Wilmslow Rok One - Concrete Speakers

[davidsrsb]

Concrete tubes do "ring" when tapped and worse - they are the same acoustic impedance as your house, so vibration spreads to nearby structure. If this is good or bad is to be determined.

 

[RJohan]

Perhaps it is the best/easiest way to do it, but I can’t help but feel disappointed that they haven’t been more adventurous with the shape rather than going for “square” box

In the 1980's, concrete speakers was very 'in' in Sweden with Rauna and Opus 3 making them:

They got so popular that even the big multinational company Skanska tried sticking their toe into the cement through with a model called Cheops:

 

[Fitnessed]

Can understand the logic of using concrete, £1800 is a lot of money buys a very,very good used speaker.


My B&W 801fs use a fibercrete head to avoid resonances in the mid/tweeter section.

 

[mjkelshaw]

I vaguely remember reading a piece in one of the hifi mag's many decades ago about someone or a company creating a concrete pipe speaker with the (presumably dual concentric) speaker as the front baffle with its concrete lip surround.. Can't remember the dimensions or whether 10" or 12" driver.

Wharfedale printed design details for the use of their Super 8" RS/DD and Super 10" RS/DD speakers utilising concrete pipes.
Here's a link to aseries of posts on the 'DIY Audio' site which had some images of one of the 'kits' that was actually for sale 'unused' on 'e-pay' in 2023.

Unusual Omni directional Wharfedale Super 8

Hi everyone not been here for some while so please excuse me if I use wrong posting etiquette. I bought a pair of Wharfedale Super 8 RS/DD drive units and the units shown in the attached pics . I have not seen these before, they look original with metal cone and what looks like original covers...

www.diyaudio.com

Given my 'ancient' status I remember actually considering building a pair back in the '60s
Regards
Mike K

 

[Big John]

Concrete enclosures are nothing new, I remember reading in HiFi magazines in the late 1960's that particularly in the USA large DIY concrete speakers were not that unusual, indeed there were a few in the uk. The last article I saw on this ilk was in the 1970's about a pair of horns made of concrete blocks the mouth of the horn at floor level was around 2'.6" wide & 10"-12" high then exiting through the ceiling of a single story room whether a bungalow or extension I can't remember in the loft? a B139 speaker. This was connected to a kelly ribbon speaker via a John Linsley-Hood parametric graphic equaliser.

I also recall bass speakers being placed in/on brick walls the rear in the wall cavity thus creating a true infinite baffle, the mid range and tweeters in rear wall mounted enclosures.

None are easy to move though...