Eikona 2 Djinn Open Baffle speaker

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The Open Baffle (or dipole) loudspeaker has a long history, with famous UK examples from Wharfedale and QUAD. At its most basic, an OB speaker consists of a drive unit on a flat board, the rear of the driver being open to the air. Whilst this may eliminate the colouration characteristic of some box enclosures, it has the disadvantage of introducing an acoustic short-circuit; sound from the front of the speaker saunters round to the back and happily cancels out all sound below a certain wavelength. The wider the board the speaker is mounted on, the lower in frequency the cancellation will take place.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Open Baffles, particularly in the DIY community. At the end of 2016, one of our customers contacted us with details of his OB design, using the Jordan Eikona 2 and a Dayton Audio pro-audio 38 cm woofer.

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It is a distinctive design, featuring slot-loading for the woofer and an unusual edge-of-baffle position for the Eikona 2. At first sight, it looks as though the design cannot possibly work. But the designer has begun with specific aims and a carefully considered rationale to achieve them. The end result is both clever and genuinely interesting.

The Djinn OB Project is currently being documented on this DIY thread on Audiocircle.

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