I just finished my recent build. They are seas coax T-18 in a sealed box. I built some test boxes, both sealed and ported and decided that a sealed would be fine as space is limited.
So I hooked them up today and I'm not happy at all with the way they sound. My ear is telling me that the mid bass is really weak and distorted sounding. Possibly there is a resonance somewhere? They are also extremely fatiguing to my ears.
I remember them sounding a bit different from the test boxes although this could be my imagination. My test boxes were made of particle board (with some egg crate foam on the inside) and the finished ones are made of Baltic Birch lined with 1/2 wool padding and 1/2 of acoustic foam and just a touch of poly-fill.
A couple of quick questions.
1- Could the box itself make that much of a difference in sound? Maybe I should have used MDF?
2- Is it possible that I have too much damping inside the box? Could that make the mid bass sound weak and distorted?
Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
So I hooked them up today and I'm not happy at all with the way they sound. My ear is telling me that the mid bass is really weak and distorted sounding. Possibly there is a resonance somewhere? They are also extremely fatiguing to my ears.
I remember them sounding a bit different from the test boxes although this could be my imagination. My test boxes were made of particle board (with some egg crate foam on the inside) and the finished ones are made of Baltic Birch lined with 1/2 wool padding and 1/2 of acoustic foam and just a touch of poly-fill.
A couple of quick questions.
1- Could the box itself make that much of a difference in sound? Maybe I should have used MDF?
2- Is it possible that I have too much damping inside the box? Could that make the mid bass sound weak and distorted?
Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Are you using a crossover something like this one?
Crossover for Seas Coaxial Speakers H1333, H1353, Loki, T18*
The box is 7 liters internal, no bracing, 3/4" BB with 1"BB front baffle. I should also comment that the lower bass sounds good. Ultimately it will be cut off at around 100 hz when i add my subwoofer anyway, which is why a sealed works for me.
Yeah that's what I was thinking. First I'm going to stuff it full, then take it all out and see. I guess this is going to be trial and error.
I just wanted to know if I can expect changes in mid bass sound by the amount of stuffing I use or don't use. It seems that yes, it can make a difference. Keeping fingers crossed.
Here is a tongue-in-cheek solution I recently shared It will improve your system's sound, but only for a few hours at a time.
World's Oldest Tweak?
World's Oldest Tweak?
If you make the cabinet as an open back design and put fibre glass in the back of it it should give you what you want. By attenuating the bass somewhat you will emphasis the midrange, it's a matter of getting balance in the audio spectrum.
If you experiment with the driver mounted on a flat panel of a reasonable size you will see what I mean.
C.M
If you experiment with the driver mounted on a flat panel of a reasonable size you will see what I mean.
C.M
Check the phase between channels and between drivers. Some people deliberately invert the tweeters because a 12dB XO has 180deg phase shift.
Tap your box with your finger to see if any part rings badly.
Run one of those free PC based analyzers to look for resonances. A PC mic may not be perfect but it's probably an electret, which are much better than any speakers are going to be.
Tap your box with your finger to see if any part rings badly.
Run one of those free PC based analyzers to look for resonances. A PC mic may not be perfect but it's probably an electret, which are much better than any speakers are going to be.
Thanks for all the responses. I'll try all of them eventually.
Tonight I filled the whole box with wool/cotton stuffing. That seemed to help out a lot and may have fixed the problem. I need some time when the wife and kids are out of the house to really listen. Plus, I think it's only fair to give them a couple weeks of listening to let your ears adjust and then see how you like them. I've had paper cone speakers my whole life. These are poly so maybe I'm just not used to the sound.
They are a little bright for my taste but I'm in the process of finishing the cloth speaker grills. I have kids so grills are a necessity. Hopefully that mellows them out a little. I'll keep tweaking and testing. I think I'll be satisfied in the end.
Tonight I filled the whole box with wool/cotton stuffing. That seemed to help out a lot and may have fixed the problem. I need some time when the wife and kids are out of the house to really listen. Plus, I think it's only fair to give them a couple weeks of listening to let your ears adjust and then see how you like them. I've had paper cone speakers my whole life. These are poly so maybe I'm just not used to the sound.
They are a little bright for my taste but I'm in the process of finishing the cloth speaker grills. I have kids so grills are a necessity. Hopefully that mellows them out a little. I'll keep tweaking and testing. I think I'll be satisfied in the end.
That's very interesting. I'll look into that. I thought about an open baffle at one point but assumed the speaker itself wasn't designed for it so never gave it any more thought.
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