let me start with a quote from our fellow member:
indeed the way most people stuff their enclosures it doesn't. and that's the problem.
oftentimes i will look at a manual of some car audio subwoofer ( from a reputable company like JBL ! ) and in the box instructions it will say something like "line the sides of the box with 1" fiberglass".
well what is that going to do ? one inch of fiberglass will be lucky to absorb 5 khz. what effect will it have on 200 hz ?
most subwoofers are helped by the fact that their dimensions don't allow very low frequency modes and at the same time they do not produce much high frequency energy so there is not much need for attenuation to begin with.
and then there are companies like B&W who will make funky looking enclosures ( transmission line / labyrinth ) to absorb the back wave. WHY ?
why not just use a normal box with SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF DAMPING MATERIAL ?
when i say sufficient amount of damping material i mean something like:
30 of box volume in direct vicinity of the driver left open. the sides of the box lined with high density acoustical foam such as auralex such that maybe 20% of the total box volume is foam. and the remaining 50% of the box volume stuffed with something like acousta stuff ( or if you don't care about your health - fiberglass ).
and when i say stuffed i mean STUFFED. none of that 1.5 pounds per cubic feet nonsense. i mean stuff as much as will go in !
yes that means a significant amount of money will be spent on foam and stuffing. but that doesn't seem to stop the Transmission Line folks ? and what about the dipole folks who cry all the time about regular speakers sounding "boxy" ?
it seems people are willing to do almost anything to get away from the boxy sound EXCEPT the only thing they should be doing - stuffing the box properly.
ps: i am not saying that using elements of a transmission line ( the way B&W does in Nautilus ) is not a reasonable approach. i am saying that what makes TLs not sound too obnoxious is the stuffing, not the cabinet. cabinet geometry can only ENHANCE the effectiveness of stuffing by allowing it to work optimally. an unstuffed pipe will sound WORSE than an unstuffed box.
it seems that in their quest to solve the problem people feel the urge to exacerbate it first so that there would not be any way of ignoring the problem before actually solving it. to fight boxy sound first they turn the box into a tube which sounds even worse and then they finally stuff the tube to fix the problem. well why not just stuff the box to begin with ?
indeed the way most people stuff their enclosures it doesn't. and that's the problem.
oftentimes i will look at a manual of some car audio subwoofer ( from a reputable company like JBL ! ) and in the box instructions it will say something like "line the sides of the box with 1" fiberglass".
well what is that going to do ? one inch of fiberglass will be lucky to absorb 5 khz. what effect will it have on 200 hz ?
most subwoofers are helped by the fact that their dimensions don't allow very low frequency modes and at the same time they do not produce much high frequency energy so there is not much need for attenuation to begin with.
and then there are companies like B&W who will make funky looking enclosures ( transmission line / labyrinth ) to absorb the back wave. WHY ?
why not just use a normal box with SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF DAMPING MATERIAL ?
when i say sufficient amount of damping material i mean something like:
30 of box volume in direct vicinity of the driver left open. the sides of the box lined with high density acoustical foam such as auralex such that maybe 20% of the total box volume is foam. and the remaining 50% of the box volume stuffed with something like acousta stuff ( or if you don't care about your health - fiberglass ).
and when i say stuffed i mean STUFFED. none of that 1.5 pounds per cubic feet nonsense. i mean stuff as much as will go in !
yes that means a significant amount of money will be spent on foam and stuffing. but that doesn't seem to stop the Transmission Line folks ? and what about the dipole folks who cry all the time about regular speakers sounding "boxy" ?
it seems people are willing to do almost anything to get away from the boxy sound EXCEPT the only thing they should be doing - stuffing the box properly.
ps: i am not saying that using elements of a transmission line ( the way B&W does in Nautilus ) is not a reasonable approach. i am saying that what makes TLs not sound too obnoxious is the stuffing, not the cabinet. cabinet geometry can only ENHANCE the effectiveness of stuffing by allowing it to work optimally. an unstuffed pipe will sound WORSE than an unstuffed box.
it seems that in their quest to solve the problem people feel the urge to exacerbate it first so that there would not be any way of ignoring the problem before actually solving it. to fight boxy sound first they turn the box into a tube which sounds even worse and then they finally stuff the tube to fix the problem. well why not just stuff the box to begin with ?
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