What are "monkey coffins" exactly and what are "better" designs/alternatives?

[eddantes]

Shall we next speak to the OP of the so-called... Kabuki loudspeakers?


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(even Yamaha?!?!)

... or am I being too culturally insensitive?

Oooof - I find those so... hard to look at!

 

[Ron Texas]

Monkey coffins are used to burry the sacred monkeys which guard the temples on Bali.

 

[computer-audiophile]

The Japanese, for many years, didn't share their good loudspeakers with the US market.

Pioneer, e.g., gave us these:

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but not these:

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Great example!

One of the absolutely most beautiful speakers I know! I heard them once at a party in Paris.

A colleague in Germany had them for many years. He is a Pioneer Collector. Some time ago, he sold them. After that he could afford a luxury holiday journey and a few other expensive gifts for himself and his family.

Incidentally, he now uses the JBL Studio 590's, which I also have, and really like them.

 

[mhardy6647]

Not to digress (me?!? ) but I would like to get my ears on a pair of those (JBL Studio 590) loudspeakers some time.

EDIT: Definitely not monkey coffins.

 

[fpitas]

Not to digress (me?!? ) but I would like to get my ears on a pair of those (JBL Studio 590) loudspeakers some time.

Do it!!!

 

[eddantes]

BTW... Whoever mentioned Waveforms - thanks! It got me to read this 3part blog about the rise and fall of Waveform by John Ötvös. Really worthwhile read. @mhardy6647 you probably would enjoy it, if you haven't seen it.

 

[computer-audiophile]

BTW... Whoever mentioned Waveforms - thanks! It got me to read this 3part blog about the rise and fall of Waveform by John Ötvös. Really worthwhile read. @mhardy6647 you probably would enjoy it, if you haven't seen it.

I have some difficulty following this story, understanding it or finding it appealing. I don't think it's just down to the translation into German.

 

[eddantes]

I have some difficulty following this story, understanding it or finding it appealing. I don't think it's just down to the translation into German.

I didn't say mr. Ötvös was a fine story teller - but it's still interesting to read and see the efforts that went into building a high-end speaker busines. In particular noting that his principles of design very much followed the ideas espoused here at ASR - which should be no surprise - as we see audio luminaries like Paul Barton, @Sean Olive and @Floyd Toole show up in his autobiography. I found it worthwhile.

 

[mhardy6647]

I will take a look anon at @eddantes link. We're kind of busy getting ready for houseguests coming this weekend for -- that big Amurrican holiday that happens next week. The one where we all eat ourselves into a stupor, then euthanize any remaining functional brain cells by watching the amusingly misnomered pastime called football.



Oh, on topic (?!!!???!) I think the biggest downside to good ol' monkey coffin design are the built-in resonances. Not a deal-breaker, but one of those things that has to be designed around or mitigated after the fact. On the other hand, boxes are easy to build.

OK, in theory they're easy to build. Unfortunately, for some of us, competence is a stretch goal.



Yes, I really, truly built this (these... yes there were two of 'em). No, I am not proud. It was a quick & dirty experiment with some cheap fullrange buyout drivers from PartsExpress!
Going forward, I think I'd build 'experimental' boxes out of gypsum board ("drywall").

 

[computer-audiophile]

I will take a look anon at @eddantes link. We're kind of busy getting ready for houseguests coming this weekend for -- that big Amurrican holiday that happens next week. The one where we all eat ourselves into a stupor, then euthanize any remaining functional brain cells by watching the amusingly misnomered pastime called football.



Oh, on topic (?!!!???!) I think the biggest downside to good ol' monkey coffin design are the built-in resonances. Not a deal-breaker, but one of those things that has to be designed around or mitigated after the fact. On the other hand, boxes are easy to build.

OK, in theory they're easy to build. Unfortunately, for some of us, competence is a stretch goal.



Yes, I really, truly built this (these... yes there were two of 'em). No, I am not proud. It was a quick & dirty experiment with some cheap fullrange buyout drivers from PartsExpress!
Going forward, I think I'd build 'experimental' boxes out of gypsum board ("drywall").

Haha - this reminds me of another open baffle speaker project of mine

 

[mhardy6647]

Haha - this reminds me of another open baffle speaker project of mine


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The binder clip really pulls the whole system together!
On topic: Those look like the same drivers?!
The ones from PE were (if memory serves) made by SEAS (or maybe Scanspeak... but I think SEAS) for automobile use (again, as I recall).
I probably should have put then on open baffles.

 

[computer-audiophile]

Yes, maybe the same. They could also have been from Philips or Valvo. Just for fun, I also installed them in my other, relatively large-volume cabinets, where they sounded surprisingly good.

 

[mhardy6647]

Actually, after I posted, I had sort of a flashback, and I am thinking they might have been Vifa.
They did sound "pretty OK" (as an organic chemist colleague of mine from long ago was wont to say).
They'd have sounded even better in cabinets as nice looking as yours, of course! Don't tell anyone at ASR... umm...oops.

 

[UDXL2C90]

I think the Boston Acoustics A Series of the late 1980s-early 1990s would be considered one of these designs. The A70 was even a Consumer Reports 'Best Buy'!

https://www.reddit.com/r/vintageaudio/comments/114876z

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Maybe Peter was inspired by this image from Sunset Boulevard?