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Dayton Audio BR-1 6-1 User Manual

Page 16

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Dayton Loudspeaker Co., PO Box 52, Springboro, Ohio 45066-1158

© October 2001 Dayton Loudspeaker Co.

Special comments from the designer

"I was pleasantly surprised when I fired up these loudspeakers to give them a first listen. I have lived with
the design for a few months now and my opinion remains unchanged. I sincerely believe the Dayton BR-1
gives serious competition to commercial loudspeakers costing two to three times its modest price. Could
they be better? Sure they could. For someone interested in ‘tweeking’, I would suggest using thicker MDF
for the cabinet and brace it adequately. It might be beneficial to replace the 47uF NP

electrolytic capacitor

in the lowpass with a

polypropylene type as discussed previously in the “Crossover Network” section, a

notch filter might be worth exploring too. Upgrading the R2 and R3 resistors to a Axon, Mills or equilavent
type is a possibility also as I suspect a thin layer of “grunge” will be removed. All in all, I consider the
‘stock’ BR-1 to be an outstanding value and tough to beat as-is." -Paul Holsopple, designer

Speaker Placement

Many loudspeakers are designed without regard to baffle step loss. If a woofer has a midband sensitivity of 88 dB for
example, and is mounted on a large infinite baffle (like your living room wall), it will maintain the 88 db sensitivity right
down to it’s rated f3. All frequencies, even the large low frequency wavelengths are supported by the large wall.

But speakers are usually mounted in boxes with varying degrees of baffle width. At a given frequency determined by
the baffle dimensions, the lower frequency wavelengths start to ‘wrap’ behind the baffle. This is called a 2 pi to 4 pi
transition and will result in a 6 dB loss in an anechoic chamber.

This is a complicated subject which I only want to touch upon here, but suffice it to say that a typical two way
speaker in a normal listening room will exhibit more like a 3 to 4 dB loss in the bass region. If left unchecked, most
speakers will sound too thin with too much midrange output.

The BR-1 was designed with 4 dB of baffle step compensation which results in surprising bass output for a 6.5”
diameter woofer. The midband is rolled off to match the woofer’s natural in-room response to achieve the excellent
bass performance. The trade off is a loss of some midband sensitivity, with an overall sensitivity of about 83 dB.

In most rooms, you will find the BR-1 to sound best placed approximately 3 feet from the rear wall and mounted on
appropriate speaker stands. Ideally you want to place the speakers so they are at least 3-4 ft from side walls if
possible