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wide baffles and baffle step

Lengthy quotation from Peter Comeau, designer at Wharfedale.  Makes a lot of sense to me...

"Th[e] larger ported box, with its subsequent increased baffle size, helps solve a major problem in modern speakers, namely, the baffle step.

I grew up with large speakers with wide baffles, but, as speakers reduced in size over the years I noticed that something was missing from the sound and, when I stuck my head firmly into speaker design, I began to understand the acoustic problems caused by the baffle step.

Put simply, as the baffle size decreases, the point at which the acoustic radiation changes from hemispherical to spherical goes up in frequency. It also becomes sharper and narrower in bandwidth as the sides of the cabinet, and the walls and floor of the room, are further removed from the equation. So, this 6dB step in the power response becomes acoustically more obvious.

I believe that a thin speaker always sounds thinner throughout the midrange when directly compared to a speaker with more generous baffle width. Of course, as designers of modern, slim speakers, we compromise by adjusting for the baffle step in the crossover, but in doing so, we also compromise sensitivity. What starts out as a 90dB at 1W drive-unit often ends up as an 85dB system once we have adjusted for the power loss due to the baffle step."



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bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,788 posts
 
Richard Vandersteen sure doesn't like them ;-) .
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
Because a wide baffle aids in a speaker's power response out into the room. This was recognized by Peter Snell in the design of the Type A. Still one of the best sounding dynamic speakers! An even power response off-angle is just as important as even frequency response on-axis! 
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
-1 kenjit! :(
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
I own a pair of Snell AIII's.
erik_squires
16,046 posts
 
I’m a big fan of wide baffles. One of the best the Sonus Faber Stradivari, yes to the Snell A series, and of course, Genesis/Infinity line arrays.

However!!!!

I think the explanation here is BS, as speaker designers are all aware of the baffle step issue and take it into account in the crossover design.

What the final speaker does suffer from as a result of baffle step is reduced efficiency. Speaker designers trade off efficiency for bass response.

In that respect, yes, a wider baffle will yield a more efficient speaker (assuming equal frequency tuning). The real magic of wide-baffle speakers in my opinion is not in the efficiency but in their ability to convey the recorded room acoustics into the listening space.

Paraphrasing Troels Graveson , wide baffle speakers bring the room with them.
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