Stentorian build with oversize baffle

[BeerParty]

I need some advice from the speaker design gurus out there. If you are willing to help out a amateur builder I would be grateful for some advice.

A little background:
I'm planning to build a pair of Curt's Stentorians in the Spring. These are a gift for a friend that hosts band parties regularly at our Church Parish House. He has been using his own semi-pro speakers, but the kids have already blown the woofers in his gear once. From the description of the Stentorians on Curt's web site these seem like the perfect replacements. They get really loud, and if they do manage to blow a woofer it will be a lot cheaper to replace a woofer or two in the Stentorians than in my friend's gear.

I have built a few of Curt's designs, so I know this design would sound great if I built it to spec. The problem is I don't want to build it to spec.

While reading through some build threads, I saw Passing Interest's Howitzer Build and was blown away by his build. I just loved the way the baffle looked and wanted to build something similar. I had already picked the Stentorians as my next project, so I spent a little time in Sketch-up and came up with this:



Basically my plan is to use the baffle dimensions from the Stentorians (with rounded tops), flush mounting the drivers per the instructions, but then attach that 3/4" thick baffle to a second wider baffle to produce the same effect Passing Interest got with his baffle cover on the Howitzers. The problem is that this changes the baffle in ways that I know will impact the sound. I don't know enough about speaker designs to anticipate how much the sound will change or figure out how to update the crossover to compensate.

I know this baffle is "wrong" and that the best way to build the baffle would be to spec with a single large round-over, but this is the look I want. The question is will this baffle shape cause a noticeable change in these speakers? I can't measure and update the crossover (way over my skill level), so if this is likely to need that sort of update I'll just build them as Curt designed them. But if the difference in sound with this baffle would be unnoticeable, I would really like to try building it.

So what say you, is this design a go or a no-go?

[[email protected]]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

i would think it will affect the baffle step. where will these be? out from the walls, or in the open?

[Mayhem13]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

I like it Beerparty!.......and I doubt it will have much of an audible effect if implemented properly. I think 1/2 " would be enough with a nice roundover. I'm thinking of doing a modded pair of these myself and I agree that there's a need to cover up those ugly Aura frames.

I think I'll be starting mine in a week or so......I'll subscribe here and pass some ideas back and forth with ya. Just waiting for a response from the Master himself on my mod ideas first. They gotta get his seal of approval first.:D

[onyxbfly]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

I love the idea. The general rule of thumb is that you can change the design of the cabinet as long as the internal volume stays the same and baffle dimensions do not change.

According to Curt's website "The woofers come with 8 holes for a reason. Use them. 4 screws will not cut it, as I found out during harmonic distortion measurements. The front baffle thickness shown is 3/4". Optionally, I'd suggest adding another 1/2" or more to the thickness, as we are dealing with a lot of inertia here."

You can go .75" for the original baffle and .5" for your curved outer baffle. You should be right as rain. I think you should shoot Curt a email if he doesn't see your post and ask him if it will be ok.

HTH

[john trials]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

These look too nice for party speakers! I'd build them bare MDF, rectangular box, and cover them with some kind of DuraTuf of DuraTex (or other pro audio type covering).

My guess is the baffle changes are going to result in an insignificant change in the sound...especially if used in a church, where I bet the acoustics are horrible...and most listeners won't notice any flaws anyway.

[BeerParty]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

i would think it will affect the baffle step. where will these be? out from the walls, or in the open?

My plan is for these to go on the stage of our Church Parish House, which is about 3 feet higher than the floor. That's why I went with the centered tweeter design. The acoustics in the room are not the best, but it is a large room with high ceilings so I need something with 'umph'. They will be away from the walls (both side and rear) but not completely out in the open.

The main target for these speakers is the band parties; I have attended two of them and I couldn't understand the vocals or discern any identifiable music, so I am probably putting way too much thought into this. :D But there are other events we have there that these would be used for, so I don't want them to distort too badly.

[BeerParty]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

These look too nice for party speakers! I'd build them bare MDF, rectangular box, and cover them with some kind of DuraTuf of DuraTex (or other pro audio type covering).

I will admit they are overkill for the band parties. I was planning to build then per Curt's plan and cover them in DuraTex like you suggest, then I saw Passing Interest's Howitzer Build and I just had to build something that looked like that. The Stentorians were on my to-do list so they got the treatment.

[Mayhem13]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

Have you started these already?

[BeerParty]

Re: Stentorian build with oversize baffle

Have you started these already?

I am in the middle of another project right now, so I don't have room in my basement to start building these. I plan to start building them sometime next year; exactly when depends on how long my current project takes to finish. I have the drivers and crossover parts already, but that is all.