DIY Open Baffle Speakers -

[MisterDK]

Just thought I’d post a couple pictures of the open baffle speaks I’m working on. Drivers were just mounted, still have to wire ‘em up. I’ll be testing with the Cerwin Vega crossovers I have just as low-pass filters for the 12” woofers. The Dayton “point source” 8” full-range drivers will be running unfiltered, for now. Hope to try these out this afternoon..
Baffles are cut from a 1-3/4” thick oak butcher block style table (curb find). The C-V woofers were also curb finds, from RE30 speakers. I had to re-foam those but they were otherwise free. Full-range drivers are Dayton PS220-8, 8”. The full-range units are recessed so that all voice coil leading edges line up.
I’ll be testing these out before finally sanding, staining and a Danish oil rubbin’..

 

[onwardjames]

Love that butcher block find!!!! This should be pretty cool.

 

[Lavane]

Love that butcher block find!!!! This should be pretty cool.

It used to be easy to find around here. Several of the lumber suppliers stocked it.
It seemed to disappear sometime in the early 2000's. I have ordered it since then though. I had a custom solid maple table top made with laminated 1 1/2"×4" boards. The price was surprisingly fair. The same shop makes butcher block also.

 

[Lavane]

View attachment 2288846 View attachment 2288847

Just thought I’d post a couple pictures of the open baffle speaks I’m working on. Drivers were just mounted, still have to wire ‘em up. I’ll be testing with the Cerwin Vega crossovers I have just as low-pass filters for the 12” woofers. The Dayton “point source” 8” full-range drivers will be running unfiltered, for now. Hope to try these out this afternoon..
Baffles are cut from a 1-3/4” thick oak butcher block style table (curb find). The C-V woofers were also curb finds, from RE30 speakers. I had to re-foam those but they were otherwise free. Full-range drivers are Dayton PS220-8, 8”. The full-range units are recessed so that all voice coil leading edges line up.
I’ll be testing these out before finally sanding, staining and a Danish oil rubbin’..

Very nice. Those Daytons should sound pretty nice. Let us know how they sound. I've been thinking about trying those 8" drivers.

 

[MisterDK]

Just to test ‘em, I wired the drivers in parallel with the woofers going through their original Cerwin-Vega crossovers, just as a low-pass filter. The Dayton drivers are unfiltered. These sound nice!

Bass is better that folks on speaker building forums said it would be. Much better!
People said “baffles too narrow, woofers too small..” - These sound just fine, thanks.

The Dayton full-range do sound very good - maybe a tad bright, though. They’re certainly crisp and clear.

I’ll pull ‘em apart in a few days for sanding, stain and Danish oil. I’ll probably paint the backs with some satin black.

 

[turboyam]

The Cerwin woofers are awesome really, i did a couple of DIY projects with them.
If you can, leave the Daytons runing sans x-overs, i love the sound of full ranges, if you can live with their imperfections, i think it outweights the x-over's own added imperfections...

 

[Lavane]

Depending on how close you live to other people, like in a apartment or a house, you could just let them play while gone at work etc. After those full range speakers get some hours on them they will probably settle down some and sound fuller. Something like 100+ hours maybe?

 

[macyjrm]

I’m really digging your project. Very well executed. Looks like you are using wood “prop rods” to keep them vertical. Is this correct? What I especially admire is the high WAF that likely result once complete. And I’ll bet they sound wonderful. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[MisterDK]

I’m really digging your project. Very well executed. Looks like you are using wood “prop rods” to keep them vertical. Is this correct? What I especially admire is the high WAF that likely result once complete. And I’ll bet they sound wonderful. Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks.
These are made from a “butcher block” style oak table top that’s 1-3/4” thick, from a table that was left on a curb about 30 years ago. I shoved it into the pickup I had then and brought it home. My kids used it for years to color on, do crafts, etc.. For a short while I used it to assemble a couple small car engines on. Then it sat..waiting to be repurposed. It had a bit of mass so even after I cut it in half, each speaker baffle was fairly heavy.
Between the weight of the baffle, the speaker magnets being on the back side and the angle I have it sitting at, I decided on using only a single “leg” for each. The leg is made from 1-3/8” closet hanger dowel that’s also oak. I bored the hole for the leg, completely through the baffle boards and glued it into place with a good, slow-cure epoxy.
It feels fairly solid so I think that’s all it’ll need. I was wanting to keep the look fairly simple - yet still have them perform well.

WAF was on my list of goals for these as the speakers I’d been using really are big and f-ugly..

I’ll be pulling the drivers back out next weekend (hopefully) then doing all my sanding and finishing. I may also decide on placing a small shelf on the backs, down low, for mounting my low-pass filter and binding posts; right now I have wires and the crossover I’m using for low-pass just laying on the floor for testing. I wanted to hear ‘em. They do sound surprisingly good.. If I were to make another set of these I’d probably go with larger woofers - maybe even two woofers each side. I’d probably make the baffles a few inches wider as well - I’m thinking for 15”-18” woofers, though.

I’ll update this thread after they’re all finished and in place. I need to move some rather large speakers out of the room before I can move these open baffles into position for a proper listening.

 

[macyjrm]

A couple of years ago we sold a butcher block (6 place) table for little money. I wish I had it back now to attempt something similar.

 

[MisterDK]

A couple of years ago we sold a butcher block (6 place) table for little money. I wish I had it back now to attempt something similar.

If I hadn’t had the table top available, I would have gone for 3/4“ birch ply and doubled it up for 1-1/2”. My next open baffle (always thinking about a next..) will probably be made of doubled up birch ply - but with some big woof ability.
This speaker does sound good, though.

 

[macyjrm]

I have a pair of EV 15trxb coaxials stuffed into too small Barzilay cabinets. They would be ideal for such an endeavor. And dead simple to make with no crossover needed. This thought is not a solicitation. They are NFS.

 

[MisterDK]

I have a pair of EV 15trxb coaxials stuffed into too small Barzilay cabinets. They would be ideal for such an endeavor. And dead simple to make with no crossover needed. This thought is not a solicitation. They are NFS.

Have I seen a picture of your Barzilay stuff?
I need to rearrange things in here then I’ll finally get bring my console into the house; it’s been in the garage for weeks now..
Haven’t put any speakers into my Barzilay. I’ll likely use one of the (built in) speaker cabinets to house my turntable vacuum pump and the other end may house a small class A, SS amp.

 

[rothwellaudio]

Going off on a bit of a tangent, that wood isn't "butcher block". Butchers' blocks were traditionally made of sycamore (here in the UK) with the end grain on the top surface so that when chopping meat the cleaver doesn't cut across the grain of the wood.

"As we only supply the market with superior quality items, our butcher blocks and bespoke wooden chopping blocks are always manufactured from the best end grain hardwoods. Whereas most cheap butcher blocks, which are made from less expensive side grain wood materials, are easily damaged and short lived, a bespoke vintage styled butcher block from Row & Sons is built to last and will provide years of outstanding service and hardworking performance."
https://www.rowandsons.co.uk/wood/butchers-blocks/

 

[MisterDK]

Going off on a bit of a tangent, that wood isn't "butcher block". Butchers' blocks were traditionally made of sycamore (here in the UK) with the end grain on the top surface so that when chopping meat the the cleaver doesn't cut across the grain of the wood.

"As we only supply the market with superior quality items, our butcher blocks and bespoke wooden chopping blocks are always manufactured from the best end grain hardwoods. Whereas most cheap butcher blocks, which are made from less expensive side grain wood materials, are easily damaged and short lived, a bespoke vintage styled butcher block from Row & Sons is built to last and will provide years of outstanding service and hardworking performance."
https://www.rowandsons.co.uk/wood/butchers-blocks/

That’s why I called it “butcher block style”.
I knew it wasn’t intended for use as butcher block. Made a good, small engine building table though..

 

[rothwellaudio]

That’s why I called it “butcher block style”.
I knew it wasn’t intended for use as butcher block. Made a good, small engine building table though..

Btw, nice work. I like the large radius rounded-over edges to the cut-outs.

 

[MisterDK]

Btw, nice work. I like the large radius rounded-over edges to the cut-outs.

Thanks; wood routers are fun to play with..
I would have liked to recess the woofers too, but wanted to keep voice coils lined up with the full-range drivers. Not as cool looking this way, but I thought it could sound better(?).

 

[onwardjames]

Thanks; wood routers are fun to play with..
I would have liked to recess the woofers too, but wanted to keep voice coils lined up with the full-range drivers. Not as cool looking this way, but I thought it could sound better(?).

So, still enjoying??

 

[MisterDK]

So, still enjoying??

Not quite as much but still have them set up. I’m going to change the CV woofer out for a different arrangement when I make some time. Thinking two, 15” woofs facing each other, and firing through a slot port through the front, open on the backs. The Dayton full-range also seems a bit bright but I know it can be tamed.. I could just bi-amp and use some active filtering to bump bass and be done with it but want to try something else anyway. Not liking the look of those CV woofers. They belong at a dorm party.