Bad SUBWOOFER performance/A lot of air is trying to come out/thumps, PLEASE ADVISE...

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
Hi , I bought a multimedia speaker set for my PC, and the subwoofer performs quite bad. It delivers some sort of wOOOOMMMM sound like there is too much air trying to come out sor something..., it also doesnt go so low in Freq.

SO...
Before trying this with a real 2000$ Theater system when I get money like you lucky people I would like to Practice and make a better sound by modifying this low-end sub.

System is of Creative, and Subwoofer driver is "Cambridge soundworks" 30watt. I was thinking of applying damping material inside(there is none) ,OR building a new chasis for it to eliminate that "too much air" sound, possibly with a new port tube??.

IF tere are any other ways to MAKE SOUND BETTER AND TO LOWER THE FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF THE SUB, or if you know what should I do PLEASE SAY MAN!!!!

Also If you know/have any chematics of building the same based on experience PLEASE SAY MAN!!!
Thanks
MARKO )
 
It would help us if you are able to provide a product link to the speakers you are talking about.

Futhermore, the driver is prob. too small to achieve any decent bottom end. From memory, creative subs use 6" drivers at the most. You may only reach 45hz (-3db) if your lucky (assuming you get a bigger box and retune it).
 
I had a Cambridge Soundworks FPS1600. Used a cheap 5" midbass, and they call it a "subwoofer".

Ridiculously boomy and to top it off I could hear air squirting out of the port.

Thinking it was due to a crap driver I replaced it with a Vifa P13. Sounded exactly the same. I concluded it must be due to EQ to give the impression of bass. But like many other computer speakers using cheap 5-8" drivers it has no real bass.

The port resonance did not help and made things worse. In the end I plugged the port with none other than tissue paper.

You could also try a sock.

Damped the boomy peak and the whooshing sound was gone. Hardly hifi, but at least prevented me from throwing it out for curbside garbage collection.
 
I bought my daughter a cheap $100 dollar subwoofer(for her PC) with two sattelites....on the box it says 110 watts......but for the life of me this thing rocks.....the ornaments fell off the shelves in her room.....I have never seen a 100 watt 10 inch driver put out so much bass....actually it's called Cyber Acoustics speaker system.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Re: Bad SUBWOOFER performance/A lot of air is trying to come out/thumps, PLEASE ADVISE...

stifa said:
System is of Creative, and Subwoofer driver is "Cambridge soundworks" 30watt. I was thinking of applying damping material inside(there is none) ,OR building a new chasis for it to eliminate that "too much air" sound, possibly with a new port tube??.

IF tere are any other ways to MAKE SOUND BETTER AND TO LOWER THE FREQUENCY RESPONSE OF THE SUB, or if you know what should I do PLEASE SAY MAN!!!!

MARKO )

Foam lining the subwoofer will help in terms of sound quality,
for a normal reflexed subwoofer complete stuffing is not good.

If the port is external and its not a bandpass design :

(If it is a bandpass stuff the sealed section with BAF /
Polyfill and line the reflexed section with acoustic foam)

Two choices to lower the port frequency -

Line the port with foam ; you need a piece the length of the port
x 3 times the diameter. Thickness depends on the diameter of
the port, for a 1.5" port 1/4" foam is good.

Lengthen the port ; if there is plently of space behind the end
of the port fill it with the larger style plastic drinking straws
and let them stick out to extend the length. You'll need to
be able to increase length by at least 50% ideally nearer 100%
and still have enough airspace at the end of the port for it to
be able to "breathe". If you haven't enough space behind the
end of the port go with the foam lining.

If all else fails, stuff it if with BAF and block the port, but foam
lining of the box and retuning the port should work far better.

:) sreten.
 
yeah the cyber acoustics do have some bass, it doesnt go that deep, but it isnt bad for their price.


I have a midiland set with a 6.5" sub. Small but it goes to at least 35hz.. havent really tested it. The box seems to be designed well.

Model is 8200

Driver brand is "Audiophile" :p
 
hi

i have given a solid competition of these chinese drivers for muti media spk manufactureres in india

there are quite a few problems

since i develop transducers my stuff totally out - did the chinese
drivers (even in pricing !)

but i dont think it will be possible to fit better drivers for every one here

then a course of action could be

to detemine any enclosure resonances and totally cancel them out by rein forcing the structure , the enclosure should be rock solid

now check out the driver and detemine if it can be driven by better electronics if can be - pull out a line of the driver and run it thru a 30 to 40 watt amp and see how it performs

if it plays better , change the tx of the sub unit (also monitor the tx temp while playing the sub normally many of the chinese spk s are under powered)

oh by the way creative , cambridge , jbl all are chinese stuff -

try to work out better electronics for the sub , also try out the other suggestions of fine tuning the porting

suranjan

transducer design engineer
 
This reminds me of a compact bandpass sub I once had. Uses something like 2 units of 4 1/2" inside I think. Can feel the air movement at the ports, but hardly any bass. Very disappointing.

Sold it to a friend who installed it in the cab of his truck and it actually sounded pretty good. Must be my room was too big.

Regards
 
About the Acoustic Authority (aka Cyber Acoustics) speakers:

Maximum PC tested their A-3780 2.1 system ($100) in March. To summarize, they sound decent (especially the satellites) but couldn't handle the tests. The left satellite blew first, then the right. They tested a second set that smoked, too. BTW they got a 3 (out of 10!) verdict. Boo.

I auditioned these speakers at Office Depot a few days ago and was hardly impressed. My father says the sub is boomy, even at low levels, and I must concur.

Stay clear...:smash:
 
dumpster

I scored 12 Creative "subwoofer' out of a dumpster; they were inefficient & sounded like cr*p; (i think the plastic enclosure was tuned to around 75 Hz). I put 6 ea in a 50 L box tuned to 50Hz - they still didn't sound that great (surprise surprise). sort of OK for lower mids.

I think Stifa's best bet is to forget about trying to polish a t*rd, If he knows enough about electronics, he could pull them out of the creative and re-use them with a decent sheilded 6" woofer in a larger cab.

Pete McK
 
reply

I've got the Logitech Z340 3 piece set 2 sats and a sub.
The sub gives very loud tight mid bass with is good but the satellites are awfully crap,no mids and muffled treble!
Surpised that a heavy duty 5 and 1/4 inch bass driver hidden in a sealed box with a 10 inch passive radiator in front of that,gives very good mid bass.
I think get the Logitech Z340 and throw way the satellites and replace them with Wharfedale flat panels [like i did] [the ones that look like picture frames] and it now sounds very good overall.
:) :cool: :D :clown:

A pic of the Logitech sub and the Wharfedale loud panels!
 

Attachments

  • l23-6132.jpg
    l23-6132.jpg
    23.8 KB · Views: 285
I bought that same 3 piece logitech for a mate. I opened up the satellites and put in some cotton wool for dampin mats. Made sure also that the ports were sealed off as that impaired the performance. No trebble? did you try removing the little covers that will expose the drivers, this brightened up the performance no odds, never have a heard such a change when the grills were removed.

The sub exited one room mode so I eq'd that out with foobar and told the mate to always ure foo to play music.

I was also impressed by the bass that thing puts out. Oh and BTW i think its a 8" passive radiator not that it matter. :D
 
You can pick up the Cyber Acoustics that sells for $100.00 at Future Shop for 5 to 10 bucks?? Show me where...

I don't know what you guys are talking about ..but for 100 buck sub for a pc....it's pretty good...boomy or no boomy ,that can all be adjusted by placement and software..
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.