Alternative EnABL Processes

[Alex from Oz]

G'day All,

Firstly, congrats to Bud P - EnABL really does work!!
See EnABL Processes

I wanted to try EnABL, but was uncomfortable with the idea of 'painting' my cabinets or drivers.

Here is a way to try the EnABL process that can be easily reversed and without using paint.

How? Heavy Duty Aluminium Kitchen Foil and double sided tape
(Sellotape "Acid free" 10mm x 5 metres).

1. Apply the double sided tape to the dull side of the foil - leave about 1.5 cm on either side of the ds tape.
2. Press down on firmly on the back of the ds tape to get a good bond with the foil.
3. Carefully tear the foil along the edge of the tape - keep tension on the tape with one hand and you will get a clean edge.
4. You now have a strip you can cut to fit the block size you need for applying the EnABL process to speaker cabinet or driver.


I used a blade and a cutting mat to cut the blocks.
For smaller blocks, I peeled off the backing and stuck the strip to the cutting mat. The blocks can be 'picked off' using a blade and applied.
I have applied blocks as small as 2mm x 4mm!

I have applied this to my cabinets and drivers.
Foil blocks can be easily removed from the driver cone using a fingernail.


Results are stunning ! - is it the same as doing it properly using paint?
I don't know, but if you are skeptical about EnABL like I was, try this and see for yourself.

Bud, what are your thoughts on this?


Cheers,

Alex from Oz

[Cal Weldon]

It sounds like your method will raise the height of the 'dots' quite a bit. Do you have pics of this?

[Secips]

Thanks for the link, Alex from Oz.

I always wanted to try EnaBL as well but didn't have the time to practice. This is perfect. It might be a good idea to compare this with the original paint process or even different types of tape.

[planet10]

This would probably work just as well with just the tape.

dave

[Alex from Oz]

Originally posted by Cal Weldon
It sounds like your method will raise the height of the 'dots' quite a bit. Do you have pics of this?

I haven't got a working camera at the moment so I can't post pics...sorry.
I used the pics here as a guide http://homepage.mac.com/tlinespeaker...-US5304746.pdf

Originally posted by Secips
Thanks for the link, Alex from Oz.

I always wanted to try EnaBL as well but didn't have the time to practice. This is perfect. It might be a good idea to compare this with the original paint process or even different types of tape.

Thanks Secips. I would love somebody with test gear to do a comparison - I don't have any apart from my ears

[Secips]

Originally posted by Alex from Oz



Thanks Secips. I would love somebody with test gear to do a comparison - I don't have any apart from my ears

You have all the equipment you need. Wouldn't even dream of doing tests.

[Alex from Oz]

Quick note of clarification on my first post in this thread.

The double sided tape is not the padded stuff.
It is completely flat just like normal sticky tape except that it is sticky on both sides.

Also the Sellotape is actually 12mm not 10mm.

Cheers.

[BudP]

Alex,

My thought is "good for you". I am quite certain that your work is every bit as good as paint. You might try the paint at some point, just to hear a comparison, but if you are getting the sound field to hang behind the speaker box or OB, then you have what is available.

You can pattern a box's sides, vertically, at mid box, and across the top and bottom. This should bring forward instruments right up to this point. Just deepens the sound field in general.

One of the things I practice is, a pattern in paint, at every joint, wall or edge, including the final edge of a driver basket. Another thing you can do is hide a painted pattern under a flat black interior wall paint, or have the color mixed to your spec. You will need to put a coat of Micro Scale Gloss over the pattern first, but not any where else.

Thanks for having the courage to experiment. After you have your drivers treated and they are no longer giving you a localization on the front of the driver, when you are on axis, meaning that even there the sound field is behind the boxes or baffle face, then we can show you the next step.... called Electron Pools. Even weirder than EnABL!

Thanks again for doing this and posting about it. I think you have dlr very concerned, over on the main sprawl.

Bud

[Alex from Oz]

Thanks Bud.

Some interesting ideas for me to play with...
I will move to paint for the driver cone because I think it will perform better over the long term.
I hope dlr is not too concerned. My intention is just to encourage people who have not heard EnABL to try it for themselves.
Then the science argument can focus on why EnABL does what it does and other ways we might be able to apply it.

I'm keen to see some info on the Electron Pools. Do you have a link?

Cheers,

Alex

[BudP]

Hi Alex,

Here is the link for the EP's.

Groundside Electrons

They have progressed to a fairly elaborate tool to help tuck in the tiny ragged edges of some drivers, add even more coherent detail, especially in the decay of notes, and adjust the amount of "dynamic color" retained within an overall and above 4 kHz frequency range. There is even a color code scheme for the Litz wire / shrink tube items I make.

They can be quite useful, but you need to be attentive when developing them with whatever wire/dielectric you choose to use. Too much plastic to wire area will cause a rise in performance and then a sudden drop off into pretty thick and dull sound.

The effects are subtle, unless you have EnABL in hand and have begun to hear a "lack" of information. Almost as if the system is hinting that it could do more. I suspect it is really information that is just outside of our range of comprehension in some fashion. This because it turns out to be things like the decay of a single piano note and all of the interplay of resonances that occur, through the harp, into the chassis and finally into the supports. All of this from Red Book audio no less!

First you need the EnABL tool set up and your correlator educated by that level of performance. Then you will easily be able to wring astounding performance from the gear you have. Unless, of course, your boxes have a poured ground plane, with instrument grounding plan inside. Then it will only provide a benefit for the commercial CD player and the speaker's drivers.

Keep in mind at all times, while investigating this, that it is complete madness. It's mechanism is less comprehended than that of EnABL. It's implications for affecting electronic circuit performance, through further disassembly of ground planes, into individual circuit component correction methods, from their current lumped sum parameter, is quite seductive.

Bud