As I was developing new versions of the speakers and baffles for my product line, the naming of them was pretty much a process of "flying by the seat of my pants" .....

It was recently brought to my attention that there was some confusion related to the "Plus" and "Magnum" names.

So ..... I am now referring to all 1 1/2" thick baffles as the "Magnum" series. They are configured for rear mounted drivers.

The "Plus" baffles are only available for the various 8" drivers and are 7/8" thick with rear mounted drivers.

The "original" baffles for all driver models are 7/8" thick and configured for front mounted drivers.

This should simplify things a bit and hopefully reduce the confusion.

Current Product List

There are currently 12 orders in the build queue and shipping on new orders is at eight to ten weeks.

Many thanks to Steve for promoting Caintuck Audio products on the Decware Audio website and forums .....

Happy listening,
Randy

Good to know Just ordered some f15's this mourning. Thinking about ordering some Caintuck baffles.

Jec,

The following link shows examples of some of the different finishes that they offer:

http://www.caintuckaudio.com/Photo_Gallery.html

Best,

Geno

Hi HK,

Thank you so much for the kind words .....
Surprisingly, about 75% of the new orders are for the thicker Magnum baffles. They are a lot more work to build, but they sound good and the feedback from customers has been VERY positive.

Hi jec3504,

Wenge is a very dark and beautiful African hardwood.
When linseed oil or poly finish is applied to it, it turns to a color that is nearly jet black.  Unfortunately for me, it smells like dog poop when it's being sanded or routed.
Happily, for the customer, there is no "aroma" on the finished baffles .....

This is a photo of a Wenge Lii 15 Magnum baffle .....



Happy listening,
Randy

Wenge makes excellent guitar necks. I have two made by Warmoth: one on a Stratocaster with an ebony fretboard, and one on a Precision bass with its own (wenge) fretboard. Feels so good and seems to give a rich tone.

Hi Shomei’a,

The softest wood that I have made baffles from is Poplar.
On the Janka hardness scale, it is listed at 540
For a comparison, here are some other hardwood ratings -

Douglas Fir - 660
Eastern Red Cedar - 900
Red Oak - 1220
Hard Maple - 1450

If there was a huge difference sonically between the Poplar and most of the other hardwoods I have used, I could not hear it.
It's quite possible that the size of the baffle limited the difference.
If the baffles were larger, it might make a bigger difference.

A few years ago, I made a couple of pairs of baffles from Bubinga.
The Janka rating for that hardwood is 1980.
I actually heard a difference in the baffles made from that wood ..... and so did a friend of mine who is not a hardcore audio guy.
These baffles had slightly better focus and detail.

So ..... it seems that the very hard species of wood can make a difference sonically.

If anyone else has a thought on this, please share it .....

Best wishes,
Randy

Escatly.  Seems to me the hardness is less important than the Elastic Modulus and the Density.

However, the measurements of ME are static and this may not relate to the sound properties of wood, to to its suitability as a baffle. (see, for example, https://faculty.kfupm.edu.sa/ARE/djamel/Publications/frequency_dependence_moe_wo...
od.pdf).  

Any strong resonance in a baffle would be unwelcome. Steve's suggestion that mixing woods in a baffle is an interesting one, not just because they have different properties but also because there might be significant impedance between sound propagation between the wood strips. This leads me to a sacrilegious idea: making a baffle out of a combination of hardwoods and softwoods.

I am planning to make a few Betsy Baffles with my (recently arrived) Silver-10's. It would be interesting to study these and to share the results. Listening tests would be most important but frequency responses with sweep tones would also be important. I don't know how to do this or what equipment might be necessary.

Randy, Steve, does this interest you?

A couple of additional thoughts.

If mixing species of woods, please take into account the different growth/shrinkage rates due to moisture/temperature. (Some can be significant, especially if combining softwoods with hardwood.) Grain direction is also extremely key.

I would think that overall mass would be a consideration. More mass obtained for a given size by choosing more dense woods. Or simply go bigger or thicker. (Realizing that bigger changes other sound characteristics.) My understanding is that there is difference in sound noted between Randy’s 7/8” thick versus the 1-1/2” magnum version. So if it is mass, could one make, say, a 3” thick baffle out of poplar or pine, and get the same result as a thinner harder wood. (And where does MDF fit in? Gosh, I’ve still got my old prototype baffles; I wonder how they sound?)

Hmmmm… I wonder how a 1-1/2” granite slab or 2” thick concrete pour would sound versus my cherry baffles?

Chris

Chris,

We are thinking along similar lines.There are several experiments that would be interesting; time and money are limitations.

For example, if limiting standing waves is important, then building the baffle from sections with different impedances would work. This could be done by choice of woods, or, when using a single species, simply making alternating sections thicker or thinner (in the back of the baffle). The impedance is is proportional to the square of the material thickness.

Wood expansion/contraction occurs mostly along the width so orienting the boards similarly should be sufficient.

Greater mass would definitely have an effect; Sound radiation is directly proportional to the modulus of elasticity, E (high in dense African hardwoods) and inversely proportional to the density (same). so the ratio of E to density might be key. The best soundboards are made from very thin Sitka Spruce which has a ratio of E/D of nearly 4. Interestingly, poplar also has a high ratio. Steve offers his baffles in poplar but I haven't seen any posts about how they sound.

Would love to hear the results of a comparison of your MDF prototypes to your cherry versions!

Gary

Okay, so I'm an old retired engineer and love to contemplate some of this stuff. And as my curmudgeoness has grown stronger, I guess maybe I've also gotten a bit lazier and more willing to accept SOME things.  And as my hearing isn't what it used to be (like not hearing the stuff over 12khz or thereabouts), I've also become more of a realist regarding my stereo (and other things too - like I'm never going to be a pro golfer or pro brewer, or sing professionally).

Where I settle out regarding this idea of woods for a OB, is to find something that you like the looks of and make the speakers. With thicker and heavier woods being better. I wouldn't worry too much about the various coefficients of expansion, propagation, etc. Just don't mix grain directions in the build and I'll bet you'll have a killer set of speakers. (and yes - tilt them back a few degrees)

By the way - how did we all manage to railroad Randy's post about his model name change?  Sorry Randy!

I hear you Chris.  I'm just a bit younger than you.

I'm thinking of building Betsy's and may make 2 pairs: One from poplar (high elasticity to density) and one from Sassafras (low elasticity to density). Both 1.5-2 inches thick. It will also be easy to test the effects of adding hinged wings which would make moving a storing large baffles much easier.

Might also try to repurpose one of the smaller baffles for a W-15

Might be interesting.

Gary

good to know

Nice job!  Very pretty.

I was thinking of something similar for my experimental versions.  Because listening distance may change there may not be an optimal angle.  One potential (a bit complex) solution is to have the front of the base cut at 90 degrees, and then attach to an adapter piece that can be made with different angles. We’ll see when I get there.  For now, I’ve decided to build two sets of small panels, one from sassafras (low ratio of elasticity to density) and one from poplar (high ratio). Both woods are relatively inexpensive.  Once I have a template made building them should be relatively straight forward.  Still, with everything else going on it will take some time.

Cheers,

Gary