Hi All,

1st post here.  I’m an old school ‘audiophile’ looking to rebuild my 1970’s stereo (Rotel/Pioneer/Polk) from scratch.  I’ve recently ordered a SE84UFO25 and Cambridge CXNv2 but gave away my speakers and am now leaning to a new pair of open baffles.  I typically listen to old Alt Rock (Radiohead, Turning Leaf, Emancipator, Thievery Corporation, Tangerine Dream) and classical… at low volume levels below 80dB.

I’ve emailed Randy back and forth the last few days and am wondering if his smaller baffles would be ‘appreciably’ different vs Steve’s larger baffles, even the medium ones given the music I enjoy.  I don’t know anyone here but Randy seems like a great guy.  And I’m really leaning to these open baffles.

My listening room is 18’ x 24’ with the speakers being placed somewhere along the longer wall.

It’s a bitch that I have a Delta Unisaw, planer, jointer, multiple routers and a 17” Rikon bandsaw that sees little use because my job provides no spare time to cut wood.

Then I have to sell 15" drivers to Wifey.  We currently listen to a Bose surround sound system with little cubes that disappear amongst her decorating…

Hey rsmigel,

One of the things that I’ve come to appreciate about Randy’s Betsy open baffle is how portable it is. You can move it out from the wall when you want to listen, and then put it back when not listening. That’s not so easy to do with the larger baffles.

Randy

Rsmigel,
Going from 3 inch cubes to open baffle 15s may be a journey, but good luck. Does she like music? If so, you can call that an ace.


I would say that with your room size the differences between a small baffle and a larger baffle would be pronounced. Bigger baffle winning every skirmish.

If you've not tried an open baffle speaker system, you are in for some enjoyable surprises.

HI rsmigel. I'm in exactly the same position, modulo that I'm building my own baffles. Actually, I have to decide between the F15s and the Fast 15s from Lii (which is an agonizing choice). Keep us posted on what you discover!