypassing the crossover, and work really well, so I was thinking to do something similar. Then, I thought, why not use a 6.5" full ranger and do away with the '70s 4 tweeter per speaker arrangement ? I also found @Godzilla's excellent site in which he writes about fitting a full ranger, then adding a rearward-facing tweeter for some extra sparkle.
So whilst this is not about solely using a full-ranger, I thought to post in this forum as the proposed system is around a full-ranger & also crossover-less, at least if no tweeter is used (& at 65 I don't suppose I can hear much above around 14kHz !) ?
Could there be method to my madness !? 'Would be very grateful to hear the views of those with far greater understanding than I, including, please, suggestions as to which drivers to consider.
Photo of speakers in my living room (&, yes, the oversized fireplace surround installed by the previous owner presents its own challenges) :
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Sorry, I can't help with your questions, but from your picture, I see why you opted for up-firing speakers.
Good luck!
Good luck!
I used to be a dealer for the Sonab speakers. If you replace the top-mounted woofer with a bottom-mount, or replace the woofer with a "full range", then you don't have a Sonab anymore... The placement and aim of the tweeters was a big part of the speaker's design. Change that, and you no longer have what the speaker was about.
'Morning & thank-you for your comments.... but what is any audiophile speaker about : surely the satisfying & reasonably accurate reproduction of music ?
The main body of Stig Carisson's work was in the '60s and '70s and even the Carlsson congnoscenti in Sweden admit that some modern drivers are greatly superior to what was available to Stig all those years ago.
The Sonab approach uses more room reflection than most and this I am not changing; the addition of a downward-firing woofer is merely borrowed from the only slightly larger, next model up OA-116. My question was around achieving the mid to high range in a possibly simpler. more elegant & less fussy way (not many, if any, modern designers would use 4 tweeters for this speaker...).
I think the nearest speaker in size and sound dispersion approach is the Shahinian Arc, but these are rare in the used market and very expensive new... and whilst the OA-14 is a beautiful Scandinavian design icon, the Arcs look like swing-top garbage bins (even if they may sound better) !
Anyway, my ongoing research shows me that if I was to replace all drivers + crossovers using the "official" replacements from Sweden, this would cost around $600 : it would make better sense to sell what I have and wait patiently for a restored pair of OA-116 in the $1000 area.
I could keep the existing SC165 mid-woofers, which have been refoamed (they are original Mk 1 units with Alnico magnets) and either replace all the tweeters, or maybe, just one in an OD-11 configuration (I also have a super pair of OD-11) & get new crossovers made locally to a revised design from Sweden. OD-11 layout :
Lastly, I could make new base boards as per post #1 and add directly wired, downward facing woofers, either 6.5" or 8" - some OA-116 owners have upgraded to 8"- the Visatons I used in my AR M4s were very modestly priced and excellent in that speaker.
This seems like it could be a low cost, effective solution... as always, the proof of the pudding will be in the hearing... and, also as always, I expect the final outcome will go through several more iterations along the way, so if anyone has a suggestion or recommendation for a 6.5" full range driver*, I would be very grateful to hear it, please ?
* These all seem to be popular 6.5" choices :
Fostex FF166En
Fostex FF165WK
MarkAudio Alpairs
Tang Band W6-2144
The drivers you have stated are the esoteric type, you get little but you pay a lot.
Beyma, eminence and dayton audio seem very popular on this forum.
Beyma, eminence and dayton audio seem very popular on this forum.
Have any specific drivers in mind, please (&, btw, I have now discovered that a modified B200 - a full ranger - is used as an upgrade in some of the older models, eg, OA-4 & 5, using the Philips 9710... but those as you know are 8") ?
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