I want to buy these speakers, marketed in the US as Sinclar Brighton 460T: Roth OLi 50 review | from TechRadar's expert reviews of Hi-fi and av speakers
But I agree with the review that the bass is not well defined. The speakers are great in other respects, and reasonable.
Can I buy them and put in different bass 6.5" drivers to tighten the bass? Or fill them with stuffing? Or change the crossover (scary!)? Or just hook my amp to the high end of the biwire terminals and leave the low end unconnected and get a sub? Or put the speakers (already huge) up a foot or two on stands? Maybe glue little lead fishing weights to the woofer cones to knock them down a bit?
Just kidding on that last bit
. I think.
Any help appreciated...
Thanks.
But I agree with the review that the bass is not well defined. The speakers are great in other respects, and reasonable.
Can I buy them and put in different bass 6.5" drivers to tighten the bass? Or fill them with stuffing? Or change the crossover (scary!)? Or just hook my amp to the high end of the biwire terminals and leave the low end unconnected and get a sub? Or put the speakers (already huge) up a foot or two on stands? Maybe glue little lead fishing weights to the woofer cones to knock them down a bit?
Just kidding on that last bit
. I think.Any help appreciated...
Thanks.
I suspect you could DIY something better for less money.
Have you heard many DIY designs?
No, Chris, I haven't, and this is exactly, exactly what I'm wondering. I can never get much idea of how good DIYs come out. People say lots of superlatives but I never hear anybody say "I put my Response 2.5 clones next to the real ones and they were identical" or "my DIY speakers completely blew away the Focals/Dynaudios/Sonus Fabers/pick your brand...."
I'm interested in DIY but in the near future won't have the time, tools, or place to build something like this. Ergo my question:
Can I fix the one problem with these otherwise great sounding speakers? Can it be done? How?
Thanks.
I'm interested in DIY but in the near future won't have the time, tools, or place to build something like this. Ergo my question:
Can I fix the one problem with these otherwise great sounding speakers? Can it be done? How?
Thanks.
This speaker would appear to have a few good things going for it. Have you considered the possibility that the designer was aiming for accuracy, and the reviewer may not have had the time or the ability to integrate them properly in his room, so he could detect something lacking?
I would suggest you run them full range as intended and find the right place to put them that gives you good upper bass. Then get your powered subwoofer and experiment with putting them in different places, changing the volume, crossover point and polarity (leaving the mains alone), until you can fill the holes in the bass.
I would suggest you run them full range as intended and find the right place to put them that gives you good upper bass. Then get your powered subwoofer and experiment with putting them in different places, changing the volume, crossover point and polarity (leaving the mains alone), until you can fill the holes in the bass.
Allen, thanks. I see I didn't make clear this started becasue they are on sale locally, and I've spent about 5 2-3 hour sessions listening to them. The bass problem is going to get worse in my small room and I think may be the only reason not to buy them. The soundstage is the best I've heard, detail seems very good, just need a well-controlled and defined bass.
So do you have thoughts on putting in different 6.5" woofers?
So do you have thoughts on putting in different 6.5" woofers?
If you've listened to them and are still interested then it seems reasonable to get them considering the circumstances. At least you'll have an idea of what you're getting. I'm not saying there's not a better option if you're prepared to do the research and take a chance.
I would not judge the speaker too heavily on the bass response. This should be seen as a room issue and should be worked out with subs.
On the other hand the bass that we hear depends on much higher frequencies as well. So aside from being light on the bass, does the speaker seem to have any tonal issues ie. is it well balanced through the lower midrange and upward?
I would not judge the speaker too heavily on the bass response. This should be seen as a room issue and should be worked out with subs.
On the other hand the bass that we hear depends on much higher frequencies as well. So aside from being light on the bass, does the speaker seem to have any tonal issues ie. is it well balanced through the lower midrange and upward?
Hi,
You seem to be asking a question you think you already know the answer
to and have ignored my previous post. No you can't change the bass units
based on no useful information posted about them, different woofers can
work better, but not on the basis this woofer is better than that woofer.
rgds, sreten.
A further alternative to previously posted is stuff the ports with drinking straws.
If you block both ports and the bass is still poor give it up, they are not good.
Absolutely not.
Wouldn't be much harm in that one. You can sometimes make internal box mods, but rarely does that mean you will get great results. Bad bass can be many, many things. The box is only one such factor. Better to start from excellent than to start from poor and try to make it excellent.
If it's scary, then NO! Not unless you've got somewhere nearby with both crossover design skills and measurement tools to help you out. To me that seems like a waste of money... why pay for a speaker if you're going to have to modify it!?
I don't know the crossover frequency on them, but most 3-way speakers cross woofers around 300 to 500hz. Most subwoofers cover the 20hz to 100hz range.
How would this affect bass?
So do you have thoughts on putting in different 6.5" woofers?[/QUOTE]
Well there's a confident statement that I'd be inclined to disagree with.
How well DIYs come out depends on various factors - the drivers used, the crossover designer's skills, and don't underestimate the CAD software used either.
One of the reasons is that those companies aren't particularily the "Gold Standard". Saying a DIY speaker is better than a Sonus Faber is like "okay, whatever"
The problem is, until we can measure what the problem is, we can't empirically analyze it. How can we tell you "sure ya can fix it" if we don't know what "it" objectively is!? There's countless things we could suggest, but you can't correct a problem you can't diagnose!!!!!!
Soundstage is a difficult term. You say it's the best you've ever heard, yet none of us have a clue what you mean by that. It's like saying your wife is the best woman in the world. "Umm... okay... care to elaborate"! Until you can describe what about the soundstage, with respect to the room, the source material that you prefer, I'm just... lost. Is it tall? Is it wide? Is it deep? Or are voices right up there next to your face? Is instrument placement concise and sharp? For all I know, the bad bass even contributes positively to what you subjectively consider a great soundstage. I just don't know because it's not a word I fully understand as its meaning varies by the person.
Sorry to go off on a tangent, but I'm being honest with you that i'm sure there are both better commercial speakers, and better DIY speakers, than the Sinclairs, at the price point...I can see a few issues just from looking at the picture of the sinclair that I did notice your other thread so I'll go elaborate there
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How does this work? From long ago, Thiele's exprerimentation showed that adding resistivity to a vent raises f3.
The thing that really sucks balls about reading on speakers is that often, you CAN'T hear them. I just watched (in horror, just kidding) a video on Youtube with a series of speakers including a subwoofer that was shaking like it was producing an earthquake. It sounded annoying, loud and distorted. Since I'm used to listening to a small pair of Creative T12 computer speakers I was thinking there's no way in the world I could even stand listening to earthquake-like music. So, I agree with the above poster that it might be worth a try to listen to the speakers. Besides, I've heard a B & W iPod dock and Bose computer speakers that sounded so neutral they sounded to me like watching a white wall with no color. I mean it had no taste or flavor. And from what I've read, some well-regarded, expensive systems sound exactly like that.
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