New Wave Audio Bookshelf Speaker

[zieglj01]

A Parts Express buyout - they look interesting and seem to be built decent.
They look to have some weight to them - and a real crossover. The woofer
dust cap is also big. They are sold each.

http://www.parts-express.com/new-wave-audio-bk-52b-5-1-4-2-way-bookshelf-speaker-black--309-620

http://www.parts-express.com/new-wave-audio-bk-62b-6-1-2-2-way-bookshelf-speaker-black--309-624

Also come in white
http://www.parts-express.com/Search.aspx?keyword=new wave audio&sitesearch=true

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Who's the designer and wth fr without range. Not a fan of that. Even at such low price.

 

[zieglj01]

They came from the Azend Group Corp - their marketing was poor.
I will probably buy them - and if I do not like them - then I will
send them back.

 

[zieglj01]

They seem or could be made by Orevox Corp

http://www.orevox.com/about_us

http://www.orevox.com/home-audio-equ...r-home-theater

There seems to be 100 available
http://www.orevox.com/home-audio-equipment/sound-bar-home-theater/bookshelf-speaker-5¼-inch-2-way-black-oak

However, they seem to be out of stock in New Zealand.
http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Electroni...Way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Black-Oak/0781888444475

Now, where did the Parts Express buyout come from?

Looks like you may get a speaker with no name on the front or back

 

[zieglj01]

One guy in the past was selling one each - maybe he did not realize
that they were sold each when he bought them.

 

[zieglj01]

Well, they have arrived - and I got them for $25 each, plus $6.95 total shipping.
The cabinet is a good solid cabinet, with an inside board in the middle to stiffen
the top, sides and bottom. This thing easily passes the door knock test with no
hollow sound. It puts many more expensive speakers to shame cabinet wise. The
boxes are a DIY dream for people who want to make their own speakers, with their
own drivers and crossover.

The finish is black oak, and is hard to tell if real or not - with a close eyed look at
the edges it looks to be laminate. They have a bright polish finish to them. A little
too bright for me.

For $50 a pair, they are 5/8 inch on all sides - and are 7-1/2 W x 11-1/2 H x 11 deep
and feel like they are around 14 lbs each. Well Dayton, Monoprice, Sound Appeal and
Pioneer, what is going on with you? The crossover is 4 parts - 1 coil with 2 poly caps
and 1 resistor. Plus, the woofer has a vented pole piece.

Now how do they sound? Well, when I hooked them up - they made some sound.
More to follow - however, the cheap Dayton and Monoprice can take a back seat,
and the Sound Appeal will follow them in line.

 

[slipperybidness]

I'm quite interested!

At these prices, I'm thinking these may make great garage speakers!

 

[zieglj01]

Here is the reality - they are OK for surround duty and for non-critical
garage musical listening.

They fall short in critical listening - their sound tends to lack weight,
they are thin and lacking in detail and depth. The voices are somewhat
shouty and instruments somewhat artificial sounding.

The sound is not rounded and full - with somewhat of a hole in the midrange,
and the treble is not balanced. The bass is nice/OK and better than some of
those cheapy speakers. The speaker overall tends to lack definition.

I will have to retrack one statement - the Sound Appeal no longer needs to
take a back seat.

The box is still seriously over-built for these speakers.

 

[zieglj01]

From Parts Express Tech Talk

 

[TheWarrior]

Given your specific comments on mid range and lack weight, would that not be what one would expect if a woofer was a dome rather than a concave cone? Which is effectively what that gigantic dust cap turns that woofer in to?

The dome offers dispersion for those high frequencies, aided by how short the wavelength is for 5 digit frequencies.

I'm thinking outloud here trying to make sure I understand everything I read about design. And applying it, so please correct me!

 

[zieglj01]

Given your specific comments on mid range and lack weight, would that not be what one would expect if a woofer was a dome rather than a concave cone? Which is effectively what that gigantic dust cap turns that woofer in to?

The dome offers dispersion for those high frequencies, aided by how short the wavelength is for 5 digit frequencies.

I'm thinking outloud here trying to make sure I understand everything I read about design. And applying it, so please correct me!

I don't think it is so much the dust cap - it has a big voice coil. The inside woofer frame
is not big - it looks to be one of those that go inside a thin flat panel speaker. For the
price, you even get a cast frame woofer. You can not see the spider, because it has a
medal circle frame around the inside. A unique built woofer.

All in all it just lacks resolution - There is no real texture, layering and depth. I will call
it a weak sounding voice coil - and there is not much air with the tweeter. I reversed the
polarity with the input terminals and it did not really help.

A crossover change can help the overall sound - however, I do not believe that it will
really add that much to the resolution.

It is not bad, bad - it is just a fair sounding $50 speaker pair, for the non-critical ear.

Measurements do show some harmonic distortion around 1 khz

 

[zieglj01]

Well, the New Wave speakers went surfing and ended up at Goodwill.

 

[KEW]

Well, it is not as glamorous, but identifying the turds (or, I guess, this is more of a "meh") has its use just as much as finding the Gems!
As always, thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[nfafan]

Well, the New Wave speakers went surfing and ended up at Goodwill.

Why not just return them to PE and get your money back?

 

[zieglj01]

Why not just return them to PE and get your money back?

Shipping cost back would not be worth it - also it is a chance to donate something,
and give someone a chance to get something better than TV speakers - and better
than them small squeaky computer speakers.

 

[nfafan]

Shipping cost back would not be worth it - also it is a chance to donate something,
and give someone a chance to get something better than TV speakers - and better
than them small squeaky computer speakers.

Welll, nice of you to buy them, review them, and give them away. Lucky for those who live near your Goodwill stores...