I bought a used Centaur from the classifieds and it arrived today. I have not had a opputunity to shoot a centaur before today but all the hype about these bows sparked my interest. My current two bows are a Dakota pro Hunter and a Robertson Wolfer.
My first like was the grip and the way it covers your hand. I was surprised how small the grip is on the bow. I do not have tuned arrows but it still shoots where your looking. It seems to have good arrow speed. It has the original string on it. My only concern is that the bow is louder than my other bows. My Wolfer is dead quiet. I researched older threads and they do not help other than the obvious. The bow is 62, 52@29 and I was shooting a 525 gr traditional axis. Brace height is 7.25. I am going to put a quiver on it and maybe some sims vibration dampers on the limbs like my other bows and see what happens. Has anyone solved this noise problem?
Centaurs are some really nice bows! One of the few bows I really regret getting rid of. :rolleyes:
Once I figue out how solve the noise problem, I think it will be my longbow of choice.
I have owned 2 centaurs. both 58"ers and they were a little louder than my other bows. I just used 2 sets of silencers and have a bow mounted quiver and now it is pretty darn quiet and extremely fast!
Centaurs are special. IMHO one of the top of the mountain hybrids made and the bowyer is like an old friend to deal with.
In my experience they are very quiet bows. Is it one of the carbon models? The carbon in the limbs gives them a higher pitch tone on the shot than glass bows. Are you sure its not just that? The higher pitch shouldn't be louder, just sounds different. How old is the string/ what material, and how many twists are in it? I just have trouble believing that a working recurve with string contact on the limbs could be quieter than a hybrid longbow.
I'm sure you'll get it sorted/ tuned to your liking, just use process of elimination.
Like Chuck stated it is probably just the difference in the sound of the carbon if it is a carbon model.
I have had the Triple Carbon and Chimera models and to my ears sound a bit loud and have a "twang" sound to them.
But if I stand next to somebody else shooting it, it is very quiet.
On my 60" bows I like the cat whisker or the wool puff at 9.5 or at the 1/3's and brace is set at 7.5.
The starting point or min brace Jim recommends for a 62 incher is 7 1/2. I run mine at 7 5/8. I would raise it up a bit at a time and see what happens. I also lace a few whisker strands in with the wool silencers. The quiver will help too and I like a bit more arrow weight. Like others said the carbon does have a different sound to it but definetly not noisy
I would suggest you quieten the bow before you put the quiver on as this can create a separate noise issue and I would not want to try to solve them simultaneously.
I would raise the brace hieght as well.I had my 62 inchers at around 7 and 3/4er give or take a hair.
You mentioned you had the original string on it.
Keep in mind that it may not be the strings that Jim is currantly using as he changed a few times over the years as far as material and his stringmaker.I had the newer string silencers on my last bow as well that are muskox wool I believe?Not positive though.I would try wool silncers if thats not whats on it currantly.
I used an all rubber selway slide on on one of my Centars and it worked really well with the rubber quiver soaking up any noise or vibration.
I have used the all glass,single carbon,double carbon and tripple carbon centaurs and never thought any of those limb layups were noisy when tuned properly.
I usually shot around 10 to 11 grains per pound.
I shot a couple of very well made strings on mine (glass model), and found it just a little loud for my taste.
My third string was a 10 strand D-10 from Pierre at SBD strings - found it noticeably quieted down the bow.
I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this bow......its going to be raining this evening Tim, maybe I can ride over and try it out. :bigsmyl:
When Jeff comes over, I will have another set of ears to evaluate the noise.
Chuck, the Wolfer has recurves limbs but they do not have as much bend to them. It's a crazy bow. I can unstring and string it by hand. I would never think to do that with my other recurves. It is all limb and shoots really hard and is dead silent but not really that forgiving. I have to shoot the bow a certain way, some of the other guys who have them can elaborate. I do have a SBD string on the Wolfer.
Make sure you are measuring the brace height correctly per Jim's recommendation: it is from the nock point on the string to the first layer of wood/glass/carbon.
http://www.centaurarchery.com/reference_sheet.htm
I had been measuring from the string to the throat of the grip....which is incorrect by about a half inch.
Tx' is right, double check it.
Night' I would love to try a Wolfer some day. I am sure it is quiet, I had a Fatal Styk for a little while that was extremely impressive noise level-wise by recurve standards, all it needed was puffs or whiskers on a thin string. It actually was marginally quieter than my Habu, but the Habu is just a sweeter shooter overall.
Like I said, I am sure you will get it dialed in. Get a decent string on it, either one of Jim's new strings, one from Allen at LRU or from LBR, or SBD.
Tuning is essential. Adding things to the bow is putting a Band-Aid on the problem, not fixing it.
Proper brace is a biggie. Then string silencers applied the right way in the right points on the string.
A good release is quieter.
Proper nock fit matters--tight nocks are louder.
String material matters more on some bows than others. BCY-X has proven to be the quietest material over-all I've ever used.
I will have to look into the brace height. I have always measured to the that of the grip. I am not sure I understand the first layer of carbon on the shelf. A diagram would be nice.
The first lamination moving from belly to back...the first layer past the deepest part of the grip more or less.
Why not give Jim a call or send him an email and tell him you acquired one of his bows and want some advice and to chat. He's a pleasure to talk too and really knows his stuff.
Your right Chuck, I called Jim and talked a long time about bow design, arrow set up, brace height, etc. He looked up the bow's serial # and it is a triple carbon with dark matter. You can tell he is passionate about his bows performance. I got the bow quiet, then added a EFA quiver. I am still working getting arrow to bare shaft. I ran out of options with the arrow I have so I am going to have to order some more shafts. He gave me some arrow suggestions that I am going to try.
I have a 60" triple carbon that is also 52@29. I use an sbd string and wool silencers. I think i'm at 7" brace but might be 7.25"... I'd have to check.
I shoot 400 spine carbons cut to 30.5" and use 3 5" shield cut feathers. I use 175 up front with the standard 18 gr insert. I also like to add 1" of aluminum footing (weighs 12 grains). For extra oomph and quiet I recently started adding 29" of paracord.....makes for an arrow weighing exactly 600 grains. Bow is super quiet and hits hard. I am shooting three under by the way.
Proper brace height really is very important. Every bow has a sweet spot to each individual.
Also I like a cordovan tipped glove for a slick and quiet release.
Both Triple Carbon Elite T/D DM bows which I setup w/o quivers were deadly quiet.
Shot with some gents that were shooting LB.s also...one of their bows has routinely received praise for its quietness over the years. Both individuals commented no less than six times how impressed they were with the Centaur's silent manner.