I'm not certain where I first read about the Betsy driver by Wild Burro. It could have been here on Decware, maybe on Randy's Caintuck site, or somewhere else on the web. But I was intrigued by the idea of these open baffle speakers, especially with Randy's low barrel design. I still remember, some 30+ years ago, hearing a pair of giant Martin Logans, and being blown away by the airiness and soundstage. Could these, little full range speakers deliver some magic? I decided that I had to dip my toe in to see.

I've had a few sets of speakers in the past 40+ years. Avid, Klipsch, Monitor Audio, and Thiels. The Thiels I've been most satisfied with and have had them for 12 or so years. But last year I got the bug for something a little "different". Thus, the journey.

My journey started with a plain Betsy, using glued and clamped 1/2" mdf so that the baffles were 1" thick. A string and pencil gave me the arcs for a pair that were about the size of Randy's (mine were 22-1/2" tall by 18-1/2" wide). Cut the arcs with saber saw, speaker holes with a home made router jig, mount a base, spray some paint, mount the drivers, and hook up some wires. I wasn't concerned too much with WAF at this point; these were first prototypes to see if I liked the sound.  And did I! (Especially with them pulled away from the wall a few feet.)

But then I wanted just a bit more reinforcement on the lower end. Through this site I came across the old Betsy & Buck idea from Caintuck Audio. I went back and forth between the B&B, or a Lii 12" or 15" driver. The B&B won out due to aesthetics (WAF) with using the 10"Alpha 10A drivers. (And a compromise on probable low end versus the 12 or 15" Alpha drivers. Since these are in my living room, looks are critical.)

Prototype 2 was again 1" thick mdf, but I took more care on the construction. The arcs this time were cut with a router jig, changed the design to rear mount the drivers, and I used a roundover bit for the front edges. And of course made them taller (24-1/2"tall by 18-1/2" wide). Based upon input from Randy (Caintuck) and Doug (Wild Burro), I initially ran these with a separate small amp with built in crossover. In my system, I wasn't thrilled with the results and ordered a pair of 10mH chokes to try passive mode on powering the 10" drivers. I was extremely happy with the resulting sound.

Here's prototypes 1 and 2.

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Since I was so pleased with the sound, time to make an even nicer set. This time from 6/4 cherry from a local custom lumber yard. I decided to make them slightly larger (25" tall and 19-1/4" wide), and altered the side arcs to more of a slight "tulip" shape where the base is slightly wider than the top. I used a larger roundover bit for the speaker holes, and bought some super Q chokes with heavier guage wire. So far, I and my wife, are both thrilled. Yes, the upper and low ends aren't the same as my older Thiels, but the airiness and soundstage have exploded.

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With the music that I primarily listen to: jazz, vocals, acoustic (guitar, piano, Irish Trad), classic rock, with a touch of music from up in the hollar (I'm near the NC hill country after all), these speakers in my system deliver. The speakers disappear. The sound stage seems like it sometimes goes outside the room. Both male and female vocals sound "right". And with the bit extra provided by the 10" Alpha, things like standup bass come across with the right authority.  

Next up: What happens when I replace the plain ol Betsy with a fancy Alnico version? I can't wait to find out.

After That: How do things sound when I replace my old PSE amp with one from Decware?

Chris

Hmmmm. I’m not sure what happened to the photos . They were there when I looked yesterday. I can see them now when using the computer, but not my phone.

So lets try again!

Prototypes #1 (just Betsy) and #2 (Betsy & Buck)
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Betsy and Buck in cherry


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Congratulations.
Very nice yesssss.

I am about to have some Betsy with Lii F15 built in anticipation of the UFO2 Steve and his team are building.

Cheers,

a.

They came out beauties!
I have always liked this two way version of the open baffle. Randy wrote great things about the sound when it was first introduced.

How do you like the Gerry Curtis pentode amp? I almost never come across anyone who has one.

Brian

First - Thanks for the kind comments about the build!

The Journey Continues .....

So I contacted Doug at Wild Burro a couple of months ago to let him know that I was interested in the alnico version. He finally got some in (or finished) and I now have a pair installed. I initially put them in the basement in a pair of my prototypes, and was not impressed at all. But I figured that they needed a bit of time to break-in. After 25 or so hours of off and on play, it seemed as though they were completely different drivers. At around 40 hours I decided it was time to replace the original Betsy's with the alnico version.



I had no idea as to what to expect except from a few comments (like Geno's) that the alnico version was even more special. I thought that I loved the sound of my B&B with the plain Betsy, and I do, but with the alnico version it seems like they are in another league! I'm not sure how to describe what I hear, maybe faster. It seems like things like cymbal hits are more clean and clear. But even on some of my jazz tracks, stand up bass seems to come across with more clean authority, but not out of proportion by any means. Anyhow, I am extremely pleased to have a pair, even with the price increase that Doug has had to introduce.

Regarding the little Curtis Spud amp, I am delighted with it. I do still want to get a Decware amp, and with this relatively inexpensive option (I built it from one of Jerry's kits), I've proven to myself how good a 2-3 watt tube amp can sound. I'd thought that I probably needed something like a Rachael or one of the Torii's, but now I know that isn't the case. (And for me, doing the build was extremely interesting and fun!)

I'm running my Unique Audio Designs preamp into the Spud and am using the preamp to control the volume (I pretty much leave the Spud on max). I had something funny and enlightening happen a couple of weeks ago.  Prior to the Spud I was using my old PSE Studio IV solid state amp. With it, my normal preamp volume knob was turned nearly to the 12:00 position, and it was loud. With the Spud, I'm at around the 3:00 position for comparable volume. I was thinking that I was probably coming close to maxing the Spud out. I did some playing around and (re)discovered that the volume setting on the preamp starts at around the 9:00 position. With the PSE, I was only using around 1/4 of the dial, and with the Spud, about 1/2. I cranked the volume up and discovered that I really have tons of headroom. It easily goes way louder than I can stand.

I was very pleased with the PSE for the years that I had it, but the Spud does deliver a level of detail that I wasn't getting with the Studio IV. I wouldn't hesitate to recommended one of Jerry's amps, especially if your wait for a Decware amp is going to be a while. I can't even imagine how one of Steve's Super Zen Triodes would sound, but I'm guessing amazing!

Do I guess correctly that the inductor is inline with the Eminence driver to limit its response to under 125 Hz?

I thank you so much for the report on the Jerry amp. I remember when Jerry was a correspondent here in this forum, and have long wondered what his amps are like.

Brian