Stein Audio Will Cut Your Baffles

[sdclc126]

Hi All,

I would like to give a plug here for Stein Audio - www.steinaudio.com - a custom speaker cabinet builder. I am building the sealed floorstanding version of Jay_WJ's Usher 8945P + SEAS 27TBFC/G. I live in a condo so I have neither the space nor the tools to properly cut recessed driver cutouts in speaker baffles.

Buying pre-assembled cabinets such as those from Madisound and P.E. is a bit pricey for me, so a good compromise was to have the panels cut at Home Depot so I could just build the "box" part myself. I bought the baffles for the 0.38 cu.ft. cabs from P.E. (Part No. 302-719), as I wanted the nice rounded over edges for a clean, finished look.

But then I was still faced with the driver cutouts, so I emailed Scott Stein and asked him if he would be willing to cut just the driver recesses rather than make an entire flatpack cabinet kit for me. Not only was he willing but he was very enthusiastic about it - he had never worked on P.E. baffles and wanted to give it a go. So I sent him the baffles and within a few weeks they came back, and the results were excellent - the holes were precisely and cleanly cut, and there wasn't a mark on the baffles, considering they come pre-painted from P.E. He even flared the rear of the cutouts, to help smooth the airflow behind the woofer.

Sorry for the grainy photos - low resolution camera - but also I sprayed the baffles with Rustoleum Textured black, as I prefer less sheen than the factory matte finish, and I just like the textured look too.

So, the bottom line here is, if you are buying or building your own cabs but can't cut the baffles, I highly recommend having Stein Audio do it for you. It does add to the total cost of the project, especially since there is shipping both ways, but it's a practical option if you don't have any place to run a router.

Scott will either cut baffles you send him or he'll probably make them for you too - that will save you some shipping. As for cost, he will quote you on the individual project, and he asked me not to post what he charged me for my project, as he gave me a bit of a deal since it was the first time he'd worked on someone else's product. I will say he'll do it for a very reasonable price though!

I think this is a great service, to be able to have a professional shop do such small projects, as opposed to only building entire speaker cabinets, and Stein Audio does a first rate job of it too.

[sdclc126]

The backside. Note - the chip in the corner was not made by Scott - the baffle came that way and I didn't want to bother paying shipping to send it back.

P.S. - I will post a future thread when I have completed the build.