SABA Green Cone speakers

On my recent trip to Germany, I had the opportunity to get a complete pair of Saba speaker. First I not like to buy this speaker, because it looks like nothing special. But I have read a lot in the internet about this speakers. Have a look at the speakers. I will continue soon with further informations.




As I said, here the next part of Saba Green Cone speakers. I tested the Saba in my selfmade Hemp cabinet. This cabinet provide a very good bass responce. I made a adapter ring, that the Saba fit into the mounting holes of the Hemp. The tweeter I put in a 4 inch Thai pipe, I use a 4,7 uF capacitor for the tweeter. The first impression was really unbeliveable. I never thought that this old "ugly" speaker sounds so nice. The details were very precious and there was a very detailed soundstage. And even the bass was good in this big cabinet, I have heared a lot of people they said there was only a little bass. Now I make a new tweeter housing. But I really can tell, that the sound of this green cone speakers are excellent.



This speakers was from a old Saba Radio, I forgot the name. This speakers are 56 years old, the radio was made in 1952. This magnet of the fullrange is really "small", but the bass is really impressive. The effciency is around 98 dB with 1 Watt. My EL 34 SE triode mono blocks bring arround 3 Watt RMS - this is enough.

So, I have experimented with the housing of the tweeter. The length of the pipe is very important for the "sound". Now I use 200 mm length - maybe I will further increase. I start with 100 mm than 150 mm and now 200 mm. It is also better to put the tweeter itself backwards. If the tweeter is too much in the front it gets to sharp. I will still work on this.




In refer to DIY Projekt seeker, I mean, that you see on the pictures I post, that I move "the hole tweeter unit" backwards. The membrane, of cause, is facing the front side of the speaker. In the pipe I put the white speaker damping materia, you can buy in Ban Mor. I think closing the rear of the tweeter, than you will lost of the great sound stage of this speaker. I will post a new picture, for better understanding. It looks stange but the sound is better with the tweeter moved backwards.



Here some more pictures of my finished tweeter cabinet, and a coverring for the woofer. I think, so it looks quite okay. The sound with the vented tweeter is very open, and big sound stage. The tweeter goes only up to 17 Khz, but I personally like this sound.




Here a picture of the whole speaker.

DIY BMS 4550

Now, I am working on my "bigger" Tractrix Horn with the BMS 4550. The BMS 4550 is a superb compression driver. Only the price is already a little high. The frequency response is 500 Hz to 20 Khz. They Claim 113 dB 1W / 1m. I choose this model, because I do not want an additional tweeter. I will use a bass / midrange speaker with this horn. But I do not know what bass / midrange I will use. Here some pictures of the BMS compression driver.




My new tractrix horn is a 2" horn, so I bought a Beyma adaptor. The adaptor is from 1" to 2". It is made from good aluminium. For the BMS driver, I have to drill 2 new holes, that the BMS fits.




And here the mounted adaptor and the BMS. Everything is fitting nicely. I am using stainless srews, they are non magnetic.




And here the wooden tractrix hor. My German friend builded for me. The wood is "Ahorn", a German wood. The wood looks very nice and the finish is excellent. For scale reason, I put the 13 cm tractrix horn with the big horn. The big horn is close to 40 cm in diameter.




Here the fully assembled horn. You have to take care, that the adaptor between driver and horn is absolutely aligned.




Than I start to build a easy stand for the horn, for a quick listening.I put the horn on top of my green cones, maybe a little to high, but for testing okay. First I listen to Billie Holiday. I music image was very clear and detailed, not to bright. The trumpet was unbelievable. Of course, I have to build a better stand, use better cables and better caps. But the result so far is better than I thought. Now I have to look for a better bass / midrange speaker.




I have made two new stands for the horns. Now the horns are adjustable in height and angle. I listen to to new horns with my Hemps yesterday. The set up is more difficult, than with the small horns. But the sound is really fascinating, escpecially female voices and trumpets. I have to build a better network, that the horn goes deeper. But so far, I am happy with the result.




I listen to my Hornspeakers with the EL34 SE Mono Blocks. I remember, that Jamie liked these amps very much, as he has heared this amps at Moom Sabai. I also was atonished yesterday, how good they sounded. The sound stage was very detailed. I listen to Sarah Vaughan. I will post later some details about this amp.



I have tested an extra horntweeter to the existing horn. My conclusion is, that too many speakers are difficult to setup. The best is, keep it easy. The big horn with the Hemp sound very good. Maybe, I also will build a 12" bass horn for the big BMS horn.