Baffle Wall systems

[AVSMike]

Baffle Wall system. Like to hear from others that are using or considering going to a Baffle Wall system. I went to a full Baffle Wall system winter of 2014. I have been very pleased with this system and now, I can't image going any other route.  Also any THX certified cinema that you go to will be a baffle wall system. 

A baffle wall offers several advantages.

1.  Since the whole front wall is one piece, you do not have diffraction, because the edges of the speakers are flush with the front wall.

2.  No sound reflections off of the front wall. Normally with in room speakers, the lower frequencies hit the front wall and then travel to the listeners.

3.  Increased output. The speaker is now in half space, increasing the low end output around 6db.

All of this gives a better presentation as sound moves across the front soundstage. The transition across the stage will be cleaner, due to no diffraction and fewer sound reflections and smoother, due to no changes as sound moves across the stage. Going with a baffle wall and AT screen allows you to cover your front wall with sound absorption, cutting down of reflections.

Baffle walls can be made straight, curved or angled. For my baffle wall, I chose to angle the two wings, so that the right and left speakers are aimed more toward the main listening position. Also, since my screen is curved, angling the wings, placed the speakers closer to parallel with the screen, which helps with the sound passing through the screen.

The other big benefit of a baffle wall is the overall clean appearance that this gives to the presentation. You can do this so that you do not see any speakers or subs. Nothing to distract you from what is going on on the screen, which improves the immersion factor greatly. It also hides what is lurking there. Believe me, if I had my 6' tall mains visible, they would certainly be distracting.

[Ob1kinoB]

Mike,

I know this is a very old post but, since I am considering building a baffle wall behind my AT screen, I wonder if you wouldn’t mind answering a couple questions on this. At your leisure, there is no rush.

1. How far above and below the screen does your baffle extend? From the picture it’s not clear to me if it goes all the way up and down for that matter.

2. Along the same lines, did you extend the baffle all the way to your theater side walls.  My eyes may be playing tricks on me but it almost looks like the baffle is only the side of your screen.

3. What material is that? The cutouts around your speakers make me wonder if it’s some kind of Sheetrock but not sure that makes sense to me.


Thanks,

Hugo

[AVSMike]

Mike,

I know this is a very old post but, since I am considering building a baffle wall behind my AT screen, I wonder if you wouldn’t mind answering a couple questions on this. At your leisure, there is no rush.

1. How far above and below the screen does your baffle extend? From the picture it’s not clear to me if it goes all the way up and down for that matter.

2. Along the same lines, did you extend the baffle all the way to your theater side walls.  My eyes may be playing tricks on me but it almost looks like the baffle is only the side of your screen.

3. What material is that? The cutouts around your speakers make me wonder if it’s some kind of Sheetrock but not sure that makes sense to me.


Thanks,

Hugo

My baffle wall starts about 24" above the floor and goes to each side wall and the ceiling. The reason it starts at 24" is because the 18" woofer for my LCR's are in seperate boxes and fill the area below the baffle wall. So these boxes extend the baffle wall to the floor. In essence, my baffle wall is floor to ceiling and wall to wall. My baffle wall is also angled for the right and left mains.

My baffle wall is covered in 3/4" MDF. But my stud spacing is very close and many of them double stud between upper and lower horizontal beams, so it is very rigid. Everything is screwed together, so no squeaks or rattles. My speaker and sub boxes in my baffle wall have two layers of MDF on them. The outer speaker/sub baffle is larger, so that it is a flange These then dropped into the front baffle and was secured to the baffle wall using the flange. You can see the picture of the boxes here. https://discuss.avscience.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=124.0;attach=207;image

The baffle wall is then covered with 1" of duct liner insulation, with cutout for the drivers.

[Ob1kinoB]

Perfect Mike.

Thank you.


Hugo