I reckon not quite enough bass is good and just a bit too much is also good. But what I reckon is BAD is just the right bass level. The bass (for me) simply "disappears" with the right level and is so unengaging! I usuually go for just a bit too much bass (by one percent) so you can hear the bass. I build speakers as a serious hobby. When not quite enough bass, you can hear it more than the right level, and bass is tight and fast but won't rock thefloor (but way better than the right level). Good for chamber music. 😅 Crazy as it seems but this happens with all my speaker builds and it's like that with my B&W 706 reference speakers. I ran the woofers only and had an open FR driver on the med and treble and it was like one percent less output than the B&W tweeter, and I didn't realise how GOOD the bass is on the 706s, way more FUN to listen to the bass on those speakers (with one percent more bass level). And the bass was louder but didn't even sound louder, just way more "punchy", so it was louder. With my B&Ws original, though, the bass (being the right level) was so uninteresting and unengageing compared to my experiment bass level. 😅
That would be good. Also look into un box like cabinet shapes. Angled shapes there’s even a dude out there that makes clear acrylic? Cabinets. Also driver rings that cover the screws for a clean look. Options to install magnets on the inside baffle for magnetic grills. Strive to make the end product as UN DIY looking as possible.
Honestly, the idea of restricting the diameter of the resonance duct or even clogging it with certain acoustic materials to reduce the excess bass and sub-bass of an acoustic cabinet in certain environments seems stupid. That's what frequency band equalization is for. And regarding the idea that I saw someone mentioning, of using acoustic materials inside the duct to make the box have deeper bass, I wouldn't recommend it if you don't know the equipment you have well, as it can cause several inconveniences such as the blowing effect (the air moving at a very high speed inside the portico), moderate to drastic changes in the frequency response of the acoustic cabinet, etc. If you have a box that doesn't sound smooth and pleasant and doesn't have acoustic absorbent material inside, try using such materials. It doesn't need to be anything special, just take up the entire interior of the box without taking up too much of the cabinet's actual volume. I tested this using pillow stuffing - which resembles glass wool - and it worked so well in my speaker that it completely changed the frequency response for the better (it attenuated the unwanted bass frequency response from 120 Hz and above, and gave a boost in the performance of the sub-bass frequency response from 70 Hz to 30 Hz), compared to the factory model with no acoustic material inside.
Probably making the speaker lasts longer cause it doesnt extend as much. Like when you put a reg speaker in an infinite baffle and it over extends and breaks
See our video here: www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dv_3jgnInhiI&ved=2ahUKEwi20br1m8CHAxVCnokEHUcIAC8QwqsBegQIDxAG&usg=AOvVaw2Z9EQe8Q_QM8ccVvq1Vk1V Just keep the vertical and horizontal location the same and you can move it to the front without any issues.
Off-topic somewhat but when playing around with tuning ports using different length tubes I realised that tuning left and right speakers to different frequencies can actually work. (I am of course assuming that low bass is a mono signal on most recordings.) If you think of it it does have its advantages: You can tune to a wider frequency range rather than having to settle on a narrower one. There'll be less of a boost but a more uniform one. If you have to place your speakers asymmetrically putting one of them close to a boom-prone corner, you can put the longer port tube in that one, tuning it lower and providing more control over the mid-upper bass where things can more easily get out of hand. I don't think anyone else has tried that before, so you heard it here first :)
Yes, you can do these experiments, including if you want to find out the actual tuning of the cabinet. If you use a port that is too large (acoustically speaking) for the speaker, you will notice that after a certain size the port will start to lose its function of producing sound, because it will be tuned to a frequency below the tuning of the speaker box. If you use ports that are smaller than the original port, the box will reproduce higher frequency bass and will have less extension and depth, but it will play these bass at a slightly louder volume than the speaker with the original port.
Implied but not said is the matter that below the port resonance air flows freely into and out of the port (hence the greater excursion) But it is out of phase with the woofer cone, which causes acoustic cancellation and a much sharper roll off in frequency response. Thus plugging the port usually results in a bit less but deeper bass. This is an easy test... turn off your subwoofer(s), now listen to some music with deep rumbling bass in it, at mid-loud levels... putting your hand over the port will usually result in less overall bass but more deep bass, since you've stopped the cancellation effect. Like all things audio, a little science helps, but the end result is usually a judgement call.
@@nathaneldogo Subwoofer amps are sealed on the internal side and cooling is usually provided via external heat sinks. In general, my experience has been that plate amps tend to have a high failure rate due to the heat and vibration no matter if the subwoofer is vented or sealed.
What type of port plugs do you provide for the Torii bookshelf, are they 0% or 100% blocking or are they like the KEF ones where they're a two-piece design to provide some adjustability? Also, are they open or closed cell foam? Thanks!
We haven't historically provided any plugs but what we are looking at is an open cell. It would be one piece but blocks enough airflow that somewhere between a sealed and aperiodic design.
Provided that you can still "see their tonsils", then I agree. But that never happens. Only a sub (with your speakers) can make as much bass as you want without spoiling the med and treble. I reckon. 🎉
Not really. There are no simple answers to complex questions. No one is going to stop you from using port plugs if you want to, but this is not the smartest way to 'prevent mechanical damage to a speaker due to overexcursion', because with a simple equalizer or independent volume control, in the case of an active speaker, you can solve problems of excessive bass in the room and overexcursion of the speaker. After all, this will generate other inconveniences, from a weakening of the sound quality to even physical damage to the transducer (possibility of damage to the cone, the surround and the voice coil), if you happen to use this speaker with a port plug at maximum volume. These problems can vary depending on the equipment in which these port plugs are used. If you have a cabinet with a transducer mounted in it in such a way that it becomes a dedicated speaker for bass and sub-bass frequency response (say, from 200 Hz to 20 Hz), that is, a good quality subwoofer, you don't need to worry about the transducer's excursion, unless you are sending excessive power to the transducer, listening to music with a lot of distortion - square waves - in the bass, or if you want it to respond below 20 Hz. Now, if you have a box composed to respond from higher frequencies - a bookshelf, for example, don't try to make it respond below the minimum determined by the equipment manufacturer. If you are a DIY hobbyist and are assembling your bass cabinet, look for a transducer that has T/S parameters that favor the reproduction of low frequencies without damaging the product, within the ideal power specified. By following this, you won't have to worry about damage due to transducer excursion.
The glue you need to join Corian isn't something we could easily include in the kit and not something you can buy at any store so it would be hard to offer it as a DIY option. We could do potentially do finished speakers in all Corian though.
@@kerryarmes2786 Thanks for the quick reply. Makes sense...I assume joining the Corian to wood or MDF doesn't present the same challenge? Any thoughts on developing an open baffle speaker?
@@roberts3889 The Corian has to be glued to the MDF or plywood but a flexible adhesive works well for this and is more readily available. Coupled with screws that will go loosely through the Corian and tighten into the MDF sub-baffle, it holds well with no issues.
Great ideas! I'd be interested in a mate black Corian front baffle with large, nearly beveled chamfered edges in matte black to reduce visual reflections. Cherry would be my choice of veneer. I'm very interested in the new LD25X-WG tweeter and how you plan to integrate it in your designs (admittedly because it looks really cool!)
We are still working through potential ways to do larger chamfers, rounders, and facets. The Corian (and most other solid surface materials) only come in 1/2" and 1/4" thicknesses so you'd need several layers glued together to be able to do that.
With the front port instead of rear ports, i would think you can get away with placing the 3td-x closer to the walls? I would love to see a sealed box version or mod to these.
Besides directivity, 2 important facts with waveguide. First the most important is the time alignment with the woofer. In 70-80's, the woofer was advanced, nowadays no care is given but the waveguide does. The second is the lower frequencies loading. The tweeter can operate at lower frequencies down to 1khz instead of 2khz.
What a port does primarily is tune the resonant frequency of the bass driver. The output of the port itself - which could be reflected directly off the wall if it's a rear port - is marginal in comparison.
I think wave guides and horns are bad because they color the sound. They might be good at sending sound longer distances, making the sound appear bigger and giving a livelier presentation. But that's about it. Not good when you are going for a more natural sound.
Waveguides have been around for years before Buchardt. They've shown up in the DIY world since the around 2000-ish and Bucharest wasn't founded until 2013. I think the recent prevalence has been the push toward Spinorama style measurements being a high priority for a lot of customers.
I got some B&W 706 speakers and are low dispertion and they only sound good when you are right in front of them. If I do stuff around the room (off axis) they sound terrible. Too muffly! 😅 They are my reference speakers for my speaker building hobby. I make high dispertion speakers and I can walk around the room and still hear highs. 😅
That's likely because a number of B&W speakers cross the tweeter very high and you get a large dip off-axis. Not necessarily that they are low dispersion, just that the crossover point is causing a big mismatch in directivity.
I've done some experiments if you mount the tweeter ahead of the wave guide/cone can give you better effects or actually have it wider apart not so close to the tweeter diaphragm can give you better low end give it to go
It actually rang when you struck it! lol Not that that means it will ring in a speaker....it wont! EVERYTHING resonates! Its a Universal Constant. Do you guys- CSS- make custom speaker terminal plates? With custom engraving?
Yes, all metal with make a noise when you strike it. It is the decay time I'm talking about when I say ringing. The sound dissipates quickly and the energy required to get it to do that is far beyond the forces generated inside a speaker.
@@freeradical6390 Yes they do sell terminal plates that they will engrave for you. You can see them at 8:32 I have them on my 1TD-X's and they are very nice.
I think he means if the crossover is designed well. Because a 3-way is more complicated, there's a chance someone makes a poor design. A great 2-way is better than a poorly designed 3-way, but not as good as a great 3-way. So he's saying they did design it well so it's better than a great 2-way.
