# Baffless

> One-person boutique audio engineering workshop in Vilnius, Lithuania. Baffless designs and
> builds open-baffle dipole loudspeakers, Single Speaker Stereo systems, and analog
> current-drive amplifier boards. Everything is designed, built, measured and tuned by
> Rytis Smolskas.

Contact: smolskas.rytis@baffless.com | https://www.youtube.com/@baffless
Business registration 1486035, Vilnius, Lithuania. Ships worldwide.

## What makes it different

- **Current drive amplification.** Driving the loudspeaker with a controlled current rather
  than a controlled voltage removes the voice coil's non-linear impedance from the transfer
  function, which measurably lowers harmonic and intermodulation distortion.
- **Open-baffle dipole loudspeakers.** No enclosure means no enclosure resonance and no
  stored energy, plus figure-of-eight radiation that excites the room less at the sides.
- **Single Speaker Stereo.** A stereo image from one enclosure, using DSP-assisted beam
  steering. It is a separate design and does not use crosstalk cancellation.
- **Measurement-led.** Every claim on this site is backed by a measurement, not a listening
  impression.

## Available for sale

- Analog current-drive amplifier board - 250 EUR, assembled and tested, stereo, balanced
  inputs, mixed-mode current drive. See https://www.baffless.com/analog-amp
- Custom open-baffle dipole systems and Single Speaker Stereo - built to order, contact for
  a quote.

## Products

- [Analog current drive amp](https://www.baffless.com/analog-amp): Stereo mixed-mode current drive amplifier board. Voltage drive at bass, current drive at treble. 10dB THD reduction is not uncommon. Assembled and tested, 250 EUR.
- [Dipole System](https://www.baffless.com/dipole-system): The Baffless Dipole System: a made-to-order open-baffle loudspeaker system with dedicated pages for its core technologies.
- [All-In-One System](https://www.baffless.com/all-in-one-system): A complete Baffless system: open-baffle dipole loudspeakers, current-drive amplification and DSP correction in one package.
- [Analog current drive amplifier manual](https://www.baffless.com/analog-current-drive-amplifier-manual): Analog current drive amplifier user manual: pinout, protections, jumpers, filter adjustment, power supply, heatsink, dimensions and specifications.

## Core technology

- [Current Drive for Better Sound](https://www.baffless.com/current-drive-for-thd-reduction): Current drive holds the current through the voice coil instead of the voltage across it. Measured on a Visaton BG20, THD rises slightly (0.77% to 0.89%) while the third harmonic drops about 20 dB and the higher-order comb above 4 kHz nearly disappears.
- [Current Drive vs Voltage Drive — Measured](https://www.baffless.com/current-drive-comparison): Animated measured comparisons of current drive versus voltage drive distortion across several loudspeaker drivers, including the B&G Neo 8 planar.
- [Dipole Loudspeakers](https://www.baffless.com/dipole-all-the-way): Baffless loudspeakers are dipole across the whole range, 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Each driver of the 4-way system works as a point source, and the measured directivity index stays between 4.6 and 6.3 dB from 20 Hz to 5 kHz, against 4.8 dB for an ideal dipole.
- [Absolute Minimum Cabinet Coloration](https://www.baffless.com/absolute-minimum-cabinet-coloration): Removing the cabinet removes its resonances. How open-baffle construction reaches near-zero enclosure coloration.
- [Flat Frequency & Phase](https://www.baffless.com/flat-frequency-and-phase): Frequency response and phase together define the reproduced waveform. Baffless uses active linear-phase FIR filters and acoustic measurements to align its four-way system through each crossover region.
- [Smooth Power Response](https://www.baffless.com/smooth-power-response): Power response is the total acoustic power a loudspeaker radiates in all directions. Baffless uses full-range dipole radiation, documented by a measured 20 Hz to 20 kHz horizontal sonogram.
- [Seamless Crossover Transition](https://www.baffless.com/seemless-crossover-transition): Why Baffless uses 48 dB/octave linear-phase FIR crossovers at 170, 800 and 3000 Hz to limit driver overlap while controlling off-axis pre- and post-ringing.
- [Crosstalk Cancellation](https://www.baffless.com/optimized-crosstalk-cancelation): Baffless crosstalk cancellation uses DSP in a two-speaker system to improve the central stereo image, where vocals are usually placed.
- [How the Crosstalk Filter Was Developed](https://www.baffless.com/crosstalk-cancellation-development): The development story behind Baffless crosstalk cancellation: early Ambiophonics experiments, wider-angle HRTF-aware filters, recursive cancellation, and later listening-angle research.
- [Integrated Equal Loudness Control](https://www.baffless.com/integrated-equal-loudness-control): Baffless ties equal-loudness compensation to a calibrated volume control. Because its DSP, amplifiers and loudspeakers form one known system, correction can follow the expected listening SPL automatically.
- [Single Speaker Stereo](https://www.baffless.com/single-speaker-stereo): Single Speaker Stereo is a Baffless system concept that produces stereo from one enclosure using three full-range drivers, DSP beam steering, mid/side processing and room reflections. It is not a standard off-the-shelf product.
- [Single Speaker Stereo — Wiring, Mid/Side and Streaming](https://www.baffless.com/single-speaker-stereo-1): How the Baffless Single Speaker Stereo works internally: the three full-range drivers are wired in a delta connection between two floating-load current amplifiers, mid/side side-gain is lifted by a frequency-dependent amount, and the AirPlay, Roon and DLNA streaming paths are verified by peak-hold spectrum measurement.
- [Single Speaker Stereo Prototype](https://www.baffless.com/one-speaker-stereo): The first Single Speaker Stereo prototype: three full-range drivers in one pine cabinet, with star and delta wiring variants tested against each other before the finished Baffless system was built.

## Measurement and hearing

- [About Music Listening](https://www.baffless.com/about-psychoacoustics): Why the same record can sound wonderful or not: Baffless treats the loudspeaker, the room, psychoacoustics and the listener as one system, and still adds as little as possible to what leaves the driver.
- [Binaural Microphone](https://www.baffless.com/binaural): Baffless binaural measurement head: a loudspeaker-measurement tool, used especially for crosstalk-cancellation filter development. Not a product. Average-size ear canals, XLR, ultra-low-noise preamp, USB power, 14 dBA noise floor.
- [Average Human Size Ear Canal](https://www.baffless.com/average-size-ear-canal): Measurements on the Baffless dummy head: the ear canal has a direction-dependent transfer above 4 kHz and about 3 dBA better capsule signal-to-noise than a blocked entrance.
- [Ultra Low Noise Mic Preamp](https://www.baffless.com/ultra-low-noise-mic-preamp): Baffless binaural preamp stays below the 1.4 µV RMS A-weighted electret capsule so the capsule, not the electronics, sets the noise. A rear sensitivity switch covers more than 130 dB with a cheap sound card.
- [XLR Balanced Connectors](https://www.baffless.com/xlr-balanced-conectors): The binaural head uses a balanced Neutrik XLR line because the cable must not add more than a few microvolts. Five metres of thin Tasker cable in a braided sleeve.
- [Power Supply Over USB Cable](https://www.baffless.com/power-supply-over-usb-cable): USB can power the binaural head if the noise is filtered. Galvanically isolated two-stage filtering: the microphone supply is under 1 µV RMS, 20 Hz to 20 kHz. It is done, it works, and measurements show it is quiet.
- [Noise Floor 14dBA](https://www.baffless.com/noise-floor-14dba): Primo EM273 capsules in the Baffless dummy head, rated 14 dBA. A quiet night recording of Leaves are falling measures close to that number.
- [Can You Hear the Difference?](https://www.baffless.com/can-you-hear-it): A/B listening comparisons between open-baffle dipole and box loudspeakers, and between current drive and voltage drive.
- [Audio Myths, Busted](https://www.baffless.com/audio-myths): Common audio beliefs that measurements do not support: speaker cables, break-in, amplifier power and distortion figures, examined against data.
- [Sound Examples](https://www.baffless.com/sound-examples): Binaural demo records from the dummy head: cranes over the swamp, cuckoo, deer, falling leaves. Wear headphones.
- [More info](https://www.baffless.com/more-info): Baffless binaural head details: 3D-printed TPE, cold-shoe and tripod mounts, Neutrik XLR, compact wind muffs, and a shower leak test.

## Workshop notes

- [Dev AMP](https://www.baffless.com/dev-amp): Dev AMP is a development amplifier for comparing voltage drive, current drive and mixed-mode output impedances on the go, with response equalised, so the listening difference is the drive mode — not a frequency-response change. It is a decision tool, not a product.
- [New Amplifier Board](https://www.baffless.com/new-amplifier-board): The latest revision of the Baffless current-drive amplifier board.
- [UNI-T UTP3305 Power Supply Repair](https://www.baffless.com/uni-t-utp3305-power-supply-repair): Repair notes for a UNI-T UTP3305 laboratory power supply, with fault diagnosis and measurements.
- [Non Audio Related Stuff](https://www.baffless.com/non-audio-related-stuff): Non-audio projects and workshop side quests from Baffless.

## Archived documentation

- [Archived Single Speaker Stereo User Manual](https://www.baffless.com/single-speaker-stereo-user-manual): Archived operating guide for an earlier self-contained Baffless Single Speaker Stereo build, covering network setup, listening modes, room-balance controls and protection indicators. It is not a current off-the-shelf product manual.

## About and index pages

- [About](https://www.baffless.com/about): Baffless is Rytis Smolskas, a one-person audio engineering workshop in Vilnius, Lithuania, building open-baffle dipole loudspeakers and current-drive amplifiers.
- [System with a Soul](https://www.baffless.com/perfectly-tuned-one-person-project): Baffless is a one-person project: every system is designed, built, measured and tuned by Rytis Smolskas in Vilnius, Lithuania.
- [Tech Corner](https://www.baffless.com/techcorner): Technical articles on current drive amplification, open-baffle dipole loudspeakers, DSP correction and acoustic measurement.
- [Unique Design & Style](https://www.baffless.com/unique-design-and-style): The unconventional forms of the Baffless Dipole System and Single Speaker Stereo follow their acoustics: minimal baffles reduce diffraction and coloration, while the SSS driver geometry uses room-wall reflections for stereo reproduction.
- [WOW Factor](https://www.baffless.com/wow-factor): Why Baffless can remain surprising after the first listen: a speaker-detached centre image, articulated dipole bass and the enhanced reality of close-miked studio recordings.
- [Audio Machine](https://www.baffless.com/audio-machine): A proof-of-concept listening rig: fun, a good music device, some clever technology. Not finished. You can already hear that it works.
- [Historic Photos](https://www.baffless.com/historic-photo-junk): Archive photographs from earlier Baffless prototypes and builds.
- [WAF Loudspeaker Calculator](https://www.baffless.com/wafloudspeakercalculator): Rate the Wife Acceptance Factor of your loudspeaker setup with AI vision.
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.baffless.com/privacy-policy): How the Baffless website handles personal data.

## Machine-readable resources

- Sitemap: https://www.baffless.com/sitemap.xml
- Crawl policy: https://www.baffless.com/robots.txt
- Every page carries schema.org JSON-LD (Organization, Person, Product, TechArticle,
  BreadcrumbList) in a `<script type="application/ld+json">` tag.