EnABL Room Treatments
G'day,
Last night I made up some EnABL strips to treat the room corners directly behind my speakers.
Block size: 4 cm x 2 cm
Block Material: Norton 'All Weather Tape' (clear)
I stuck the blocks onto sheets of clear contact (the stuff you use to cover books).
The contact sheets have a 2 cm x 2 cm grid printed on the backing paper, so I took the lazy approach and defaulted to the 4 cm x 2 cm block size.
I only wanted to go up 60 cm because that is the height of the vintage speakers I'm currently playing with (see attached pic).
Results?
- Another level of clarity and depth in the soundstage.
- Bass is noticeably tighter and more detailed, but subjectively sounds a bit thin - however, the vintage speakers don't do really low powerful bass to begin with, so YMMV.
- diffraction off furniture that is in between the speakers has become audible.
There is a low cupboard in between the speakers that holds up the TV, amp etc. (not my choice).
I EnABLed the external edges of the cupboard using blocks made from the clear contact (2 cm x 1 cm) and stuck on individually.
This does seem to address the audible edge diffraction in the same way that it does on speaker cabinets.
Cheers,
Alex
G'day,
Last night I made up some EnABL strips to treat the room corners directly behind my speakers.
Block size: 4 cm x 2 cm
Block Material: Norton 'All Weather Tape' (clear)
I stuck the blocks onto sheets of clear contact (the stuff you use to cover books).
The contact sheets have a 2 cm x 2 cm grid printed on the backing paper, so I took the lazy approach and defaulted to the 4 cm x 2 cm block size.
I only wanted to go up 60 cm because that is the height of the vintage speakers I'm currently playing with (see attached pic).
Results?
- Another level of clarity and depth in the soundstage.
- Bass is noticeably tighter and more detailed, but subjectively sounds a bit thin - however, the vintage speakers don't do really low powerful bass to begin with, so YMMV.
- diffraction off furniture that is in between the speakers has become audible.
There is a low cupboard in between the speakers that holds up the TV, amp etc. (not my choice).
I EnABLed the external edges of the cupboard using blocks made from the clear contact (2 cm x 1 cm) and stuck on individually.
This does seem to address the audible edge diffraction in the same way that it does on speaker cabinets.
Cheers,
Alex
Attachments
Cone Calculator
I made this simple excel calculator when I wanted to make a cone-shaped stencil (for EnABL pattern) from a flat material.
You can input some easily measurable dimensions, and it will tell you the "pie-slice" angle, and disc diameter you need to make a cone from flat material (i.e. - paper).
I have not yet read through the entire EnABL-Processes thread (120+ pages!), so perhaps I missed something someone has already done.
Anyhow, I hope it's useful.
BudP was using something else here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/show...25&pagenumber=1
Feel free to re-post/move this calculator to somewhere more appropriate if you see another use for it.
I made this simple excel calculator when I wanted to make a cone-shaped stencil (for EnABL pattern) from a flat material.
You can input some easily measurable dimensions, and it will tell you the "pie-slice" angle, and disc diameter you need to make a cone from flat material (i.e. - paper).
I have not yet read through the entire EnABL-Processes thread (120+ pages!), so perhaps I missed something someone has already done.
Anyhow, I hope it's useful.
BudP was using something else here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/show...25&pagenumber=1
Feel free to re-post/move this calculator to somewhere more appropriate if you see another use for it.
seas tweeters
Step 1 - success. I put the EnAble pattern on the tweeters. The pattern was applied to the edge of the dome closest to the surround, and to the edge of the metal just outside the surround. I use a fairly thick acrylic paint. It was applied with the tip of a toothpick... really just pairs of little dots.
After drying for 3 hours high notes from cymbals etc were clearer. The overall high end was turned up a notch relative in volume. I thought I might need to up the series resistor a bit in the high pass filter. After 24 hours I listened to a broad range of music. By now the balance between the drivers had come back. Much like the main drivers, a layer of grunge was removed. Cymbals, bells etc ring and decay naturally. There is a really easy going sense of coherence between the two speakers. Really like a single point source. Bud has often described the human reaction to a threatening noise. This has disappeared and a more relaxed listening is the outcome. None of this is dramatic, as these were very good speakers before this application. The surprising change is that I now enjoy a much broader range of music on these speakers. Before I changed the xovers, these speakers were spectacular on quiet well recorded jazz, but not so interesting on complex classical. With a new xover it was much better, but still limited. Now most of my classical collection is shining. Also, some kind of harsh jazz that I never listened to is becoming intriguing. I have yet to get into some old recordings that were collecting dust, but I suspect they will come to life as well. If I could go back, I would not. This is a keeper.
I have not put the center dot and pattern on as I sense no beaming. I’m going to hold off and let this completely cure before any other change. Can’t say whether I’ll apply a light touch of micro gloss until I really get to know results of this step.
Thanks again for the advice Bud.
Step 1 - success. I put the EnAble pattern on the tweeters. The pattern was applied to the edge of the dome closest to the surround, and to the edge of the metal just outside the surround. I use a fairly thick acrylic paint. It was applied with the tip of a toothpick... really just pairs of little dots.
After drying for 3 hours high notes from cymbals etc were clearer. The overall high end was turned up a notch relative in volume. I thought I might need to up the series resistor a bit in the high pass filter. After 24 hours I listened to a broad range of music. By now the balance between the drivers had come back. Much like the main drivers, a layer of grunge was removed. Cymbals, bells etc ring and decay naturally. There is a really easy going sense of coherence between the two speakers. Really like a single point source. Bud has often described the human reaction to a threatening noise. This has disappeared and a more relaxed listening is the outcome. None of this is dramatic, as these were very good speakers before this application. The surprising change is that I now enjoy a much broader range of music on these speakers. Before I changed the xovers, these speakers were spectacular on quiet well recorded jazz, but not so interesting on complex classical. With a new xover it was much better, but still limited. Now most of my classical collection is shining. Also, some kind of harsh jazz that I never listened to is becoming intriguing. I have yet to get into some old recordings that were collecting dust, but I suspect they will come to life as well. If I could go back, I would not. This is a keeper.
I have not put the center dot and pattern on as I sense no beaming. I’m going to hold off and let this completely cure before any other change. Can’t say whether I’ll apply a light touch of micro gloss until I really get to know results of this step.
Thanks again for the advice Bud.
wlowes,
What you describe is very typical behavior for a dome tweeter in a multi driver system. After 48 hours you can begin to decide what, if any thing, more is needed. Sometimes those center dome dots just squash the dispersion envelope out wider, without making an audible on axis change.
If, when you are off axis from the cone driver enough to be at the edge of the full FR angle of dispersion and the tweeter portion of the music seems constrained in dispersion to a narrower angle, using the center of dome pattern is justified. I usually just do it and then work on getting the dispersion close to 180 degrees. However, I would take Dave's comments upon driver quality increases into consideration here.
If , after 48 or 72 hours of curing, you decide that the efficiency has dropped just a bit more than you like, apply some micro gloss, with a fine tipped, well tamped and drained brush, just over the pattern and slightly out onto the dome. Use very light pressure here and apply a very thin coating. Let this cure for 48 ti 72 hours before making any decisions for further treatment
Once these drivers provide music at a quality level that rests your threat assessment correlator to the point of putting you to sleep, or at least in a drowsy state of mind, there really is not more you should do to the system, except control the box surfaces. You should at least apply a line of pattern rows to the back edge of the four box surface sides. Another row down the middle of each side panel is also beneficial for creating a stable three dimensional portrayal. And, the boxes will completely disappear, no matter where you are in the room.
At this point a brief experimentation with the electron pool loops will add another portion of solidity to the perception of space and "ground " everything to a flat platform, that extends back into the wall behind the speakers.
Bud
What you describe is very typical behavior for a dome tweeter in a multi driver system. After 48 hours you can begin to decide what, if any thing, more is needed. Sometimes those center dome dots just squash the dispersion envelope out wider, without making an audible on axis change.
If, when you are off axis from the cone driver enough to be at the edge of the full FR angle of dispersion and the tweeter portion of the music seems constrained in dispersion to a narrower angle, using the center of dome pattern is justified. I usually just do it and then work on getting the dispersion close to 180 degrees. However, I would take Dave's comments upon driver quality increases into consideration here.
If , after 48 or 72 hours of curing, you decide that the efficiency has dropped just a bit more than you like, apply some micro gloss, with a fine tipped, well tamped and drained brush, just over the pattern and slightly out onto the dome. Use very light pressure here and apply a very thin coating. Let this cure for 48 ti 72 hours before making any decisions for further treatment
Once these drivers provide music at a quality level that rests your threat assessment correlator to the point of putting you to sleep, or at least in a drowsy state of mind, there really is not more you should do to the system, except control the box surfaces. You should at least apply a line of pattern rows to the back edge of the four box surface sides. Another row down the middle of each side panel is also beneficial for creating a stable three dimensional portrayal. And, the boxes will completely disappear, no matter where you are in the room.
At this point a brief experimentation with the electron pool loops will add another portion of solidity to the perception of space and "ground " everything to a flat platform, that extends back into the wall behind the speakers.
Bud
Thanks Bud.
I will wait and use your system to finish these to there optimum.
It's worth a quick mention of how far this has come. We are talking about a pair of 1983 boston acoustic a100's.Its a cheap particle board box with decent 10" paper cone drivers and some great tweeters. At this stage I've enabled the driver and the tweeter (in progress) and the front baffle edge. The sound stage is wide and 3d. The speakers are 3-4 feet from the back wall, but the sound somes from well behind the wall with no apparrent sound from the actual boxes.
For the record, Additional tweeks included rewiring and soldering the drivers; replaced the xover and moved it outside the box. Driver is now full range and tweeter has a first order high pass with black gate AC cap and mills resistor. the driver has Mamboni triangles on the back and felt on the inside of the stamped metal basket and putty on the outside.
I will wait and use your system to finish these to there optimum.
It's worth a quick mention of how far this has come. We are talking about a pair of 1983 boston acoustic a100's.Its a cheap particle board box with decent 10" paper cone drivers and some great tweeters. At this stage I've enabled the driver and the tweeter (in progress) and the front baffle edge. The sound stage is wide and 3d. The speakers are 3-4 feet from the back wall, but the sound somes from well behind the wall with no apparrent sound from the actual boxes.
For the record, Additional tweeks included rewiring and soldering the drivers; replaced the xover and moved it outside the box. Driver is now full range and tweeter has a first order high pass with black gate AC cap and mills resistor. the driver has Mamboni triangles on the back and felt on the inside of the stamped metal basket and putty on the outside.
Re: EnABL Room Treatments
Well it seems I'm being proved wrong about the bass with the room EnABL strips. There is much more bass than I lead you to believe.
The really odd thing with using tape for the EnABL blocks is that it seems to need a day or two to reach it's optimum performance.
I have no explanation for this, but it always plays out the same for me when I use it.
I should have known better by now.
I'm trying to find a way of recording my system in action so you can hear what I'm hearing.
Anyone know of a good place online to store WAV files?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bud,
Have you done much with EnABL as room treatment?
Cheers,
Alex
Alex from Oz said:
Well it seems I'm being proved wrong about the bass with the room EnABL strips. There is much more bass than I lead you to believe.
The really odd thing with using tape for the EnABL blocks is that it seems to need a day or two to reach it's optimum performance.
I have no explanation for this, but it always plays out the same for me when I use it.
I should have known better by now.
I'm trying to find a way of recording my system in action so you can hear what I'm hearing.
Anyone know of a good place online to store WAV files?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bud,
Have you done much with EnABL as room treatment?
Cheers,
Alex
Takes a day?
Alex,
This is truely curious. I always attributed the change that took place in speakers over 24-48 hours to paint curing. Can't be the case with tape.
I wonder if the change is in our brain's filtering system. Perhaps there is some sound that our brain finds objectionable or irritating that is always there. If it is a constant sound, our brain would simplty filter it out. It would explain why we find some systems tiring and stressful even though we cannot hear something objectionable. When EnAble is applied, we often feel that the sound is clearer but even more important easier to listen to. Perhaps your room treatment is eliminating some objectionable sound. Like fingernails on a black board. It takes your brian a while to trust that the problem is gone and opens up to allow more input come in. With this change, the perception of bass that previously was not there. I'd argue that it always was there and measureable, but you could not percieve it as your system was trying to protect you from something it found objectionable. This will make the pure engineers a little crazy as a system could measure the same before and after EnAble, but be perceived quite differently.
Alex,
This is truely curious. I always attributed the change that took place in speakers over 24-48 hours to paint curing. Can't be the case with tape.
I wonder if the change is in our brain's filtering system. Perhaps there is some sound that our brain finds objectionable or irritating that is always there. If it is a constant sound, our brain would simplty filter it out. It would explain why we find some systems tiring and stressful even though we cannot hear something objectionable. When EnAble is applied, we often feel that the sound is clearer but even more important easier to listen to. Perhaps your room treatment is eliminating some objectionable sound. Like fingernails on a black board. It takes your brian a while to trust that the problem is gone and opens up to allow more input come in. With this change, the perception of bass that previously was not there. I'd argue that it always was there and measureable, but you could not percieve it as your system was trying to protect you from something it found objectionable. This will make the pure engineers a little crazy as a system could measure the same before and after EnAble, but be perceived quite differently.
G'day marce.
That seems a plausible explanation of why I'm hearing changes.
In my experience the noticeable change is usually in the first day or two.
G'day wlowes,
I agree with you.
The brain filters out "noise" or "information" that it cannot resolve coherently.
I suspect that the EnABL in the room corners reduces the audibility of this "noise".
EnABL on speaker cabinets seems to reduce the audibility of the cabinet somehow, yet at the same time makes the music signals much more coherent.
My suspicion is that EnABL reduces audible diffraction.
The cupboard I have between the speakers is a large solid object radiating reflected and diffracted sound.
There was no change that would alter the reflected sound from the cupboard - which leaves us with diffraction.
I suspect that the diffraction effects from the room corner masked the cupboard diffraction to some degree.
So, the effect of the cupboard wasn't as bad when only the speaker cabinets were EnABL'd.
When EnABL was applied to the room corners the diffraction from the cupboard became very obvious and annoying.
I suspect that the reason is that the EnABL pattern reduced the audibility of diffraction in the room corner and consequently made the diffraction of the cupboard clearly audible.
But then again, these "suspicions" are based on my listening impressions.
Cheers,
Alex
PS: I would have liked to apply the room corner pattern from floor to ceiling - but then the other half would see it.
That seems a plausible explanation of why I'm hearing changes.
In my experience the noticeable change is usually in the first day or two.
G'day wlowes,
I agree with you.
The brain filters out "noise" or "information" that it cannot resolve coherently.
I suspect that the EnABL in the room corners reduces the audibility of this "noise".
EnABL on speaker cabinets seems to reduce the audibility of the cabinet somehow, yet at the same time makes the music signals much more coherent.
My suspicion is that EnABL reduces audible diffraction.
The cupboard I have between the speakers is a large solid object radiating reflected and diffracted sound.
There was no change that would alter the reflected sound from the cupboard - which leaves us with diffraction.
I suspect that the diffraction effects from the room corner masked the cupboard diffraction to some degree.
So, the effect of the cupboard wasn't as bad when only the speaker cabinets were EnABL'd.
When EnABL was applied to the room corners the diffraction from the cupboard became very obvious and annoying.
I suspect that the reason is that the EnABL pattern reduced the audibility of diffraction in the room corner and consequently made the diffraction of the cupboard clearly audible.
But then again, these "suspicions" are based on my listening impressions.
Cheers,
Alex
PS: I would have liked to apply the room corner pattern from floor to ceiling - but then the other half would see it.
I wonder if there is an analogue to energy refracting in a crystal here. Certainly the energy coming off of the untreated speaker and box surfaces seems to activate more disturbances out in the room, than a treated driver and cabinet. I wonder what the direct analogue would be, in refractions in crystal being mitigated or interfered with by loss of a reflective structures efficiency.
Hmmmm very interesting post Alex. I will post some pictures sent to me from someone else who has had exactly your experiences. Every time he treats a piece of furniture, wall etc. it removes some haze or distraction he had not been actively aware of before. I haven't asked him about those removals exposing others, as an effect, but I will when I talk to him next.
Bud
Hmmmm very interesting post Alex. I will post some pictures sent to me from someone else who has had exactly your experiences. Every time he treats a piece of furniture, wall etc. it removes some haze or distraction he had not been actively aware of before. I haven't asked him about those removals exposing others, as an effect, but I will when I talk to him next.
Bud
Here is a direct link to Gilbert Young's pictures. He sent them to me to post, as he is not willing to join in the fray directly. Even if you think this is idiocy, you should check out the photos, as Gilbert is a painter and some of his art is on display here and it is worth looking over.
http://picasaweb.google.com/hpurvine/RoomTreatmentsAndCabinetTreatmentForEnABL#
Bud
http://picasaweb.google.com/hpurvine/RoomTreatmentsAndCabinetTreatmentForEnABL#
Bud
Wow!
Gilbert has been busy.
I became acquainted with Gilbert through our phone conversations preceding his purchase of an EnABL kit. Through them I discovered Gilbert's curiosity and questioning eye. I was able to gain a first appreciation of Gilbert's art through the links he provided me at my request. Carry on, Gilbert!
Gilbert has been busy.
I became acquainted with Gilbert through our phone conversations preceding his purchase of an EnABL kit. Through them I discovered Gilbert's curiosity and questioning eye. I was able to gain a first appreciation of Gilbert's art through the links he provided me at my request. Carry on, Gilbert!
BudP said:
Bud,
Thank you for this fascinating post. I will carefully repeat your stated procedure on my Beta 8As, but not before listening to the naked drivers. Did you ever contemplate cutting out the dustcap and installing a phase-plug?
Question: how would you treat a compression tweeter, such as the Eminence APT-50? - http://www.eminence.com/proaudio_drivers_detail.asp?web_detail_link=APT50
I know you would apply blocks to the waveguide's mouth, as will I, but would you touch the actual driver too? I'm making an 8" plywood waveguide for this.
Thanks,
Simon
G'day,
Had a thought about the room EnABL I described a few posts ago before being side-tracked.
If you are considering trying this then you may be tempted to condense the EnABL pattern spacing. DON"T DO IT.
Although the spacing between blocks looks too big to be effective, don't worry, it works.
Decided to add the mid-pattern ring on the drivers of my vintage two way speakers today.
They are drying on the table now, so I'll post again later when I re-install them.
Cheers,
Alex
Had a thought about the room EnABL I described a few posts ago before being side-tracked.
If you are considering trying this then you may be tempted to condense the EnABL pattern spacing. DON"T DO IT.
Although the spacing between blocks looks too big to be effective, don't worry, it works.
Decided to add the mid-pattern ring on the drivers of my vintage two way speakers today.
They are drying on the table now, so I'll post again later when I re-install them.
Cheers,
Alex
A leap of faith
There have been a few steps I've taken in this hobby that required me to suspend disbelief and take a leap of faith.
Early on it was the basic question, how can wire make a difference? Experimentation with various interconnects and speaker cables clearly removed layers of haze and also opened my ears to the music and my mind to possibilities.
But surely power cords and mains quality can't make a difference. Wrong again. I long ago I discovered to great surprise the difference a power cord can make. Just recently I added power isolation transformer and mains filtering. Very dramatic and similar sonic impact to EnaBle.
Then came EnAble. It was hard to believe but dramatic increase in clarity and low level information at each step of driver, then baffle and now tweeter. My wife will never let me paint the room so I'll have to take the word from Oz on that one.
Then these electron pools... Unbelievable but now indespensible! Just this week as I experimented with some new biwired speaker cables I initially left out the electron pools. Wait a minute, something is very wrong. Should I dump these cables, no wait a minute, put back the pools and back came the dynamics.
Why does this rambling belong here in EnAble listening impressions? To me there is a great deal of observed similarity to the effect of each of these tweaks. Wire quality and architecture, EnAble, electron pools and clean abundant power all seem similar in enabling our ability to delve deeper into the real music. Each seems to eliminate a layer of barrier to the source music.
I think that Bud's analogy of the paper cone over the performance is a an accurate description of the sonic effect of EnAble, that of removing a light barrier between the listener and the sound that is in the source media.
There have been a few steps I've taken in this hobby that required me to suspend disbelief and take a leap of faith.
Early on it was the basic question, how can wire make a difference? Experimentation with various interconnects and speaker cables clearly removed layers of haze and also opened my ears to the music and my mind to possibilities.
But surely power cords and mains quality can't make a difference. Wrong again. I long ago I discovered to great surprise the difference a power cord can make. Just recently I added power isolation transformer and mains filtering. Very dramatic and similar sonic impact to EnaBle.
Then came EnAble. It was hard to believe but dramatic increase in clarity and low level information at each step of driver, then baffle and now tweeter. My wife will never let me paint the room so I'll have to take the word from Oz on that one.
Then these electron pools... Unbelievable but now indespensible! Just this week as I experimented with some new biwired speaker cables I initially left out the electron pools. Wait a minute, something is very wrong. Should I dump these cables, no wait a minute, put back the pools and back came the dynamics.
Why does this rambling belong here in EnAble listening impressions? To me there is a great deal of observed similarity to the effect of each of these tweaks. Wire quality and architecture, EnAble, electron pools and clean abundant power all seem similar in enabling our ability to delve deeper into the real music. Each seems to eliminate a layer of barrier to the source music.
I think that Bud's analogy of the paper cone over the performance is a an accurate description of the sonic effect of EnAble, that of removing a light barrier between the listener and the sound that is in the source media.
Re: A leap of faith
- that's why it only goes up 2 feet high!
With the normal lighting of the room, it's almost invisible because the Contact and Norton 'All Weather Tape' are both clear.
I had to hold a bright lamp dirctly above it to show the pattern.
Cheers,
Alex
wlowes said:
- that's why it only goes up 2 feet high!With the normal lighting of the room, it's almost invisible because the Contact and Norton 'All Weather Tape' are both clear.
I had to hold a bright lamp dirctly above it to show the pattern.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Cheers,
Alex
EnABL Room Treatments
Yes. I posted some listening impressions earlier before the thread was hijacked by a certain individual.
Yes. I posted some listening impressions earlier before the thread was hijacked by a certain individual.
Alex from Oz said:
Alex from Oz said:
Alex from Oz said:The brain filters out "noise" or "information" that it cannot resolve coherently.
I suspect that the EnABL in the room corners reduces the audibility of this "noise".
EnABL on speaker cabinets seems to reduce the audibility of the cabinet somehow, yet at the same time makes the music signals much more coherent.
My suspicion is that EnABL reduces audible diffraction.
The cupboard I have between the speakers is a large solid object radiating reflected and diffracted sound.
There was no change that would alter the reflected sound from the cupboard - which leaves us with diffraction.
I suspect that the diffraction effects from the room corner masked the cupboard diffraction to some degree.
So, the effect of the cupboard wasn't as bad when only the speaker cabinets were EnABL'd.
When EnABL was applied to the room corners the diffraction from the cupboard became very obvious and annoying.
I suspect that the reason is that the EnABL pattern reduced the audibility of diffraction in the room corner and consequently made the diffraction of the cupboard clearly audible.
But then again, these "suspicions" are based on my listening impressions.
Cheers,
Alex
PS: I would have liked to apply the room corner pattern from floor to ceiling - but then the other half would see it.
Vintage driver EnABL
Here's some pics of the vintage two way drivers.
Apologies for the quality - I took these on my mobile but at a low res setting.
Cone tweeter!
Sealed at the rear
6 1/2 inch woofer. The mid cone ring got a bit out of shape because I didn't use a template...
Notice that there is no surround. The cone is rolled over to form the surround.
Notice the pattern around the basket legs and magnet. Oh yeah, massive 8 watts power handling...
You can see the centre dot and pattern on the back of the magnet.
Yep, electron pools (aka pig tails)
These are vintage drivers, and nothing exceptional.
The purpose of all this is to explore how much of a transformation can be achived using EnABL on the drivers and the cabinets.
Applying the mid cone rings added yet another level of clarity and detail.
It reveals even more of the subtle nuances in the music.
I think there is also slightly more dynamic range as well.
Scratching the back of the cone gently in one spot with my fingernail after adding the mid cone ring was facsinating to listen to close to the ear.
The energy from each scratch seemed to launch from the entire cone instantaneously.
Also the decay of the cone energy is very short and sharp, but not muffled - I've never heard a cone behave this way before.
Aurally, I found this all very exciting and at the same time oddly disturbing.
A bit like ear drums on caffiene.
Cheers,
Alex
Here's some pics of the vintage two way drivers.
Apologies for the quality - I took these on my mobile but at a low res setting.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Cone tweeter!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Sealed at the rear
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
6 1/2 inch woofer. The mid cone ring got a bit out of shape because I didn't use a template...
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Notice that there is no surround. The cone is rolled over to form the surround.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Notice the pattern around the basket legs and magnet. Oh yeah, massive 8 watts power handling...
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
You can see the centre dot and pattern on the back of the magnet.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Yep, electron pools (aka pig tails)
These are vintage drivers, and nothing exceptional.
The purpose of all this is to explore how much of a transformation can be achived using EnABL on the drivers and the cabinets.
Applying the mid cone rings added yet another level of clarity and detail.
It reveals even more of the subtle nuances in the music.
I think there is also slightly more dynamic range as well.
Scratching the back of the cone gently in one spot with my fingernail after adding the mid cone ring was facsinating to listen to close to the ear.
The energy from each scratch seemed to launch from the entire cone instantaneously.
Also the decay of the cone energy is very short and sharp, but not muffled - I've never heard a cone behave this way before.
Aurally, I found this all very exciting and at the same time oddly disturbing.
A bit like ear drums on caffiene.
Cheers,
Alex