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RE: 1.7 frame damping

Posted by andyr (M) on December 23, 2016 at 23:01:43

In Reply to: 1.7 frame damping posted by zulugone on December 23, 2016 at 11:13:29:

I'm wondering why you are wondering ... whether your 1.7s can be made to sound better?

Because:

a) You seem to be lumping together (and confusing) at least 3 separate - and distinct - concepts?:

1. is there an advantage to braced stands which stop the frames from swaying backwards and forwards, from bass transients?

2. does the 'razor' method (ie. damping the holey-metal pole-piece) do any good?

3. does replacing the MDF frame with hardwood deliver any benefit?

and b) You want before & after measurements - not anecdotal evidence - before you take a step. :-))

But re. your comment "though I wonder if the Mylar vibrations would be able to move all that steel" ... I suggest they will! My Maggies are equivalent to Tympani IVas with only 1 bass panel - not 2. So I have 2 heavy, hardwood frames each side and each frame has a braced stand, like so:

These are the stands for the mid panels and ribbons. There is another stand - with a much heavier base - for each bass panel.

The hardwood frames for the bass panels weigh about 30lbs each - in spite of this, if I rest my fingers on top of the bass frames, I can clearly feel the bass vibrations (when the bass is pumping :-)) ). But because the mids & ribbons are in separate stands ... they have no movement.

70lbs of steel mass loading will of course reduce the MDF frame's vibration - but I don't think it will eliminate it.

In terms of replacing the stock MDF frame with a hardwood frame ... there are a couple of things at play here, which improve the sound:

* the hardwood is stiffer.
* the driver is now fixed more firmly to the frame. If you were curios enough to see what Maggie looks like "in the flesh", you would find - after removing the sock - that the driver is stapled into the MDF frame. Staples and MDF are not a 'solid' combination! :-((

If you read my "Tweaks" article, you will see what I did to my IIIas long ago, before Peter Gunn had come up with the idea of hardwood frames. This was to clamp each side of the driver to the MDF using steel 'L-section' - the long arm of the 'L' lays against the back of the MDF frame (and was bolted to the MDF), the short arm went down into the rebate, pressing against the back of the driver.

This did 2 (good!!) things:
* the driver was now locked to the MDF frame - much tighter than with the staples, and
* the steel L-section running the full length of the MDF frame stiffened it.

Andy

Edits: 12/23/16 12/23/16

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