Baffled?

[Roadsterdriver]

I’ve decided to build a an open baffle project, done allot of reading here. Seen everything online from 4’8’ baffles to no baffle at all, just speakers supported in air.
As near as I can tell , it’s anything goes without anything definitive in terms of what doesn’t work.

I’m most intrigued by minimal and zero baffle designs. Anyone have actual experience with minimal baffle designs? I am considering a very small tear drop shaped baffle for full range speaker, like the Betsy.

Would love to hear your experience
thanks

[Chris Roemer]

Well, you won't have any bass (obviously) at wavelengths long enough for the rearwave to wrap around the baffle that you DO have and cancel out the frontwave.

[jhollander]

There is good theory and information here http://www.musicanddesign.com/tech.html

Narrow and no baffle are used when you want to move the dipole null and resulting directivity higher in the frequency range. Large baffles, h-frames, etc. are used when you want to improve the bass by moving speaker's roll off lower in frequency. There are lots of trade offs where people choose the baffle size that fits their application.

[djg]

Have you seen the LXminis? They sound quite nice.

[Roadsterdriver]

Yeah, I want to try the LX Mini some time. Nice example of no baffle full range driver implementation
and very clever woofer.
seems like the sweet spot might be very small?

[djg]

No.

[kclb1540]

I've been playing with OB for a number of years now - currently really enjoying an Exodus DPL-15 in a 21"x21"x13" H frame along with a no-baffle hanging MTM using RS225S-8s for the midbass and a Q150 coax driver for mids and highs. Crossover is via a Minidsp 4x10.

I was never able to get good sounding bass in my room with ported or sealed boxes, but these H-frames dig really deep without sounding muddy or boomy - very nice for music. The RS225s also sounded good in the same H frames but just didn't get quite as deep. Usable upper limit is around 150Hz, which works for transitioning to a 7" or 8" baffleless midbass. I've not tried a large-baffle design. T

roels Gravesen has posted a couple that he seems to really like. It would be interesting to see how the off-axis response compares to narrow/no baffle designs.

There are many options for OB - wide baffle, narrow baffle, no baffle rigidly mounted by the magnet, freely hanging by string from a frame, or various hybrids They can all probably be made to sound good. I'm having a ball with the hanging approach for midbass and up. No baffle resonances, smooth power response, and I can swap drivers around, take measurements, and put together a decent crossover in an hour or two. There's no wasted wood, no giant box of passives, and little wasted time if I don't end up liking a configuration. I have a pile of drivers and can just try something else. That said, they're not much to look at, so having a dedicated room that my wife rarely enters is key, a digital crossover with 6 or 8 amp channels is pretty much required, and transporting them would be a real pain. So, clearly not the best solution for everyone.

Just looked up the Betsy. I haven't tried full range OB, so I can't really comment on that one, but if you want to try a full-range driver with a narrow baffle or no baffle, you'll probably want to augment the bass with a monopole, H-frame, or larger OB driver.

[skatz]

Over on diyaudio you'll find some projects for OB designs. Here's one https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/mult...ml#post5221647