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My apologies for this duplicate post. I hung it out yesterday, but buried so many days deep I was afraid few would see it. Mea Culpa.
Hi Folks. Having just returned to 'the faithful' at AA, I want to tell what everyone should know about Bozak speakers.
I first heard Bozaks in 1954, as a callow youth of course. I worked at a shop that sold them in the late '50s.
In the early '60s, Bozak ran into a sales problem. The dealers were hollering that the Bozaks weren't 'first time' buys. Most new buyers chose a flashier sound than the ultra-smooth early Bozaks. After living with their first choice a while, many came back and said, "Uh...Could I hear those Bozaks again?" That was OK with Rudy Bozak, who knew he would get most of them eventually. But it wasn't OK with the dealers.
Bozak reacted to the pressure and 'pimped up' the sound so that it was a bit more flashy and would appeal to first time buyers who weren't mature, experienced listeners.
Problem was, in doing so they ruined the midrange smoothness and imaging. And there is a broad hump in the middle highs centered around 5 kHz (the artificial 'brightness hump'), but the upper highs roll off above 10 kHz.
I'll never forget the first time I heard a pair of the 'new ones.' It literally made me sick with disappointment. They no longer had the real 'Bozak Sound.' I continued to use the older ones.
Some years later, in the late '80s, as a pro audio engineer, I found time to analyze what they had done. I designed fixes to the xovers. My mods remove all the mischief that Bozak had done in response to lagging sales. (Sad to say, Rudy Bozak had passed away in early '82 and anyhow, the company had been sold in mid '77.)
Here's the clincher: Few, today, have heard the 'real' Bozak sound. With the world-class drivers free to sing, unemcumbered, in their full, natural voices. If you think you like the Bozak sound, "you ain't heard nothin' yet." You should hear them with the corrections. It is an amazing transformation.
I have been rebuilding/modifying Bozak xovers for several years as a service. Without exception, every user has proclaimed great enthusiasm.
But my mods are not secret. It was not my mission to help Bozak sell speakers in the '60s through '80s. But it is my mission to put them straight, free of the artificial bells and whistles which Bozak thought were necessary to sell in the day. I believe, to the core of my being, that if Rudy had not been faced with the problem of making speakers that were too good for the market, the xovers would have been done exactly the same as I now do. I do it not to 'correct' Rudy Bozak, but to honor him by letting present-day owners hear what those fantastic drivers will REALLY do.
My xover rebuilds are very moderate in cost. If you're interested, jerk my chain at the email address. For those who want to 'roll their own,' I am happy to provide the circuit at no cost.
BTW, it is a terribly erroneous myth that Bozaks are 'mellow.' They are whatever you feed into them, more so than any other speaker I have heard. They have incredible transient response if driven with enough power. The midrange driver, for example, has a motor (magnet and magnetic plate size, voice coil diameter etc.) the same size as that of the woofer. All that power to drive an extremely light. I liken it to putting a hemi V8 in a VW bug, the power to weight ratio is stupendous. If the recorded sound has bite and an edge, that's exactly what you will hear, without sacrificing any overall smoothness.
The 'mellow' judgment about Bozaks might be due, in part, to the B-207 2-way systems, an economical way to get into Bozaks. The midrange driver and full 3-way xover could be added when finances permitted. But some didn't, and the 207's, while very smooth and full, lack the brilliance and bite of the world class B-209B midrange driver. Also, the early paper-coned midrange and tweeters were not as bright and powerful as the later aluminum-coned ones.
I am happy to answer any and all Bozak questions. And I'm on Vintage and Amp/Preamp Asylums to talk electronic issues.
With best New Year wishes to all,
Pat Tobin
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