EnABLed speaker baffle

[chrisb]

Alex - the painted pattern on the Planet10 Fonken boxes were applied by Bud; he simply beat us to it. I'm not sure if he similarly treated the F120A Fonkensteen enclosures for Jim Rebman.

As suggested previously, my impression of the effect being "more subtle than the EnABL treatment on the cones", was based on almost 2 years of continuous listening to at least 6 different pairs of this enclosure design, with a range of drivers and treatment levels.

With a very narrow front baffle / beveled profile, and flush mounted driver, I think this enclosure design already has a fairly benign diffraction signature. Subjectively this is certainly the case compared to our test pair of more conventionally dimensioned enclosures with the same volume and tuning (i.e. the GR Fonken). The beveled enclosures seem to pull off that "disappearing" act more then the rectangular ones.

A lot of pixels have been spent discussing /analyzing various existing and proposed measurement methodologies to identify what is going on in/around the moving speaker cone due to the EnABL treatment - an issue that is possibly a long way from conclusive resolution.

It could also be very interesting to investigate the effect that treatment to the baffle and adjoining exterior panels would have on polar dispersion / power respsonse patterns, etc., and morevover, if/ how any noted changes to those patterns might be related to the perception of "soundstage , dimensionality, increased coherence of levels of inner detail" etc., that are part of the enhanced musical experience I know I'm getting from the cone treatment.

[Svein_B]

Originally posted by chrisb
It could also be very interesting to investigate the effect that treatment to the baffle and adjoining exterior panels would have . . . .

I guess it is only a question of time before somebody will apply the dotted patterns to furniture and other interior objects.

Svein

[chrisb]

Originally posted by Svein_B


I guess it is only a question of time before somebody will apply the dotted patterns to furniture and other interior objects.

Svein

You might be funning with me, of course, but clearly the poorly worded quoted phrase could be misconstrued. I meant the baffle in which the driver is mounted (could of course be an open baffle), and the other (adjoining) surfaces of the speaker enclosure itself.

[BudP]

Possibly to everyone's horror, here is a room treatment begun by a man possessed. Not me either, he is of Fostex F200 A fame, from the split EnABL threads. Perhaps we can someday get him to voice his opinions on the benefit or lack thereof. Not the only surfaces he is working on either.....

Bud

[Alex from Oz]

Originally posted by chrisb
Alex - the painted pattern on the Planet10 Fonken boxes were applied by Bud; he simply beat us to it. I'm not sure if he similarly treated the F120A Fonkensteen enclosures for Jim Rebman.

As suggested previously, my impression of the effect being "more subtle than the EnABL treatment on the cones", was based on almost 2 years of continuous listening to at least 6 different pairs of this enclosure design, with a range of drivers and treatment levels.

With a very narrow front baffle / beveled profile, and flush mounted driver, I think this enclosure design already has a fairly benign diffraction signature. Subjectively this is certainly the case compared to our test pair of more conventionally dimensioned enclosures with the same volume and tuning (i.e. the GR Fonken). The beveled enclosures seem to pull off that "disappearing" act more then the rectangular ones.

G'day chrisb,
I agree with you that the more benign the diffraction signature is to begin with, the less dramatic the change when compared with say a rectangular flat baffle.
Your description of the effect is based on experience with the painted pattern on Fonken designs only.
However, Bud has applied the painted pattern to many different cabinet designs and yet he describes the effect as "subtle".

soundsinthestix used tape and found the results to be a "very noticeable difference" - which concurs with my experience.

An interesting thought - tape blocks would have a squarer edge, whereas painted ones (applied using a calligraphy pen) would be more like a roundover. See pic.

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G'day Bud,

That looks like the pattern inside my Voigt pipes.
I'll try and get some pics later today or tomorrow.

Cheers,

Alex

[chrisb]

thanks, Alex - food for thought

[chops]

Originally posted by BudP
Chops,

That is an excellent question. In the various formats I have tried and have also been tried in commercial systems the foam and felt were somewhat successful in controlling some emission problems, but it always seemed to be a reduction of the problem with reference to the signal heard rather than a solution to the problem. There were always more losses than gains from my experiments. Radiation patterns became slightly less focused but transient information seemed less intelligible. there was a bigger sweet spot but drums cymbals, stringed instruments and spatial definition noises became thuds scratch sounds and very anechoic respectively.

Putting the EnABL pattern on reduces the tonal based beaming and provides what is usually on axis only balances across the included angle of a cone driver and quite often wider than that. At the same time eliminates all of those room nodes, provides spectacular amounts of coherent low level information for spatial reproduction and removes rather than subdues emission characteristics that limit intelligibility.

Sounds like hocus pocus to me too, trust me. The only way you can actually know what to think is to participate. Get a kit from Ed LaFonntaine, open up a boom box and treat the drivers to a minimalist set of patterns. Then you will know.

Bud

Hello Bud!

What if you were to leave about an inch or two of bare baffle on all sides of the driver's basket frame to EnABL, then cover the rest of the baffle beyond that point with felt/foam, or even leather? Or do you think that would still kill the overall sound?

-Charles

[BudP]

Hi Charles,

Honestly I have no idea. The EnABL patterns should work as usual, regardless of what you do to the surface. At least that is the way it works out, on the driver faces.

You can certainly experiment without actaually commiting yourself to anything. Use a reduced tack tape like the blue tape sold by 3M for paint masking. Cut the patterns sized to what Alex has shown with his calculator and then listen to just that.

Once you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from various forms of music, regardless of whether you actually like what you are hearing, use some thin applications or rubber cement and tack the felt or foam in place.

Listen to that for a while and then remove the EnABL pattern pieces and repeat the journey. Then pull the felt and listen bare again.

Then do it again and this time take notes, both on the changes you found and what you thought of them.

At that point you will be one of the experts and your level of knowledge about baffle control will likely exceed mine. Just as Alex's fund of knowledge about baffles and bass loading apertures exceeds mine.

Suits me to a tee!

Bud

[chops]

Bud,

Thanks for the great tips and tricks. At some point, I will have a go at EnABL'ing my enclosures... That is, after I actually build the darn things.

[Alex from Oz]

G'day chops,

Why wait? Just EnABL the cardboard boxes!

Cheers,

Alex