Finished FE126e BLH Enclosure. Damping required?

[fantom_circuit]

After a hilariously long construction period, I finished my back-loaded horn reference design enclosures for the FE126e. I'm finally getting around to gluing them, but before I do, I wanted to double-check that I don't need to put any padding or damping material in the enclosure?

I've never seen it referenced in any build logs of these enclosures, and it's not mentioned on the foxtex-provided plans.

btw, they sound fine to me right now, so unless it's going to make a noticable difference I won't bother...

[Ty_Bower]

The "Fostex Recommended" design that I've seen is a bass reflex / back-loaded horn hybrid. Is that the one you built, or are there some other drawings out there?

[fantom_circuit]

Yep that's the one - sorry, probably should have linked it

[planet10]

You will probably need to line the bass reflex box. We were never very thrilled with our build of this box.

dave

[fantom_circuit]

Originally Posted by planet10

You will probably need to line the bass reflex box. We were never very thrilled with our build of this box.

dave

Do you mean the lower section of the BLH+BR hybrid enclosure, or are you just referring to the regular BR type enclosure? What didn't you like about it?

[planet10]

It really doesn't have any real horn in it... the labirynth is really an expanding Big Vent -- long enuff that it starts acting like a TL. The other port just makes performance less predictable.

You need to damp the BR chamber just like you would a regular BR.

All the time we listened to these we speculated about what could be done to improve the quality of the bass... and they didn't seem to go that low. Once we got to the point of (in our heads) adding a woofer, we realized that a much simplier sealed, or aperiodic loading of the FE126 would be better idf we pursued it.

It did inpire us to build a set of folded monopole diyA ref ML-TLs for the FE127... their performance was much better.

So in the end we relegated the FE126 hybrid thingies to the scrap heap along with the Fostex recommended horn for the FE103. Good, but less than steller performance of the Fostex recommended horn for the FE206eSR has us a bit gun shy about Fostex's designs. We did hear the recommended horns for the FE166eSR, and quite enjoyed them, but couldn't help speculating how they would sound in a properly adjuste Austin A166 or Spawn Hiro.

I hope you have better luck with yours.

dave

[planet10]

Here is a picture... finished ones are the diyA FR ref ML-TLs

dave

[fantom_circuit]

Thanks for all the info dave. Honestly, when I first had a listen to them I was disappointed in the lack of bass.

After living with them for a few months, however, I've started to appreciate the clarity in the high end. If I ever get round to it I'll try pairing them with a small sub.

Still, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out considering they were my first build.

I'll have a play around with some stuffing tomorrow.