I recently turned my audio hobby into a small business venture ..... 
Since I had been building some open baffle speakers for a few of the local folks, the word got out and I officially hung out my shingle.
So, I have been selling some speakers as well as some "flat pack" baffles to those who already have OB friendly drivers, but no woodworking tools to make their own baffles.
Of course, quite a few of the baffles I am making feature the wonderful Wild Burro Audio Betsy drivers .....
Last Saturday, I sold a pair to a gentleman with Betsy drivers and a nice soft dome tweeter to add a pinch of "sparkle" on the top. I set them up with toggle switches so that the tweeter can be disabled to hear the Betsy by itself in all its glory.
The new owner is powering the baffles with a Spud amplifier and is very happy with the system.
He even sent me a photo of one of the baffles in his listening room sitting next to "man's best friend" ..... good stuff.
Photo
Happy listening,
Randy
Since I had been building some open baffle speakers for a few of the local folks, the word got out and I officially hung out my shingle.
So, I have been selling some speakers as well as some "flat pack" baffles to those who already have OB friendly drivers, but no woodworking tools to make their own baffles.
Of course, quite a few of the baffles I am making feature the wonderful Wild Burro Audio Betsy drivers .....
Last Saturday, I sold a pair to a gentleman with Betsy drivers and a nice soft dome tweeter to add a pinch of "sparkle" on the top. I set them up with toggle switches so that the tweeter can be disabled to hear the Betsy by itself in all its glory.
The new owner is powering the baffles with a Spud amplifier and is very happy with the system.
He even sent me a photo of one of the baffles in his listening room sitting next to "man's best friend" ..... good stuff.
Photo
Happy listening,
Randy
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Have you thought of having some flat packs for betsyK, say sealed ?
I estimate (given qts=.458, Vas=2.92ft3, and Fs=50hz) you'd need 2.6ft3 for a .707 sized box (F3=73hz).
I've been trying to motivate people to make boxes for people so they can drop in their betsy, fostex, whatever (don't forget some binding posts). Not a huge niche but certainly worth making a few bucks on.
I know I'd maybe be interested.
Norman
I estimate (given qts=.458, Vas=2.92ft3, and Fs=50hz) you'd need 2.6ft3 for a .707 sized box (F3=73hz).
I've been trying to motivate people to make boxes for people so they can drop in their betsy, fostex, whatever (don't forget some binding posts). Not a huge niche but certainly worth making a few bucks on.
I know I'd maybe be interested.
Norman
Hi Norman,
Truthfully, I had not thought about that.
Since discovering the world of open baffle speakers, they are pretty much all I have been using.
Of course, there are many fine sounding box speakers ..... but OB has been floating my boat for the past few years.
A bigger factor is the fact that I am not an accomplished woodworker and have a limited amount of serious woodworking tools. I'm not sure that I would be up to the task of making a box speaker worth owning .....
I started offering the "flat pack" version of my open baffles because there has been quite a bit of interest in them.
I will be retiring from my "real job" at the end of this year and have plans to open a small "audio boutique" storefront near my home where I will be offering the speakers I am building and some other audio related items.
It will not be intended as a "money making" enterprise ..... but just something that will make me happy.
I will probably lose money at it ..... but am prepared for that.
The good news is that I will have plenty of time to hone my skills in woodworking and speaker building ..... so your suggestion is something that I will set as a goal ..... thank you .....
If that happens and I'm satisfied with the results, I will post the information on my website .....
Best wishes,
Randy
Truthfully, I had not thought about that.
Since discovering the world of open baffle speakers, they are pretty much all I have been using.
Of course, there are many fine sounding box speakers ..... but OB has been floating my boat for the past few years.
A bigger factor is the fact that I am not an accomplished woodworker and have a limited amount of serious woodworking tools. I'm not sure that I would be up to the task of making a box speaker worth owning .....
I started offering the "flat pack" version of my open baffles because there has been quite a bit of interest in them.
I will be retiring from my "real job" at the end of this year and have plans to open a small "audio boutique" storefront near my home where I will be offering the speakers I am building and some other audio related items.
It will not be intended as a "money making" enterprise ..... but just something that will make me happy.
I will probably lose money at it ..... but am prepared for that.
The good news is that I will have plenty of time to hone my skills in woodworking and speaker building ..... so your suggestion is something that I will set as a goal ..... thank you .....
If that happens and I'm satisfied with the results, I will post the information on my website .....
Best wishes,
Randy
Hi zany,
I think they do pretty well with most types of music ..... but, admittedly, I am primarily an acoustic instrument / vocals fan .....
Some of the music I regularly listen to can be found here.
If additional low end is desired, I normally add a Hawthorne Audio Augie or Eminence Alpha 15" driver (or two) powered by a plate amplifier.
That makes it pretty much a full range system.
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I don't know if you have had a chance to check it out, but I have been doing some builds in genuine hardwoods that have turned out very nicely ..... the link to the various woods I have access to can be found here.
Happy listening,
Randy
Great work Randy, thanks for the reply. I've been trying to get my brother to think outside the box... he is looking to put a system together and is only looking for boxed retail speakers... I sent him the pics... planting seeds...
I love it ..... "outside the box" .....
That would certainly apply .....
I am sometimes amazed at the "sonic illusion" these speakers pull off.
The baffles I have been making are only 22 1/2" tall and 18" wide, but they produce a full height sound stage that is wall to wall in my 16' wide listening room. I started adding "handles" on the back of the baffles that make them very easy to place and move when needed. They can be picked up with two fingers .....
Here are a couple of photos of some two way baffles I have built, but the baffles using Betsy drivers look pretty much the same.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Best wishes,
Randy
Hi zany,
The HF driver is actually a dipole AMT type driver sold by Parts Express.
The drivers I use in most of my two way builds are high efficiency soft dome tweeters that fire forward only. As you probably guessed, the dipole radiation pattern of the AMT driver changes things quite a bit. There is a bit more depth to the sound stage and the sound is a little more laid back.
It ends up being a matter of taste as to which is "better" ..... but, the AMT driver is more expensive for sure .....
I also have to use a different midbass driver than I use with the dome tweeters, because the AMT is only 94 db efficient compared to the 96 db efficiency of the dome tweeters.
Happy listening,
Randy
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