Snobs and slobs, I calls 'em, O'Boyle. The snobs patronize you with the notion that spending a lot of money is the only way to achieve audio nirvana, and make little effort to hide their contempt for your slobbish blue-collar gear. The slobs, being of a reactionary, pseudo-populist bent, assert…
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As often as not, it ain't the heat—it's the stupidity. When confronted by the smattering of self-referential dilettantes, acrimonious Internut wannabes, and obsessive-compulsive types who suck the air out of our aural fun-house, I find myself overcome with the desire to program my phaser for CLIP.
The Bozak Concert Grand is a loudspeaker dreams are made of. I was just a boy, but I remember to this day the impressive pictures of them in Audio magazine. I thought they must be the best loudspeakers ever made because they were so big—they would let more of the music come out. I suspect the Bozaks beckoned to me in some primal way, just as those giant construction trucks do—the ones that have tires bigger than a man.
My dad owned a beautiful pair of Fisher XP-15s speakers, which sat on either side of the fireplace. He would polish their walnut cabinets until the grain popped…
Currently, I'm doing a reality check to make sure I haven't lost touch with the solid-state side of the universe. The CGs are responding well. With vintage class-A, 25W designs ranging from the rarest-of-the-rare Pioneer M-22s to the hard-to-find Classé DR-2, the Bozaks deliver a big, easy, straightforward sound that's less confined than with the lower-powered amps. I toe them in with their tweeter arrays along their inner sides. The CG must be spiked; I recommend replacing the rectangular wood frame they sit on with braced 2 by 6s.
Bozak speaker crossovers are the polar opposite of the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding loudspeaker with sealed-box woofer loading. Drive-units: eight 2" B-200Y Dual Treble aluminum-diaphragm tweeters, two 5¼" B-209B aluminum-cone midrange units, four 12" B-199A variable-density (pulp made from lambs' wool and shredded paper) cone woofers. Crossover: N-104 LC network. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 2.5kHz. Crossover slopes: 6dB/octave, first-order. Frequency range: 28Hz–20kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 52" (1333mm) H by 36" (925mm) W by 19" (485mm) D. Weight: 225 lbs (102kg).
Serial numbers of…
Sidebar 2: Associated equipment
Analog Sources: Luxman PD-555 vacuum-holddown turntable, Luxman PD-444 direct-drive turntable; Mayware Formula 4, Dynavector DV-505 tonearms; Koetsu Rosewood, Goldbug Mr. Brier, AudioQuest 7000 cartridges; Cotter Verion step-up transformer; Technics 1520, Otari MX 5050 4-channel, Ampex 44 open-reel tape recorders.
Digital Sources: Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5 CD player, Timbre DAC, Audio Alchemy CD transport.
Preamplification: Luxman CL-35 Mk.III, Convergent Audio Technology Ultimate preamplifiers; Wright Sound WPP100C phono preamplifier; Benz-…
Sidebar 3: Natural Sound
I love reading Bozak's old brochures, particularly their descriptions of sound. We think we're clever with words, but those guys from yesteryear were really good. Listen to the following, written by Rudy Bozak in 1963: "...just as Bozak speakers accurately reproduce each note and re-create the actual quality of every instrument in the orchestra, lucidly projecting all the activity of any score with astonishing realism. The intricate brilliance of such masters of orchestration as Berlioz and Ravel is often heard for the first time through Bozak loudspeakers. In…
Sidebar 4: Wes Phillips Listens to the Bozak B-410 Concert Grand
I've always considered Bozak's B-410 Concert Grand to be the speaker that got away. In 1971, I spotted it in a book about building high-performance loudspeakers, and audio lust ensued. Four 12" woofers per side—wow! So when John Atkinson and Peter Breuninger began discussing the logistics of measuring the Bozak for Peter's new feature, I made sure I could tag along. "I have two pairs," Peter said. "Maybe Wes could listen to one pair while John measures the other." Yes!
It's probably a good thing I didn't get a pair…
Sidebar 5: Measurements
Because of the Bozak B-410 Concert Grand's bulk, it was easiest for me to drive to Peter Breuninger's house in Pennsylvania to measure the speakers in situ. For the measurements, I used a DPA 4006 omni that I had calibrated in an anechoic chamber, with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier and DRA Labs' MLSSA system, dragging the speaker outside into PB's drive-way where I could get it well away from boundaries (other than the ground). However, and also because of the speaker's bulk, I could not raise them off the ground for the measurements, which inevitably…
We received the following letters in response to the Bozak review:
Editor: I thoroughly enjoyed reading Peter Breuninger's review of the Bozak Concert Grand speakers. The review reminded me of the time when I met Mr. Bozak while working as an audio salesperson in Connecticut back in the 1970s. Mr. Bozak showed up at our store one day with an order I had placed with his company for drivers and crossovers I needed to complete a kit version of the B-4000. (He said that it was on his way home.) Not only did he personally deliver the components to me, he even got down on the floor of the store…
J. Gordon Holt wrote about the Bozak B-310 in March 1966 (Vol.1 No.12):
The Bozak B-310 is a moderately efficient direct-radiator loudspeaker system for use in large listening rooms (at least 20' from the listening area) at levels up to "Row C" volume. Middles very smooth and natural, highs rather fiery, lows somewhat variable, from one production-run to another, evidently depending on the amount of fiber-glass packing in the enclosure. Generally, lows are rather heavy, rich, and only moderately well-defined, with a broad hump at around 45Hz and useful response to about 35Hz in a suitable…