Hey TOR,

Thanks for checking in on me .....

I have had everything in place for the past few weeks and am in the process of trying to build up a small inventory of some two tone baffles in various combinations of hardwoods, in between speaker orders.

After giving it some serious thought, a decision was made to discontinue the flat pack option. The packaging used for shipping the flat packs is different than what I use for the finished speakers and it just wasn't worth carrying the additional packaging inventory.

If someone already has a pair of Betsy drivers, I will make a pair of completed baffles for them minus the drivers and deduct the 110.00 that they paid for the drivers .....

I'm still having fun and the orders continue to trickle in ..... but if I was depending on Caintuck Audio to feed a family, I would be looking at one skinny wife and a pack of skinny kids .....

Best wishes and happy listening,
RIC

 

Hey Randy,

Many thanks for the kind words .....

Yep ..... having the audio storefront in 2016 was something on my bucket list that was a lot of fun, despite losing a bucket full of money every month .....

Thank goodness for the internet ..... and the Decware forum.
I'm staying just busy enough to keep me happy and still give me time for the other important things in my life.

Being able to combine music and amateur woodworking after retiring from 25 years in the IT industry is a dream come true for me.

Discovering the WBAL Betsy drivers was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I'm still convinced that there are a lot of music lovers out there who will never come to grips with just how good these drivers are ..... and for a stupidly reasonable price.

Over the past 40 + years, I have owned (and borrowed) a lot of very nice loudspeakers and would not trade any of them for my Betsy baffles. With a good front end and amplifier, they are among the most musical and revealing speakers I have ever heard.
The fact that a Decware SE84UFO will make them sing without working up a sweat is icing on the cake.

A minimalist SET amp and an 8" full range driver are magic ..... period.

There have been a lot of folks who have visited my listening room and left a mark on the floor where their chin landed .....

The phrase that Steve made famous a long time ago "great sound for the sincere but (financially) broke music lover" is a reality with an SE84UFO and a pair of Betsy baffles.

This is a great hobby .....

Best wishes,
RIC

Hi HK,

The $330.00 per pair pricing is correct.
The original drivers are still $110.00 a pair.

I received several pairs of the initial production run and have sold all of them except one pair to this point in time.

After receiving them, I built two identical pairs of baffles and mounted the original drivers in one pair and the alnico drivers in the other.
I invited two local customers (who have become audio buddies) to my listening room for an A / B session.

There is definitely a "unique" sound associated with alnico magnet drivers and the Betsy Omega drivers are no exception.
When I asked the owner of Wild Burro Audio Labs what his impressions were of the new drivers, he simply stated that they are "more nuanced" .....

After a three hour listening session, my local customer / audio buddies felt that the alnico drivers have a bit more sparkle on the top end and are more revealing of "harmonic complexity".
The bass has a different texture and feel as well.

Whether the drivers are worth three times what the original drivers are is one of those "audio things". To me, the original drivers are so good for the price that they might as well be free.
My recommendation is that if the alnico drivers do not present a financial burden for the buyer, they are worth the additional cost.
If cost is a consideration, most music lovers will still be delighted with the original drivers.

For the record ..... both of my local customer / audio buddies purchased a pair of the alnico drivers .....

It's also interesting that "on paper", the new drivers are supposedly less efficient than the original drivers ..... but all three of us felt that they actually played louder at the same amplifier volume setting.
So ..... should we believe the specs or our own "lying ears" ?  

I recently shipped a pair of the new drivers to Steve and am looking forward to his impressions. Of course, as busy as he has been with the new amps, anniversary mods and speakers ..... his plate is pretty full and it might be a while before he is ready to comment on what he is hearing.

There is a page for the alnico drivers on my website.

Happy listening,
Randy

Hi HK,

Thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement .....

Actually, there was a plan to bring a pair of my baffles with WBAL Omega alnico drivers to Decware Fest 2018. I don't know if you remember, but I posted that there would be a "surprise" at the Fest.

Douglas at WBAL had generously shipped the prototype pair to me as a favor, but he needed them back to take some photos and to do some testing for specifications. So, I shipped them back to him with the understanding that he would return them to me for the Decware Fest.

Sadly, they were damaged in transit to him despite being double boxed .....

It was the only pair in existence, so that trashed my plans for the big surprise.

I am definitely planning to bring a pair to Decware Fest 2019 to get some input from the seasoned attendees .....

Only a few months away .....

Happy listening,
Randy