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RE: Altering driver behavior?

Posted by Dryginger2 (A) on December 25, 2014 at 14:44:52

In Reply to: Altering driver behavior? posted by genungo on December 25, 2014 at 11:34:37:

Genungo,

Thank you for sharing your approach which I respect.

I take my approach further in the opposite direction than you may be aware and rely on my ears after months of testing to tell me what finally works best for a pair of Vienna Acoustic Mozart Grands in this environment.

First, I found that severely limiting the fringing effect of the mid-range and woofer magnets by enclosing their sides and back with four layers of MagnetShield (Cat. #A274 @ $4.50/ in ft (this takes about 14'/ $70 - link provided beneath) boosts their efficiency/ dynamics by about 20%/25%. To achieve this outcome, it's necessary to separate each layer with narrow strips of cork and insert a central 15mm hole through each layer at the back to allow for pressure equalization/ release.

Secondly, while it's not possible to enclose the tweeter, curiously the insertion of a Neoprene 60-Duro rubber washer between the tweeter and cabinet isolates the sensitive tweeter from the vibration coming through the wood from the nearby mid-range speaker to such remarkable effect that tweeter clarity/ dynamics improve 15%-20%. Ultimately I decided that such washers on mid-range and woofers boosted dynamics at the expense of clarity and so removed them.

Thirdly, enclosing the sides and top of the mid-range and woofer cross-over inductors with two layers of Ultra Perm 80 (two 8 x 10.5" sheets of hydrogen-annealed MuMetal available for $26.80 at www.ebay.com/itm/MuMetal-Ultraperm-Permalloy-Alloy-Shielding-Sheet-Mu-Metal-Audio-Shield-80-/160613440162) separated by thin strips of cork noticeably enhances clarity.

Fourthly, three layers of Teflon tape around the center of each mid-range and woofer basket arm removes an audible and irritating level of sound vibration.

Fifthly, teardrops of Rope Caulk facing outwards on the facing mid-range and woofer speaker basket arms creates more focused music. Personally I have found Rope Caulk or Duct Seal around the speaker surrounds is by contrast relatively superfluous and an eye-sore.

Sixthly, the thick wool tweeter surrounds that I made kept falling off so have been satisfied with the effect of Madisounds's Felt Defraction Ring for Tweeters @ $10 from www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/acoustic-damping/dampers-felt-defraction-ring-for-tweeters/ .

The effect of these measures is sound of substantially enhanced dynamics, clarity and focus that belong to a pair of seriously more expensive speakers. And it will be further improved by upgrading the hookup wires to allow for external cross-overs.

So, being conservative is one choice and experimenting with improvements by trial and error is another. (Examples of the errors were enclosing the hookup wires in cotton and MuMetal and initially failing to make a hole in the MagnetShield layers enclosing the back of each speaker magnet...)

Dry Ginger

• MagnetShield from Less EMF Inc.   (Open in New Window)

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