Identifying Legitimately High Fidelity Loudspeakers: Myths & Facts about Cabinets

[everettT]

Look into Totem speakers as Vince doesn't believe in stuffing, neither do I. It's for amateurs!

(2:35)
borosilicate damping - https://goo.gl/CA78sE

I'm in the happy position where I don't buy or have to buy 'Store Bought' speakers, but after 40 years, Totem are the only one of two brands i'd even begin to consider, with Dynaudio maybe in second place, only because they get a big shout in the realm of car audio audio SQ.

But in this article there's so much 'facepalm' inducing bilge that I don't know where to begin. All I'll say is that in my 40+ years, I'm glad I'm not so stupid as to believe this nonsense.
http://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/loudspeaker-cabinets

Damping material can be subjective to you, but the design will dictate it. So welcome to the forum, I can see that it will be fun

 

[utubecomment21]

Well its not subjective, one has two distinct choices. One can either have a well design enclosure, or one can fall the the bilge that the other 99.999999999999999% of manufacturers produce! All the best

 

[Swerd]

Look into Totem speakers as Vince doesn't believe in stuffing, neither do I. It's for amateurs!

It's a quiet Sunday morning and I actually watched those two videos you attached. The Totem speakers I've heard are pretty good in my opinion. However, neither video ever mentioned the presence or absence of cabinet stuffing. In my opinion, those videos were sales pitches, 17 minutes of sales pitches. They weren't necessarily nonsense, but nonetheless, I'm sorry I watched them.

The speaker did briefly mention coating the inner cabinet surfaces with borosilicate damping. Borosilicate is a 50¢ word for glass, no different than a heat resistant Pyrex glass jar. What's the functional difference between spun glass stuffing or coating the insides of speaker cabinets with borosilicate damping? None! The critical questions are: 1) How much damping material is inside the cabinet? And 2) Is it enough to accomplish the goal of fine tuning the bass response of the woofer and cabinet. Spun glass, borosilicate coating, polyester fiber stuffing, or even fiber made from recycled blue denim all get the job done.

Saying that you don't believe in cabinet stuffing is, at best, misleading. Your Totem speakers do have glass damping material in them. It was applied as a liquid coating. Once dried, it works no different than other types fiber stuffing.

 

[Beave]

I wouldn't hold up Totem as a great example of cabinet & port design.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/totem-acoustic-signature-one-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[everettT]

I wouldn't hold up Totem as a great example of cabinet & port design.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/totem-acoustic-signature-one-loudspeaker-measurements

Yup, do the nuckle rap test and it's not great. Aside from the fact I don't like their voicing, subjective, his reference to most manufacturers cabinets assumes he has insight to all manufacturers cabinets

 

[MrBoat]

I just put my hand on them while they are playing at medium to high levels. That pretty much tells all with regard to bracing/damping, not to mention the actual sound of them. As long as it's enough for that particular build. I wouldn't want to condemn speakers for the knock test not showing the build to be overly redundant or.

 

[Thermistor]

I love all the great information. About cabinet bracing, is anyone familiar with the Swiss designer and builder Jean Maurer? His line of tower speakers JM 370e uses an interesting internal cabinet brace of attaching a rod from the back plate of the woofer to the back panel. No other internal bracing installed. The site is all in french but it's called "tige de precontrainte" = prestressing rod. Why isn't this used by other designers? Pro's and con's?

Technologies Jean Maurer serie D

 

[shadyJ]

I love all the great information. About cabinet bracing, is anyone familiar with the Swiss designer and builder Jean Maurer? His line of tower speakers JM 370e uses an interesting internal cabinet brace of attaching a rod from the back plate of the woofer to the back panel. No other internal bracing installed. The site is all in french but it's called "tige de precontrainte" = prestressing rod. Why isn't this used by other designers? Pro's and con's?

View attachment 32706

Technologies Jean Maurer serie D

This sort of design is used by other speaker manufacturers like in Monitor Audio's Platinum series, among others. The reason why it's not done more often is cost versus benefit. It probably isn't all that beneficial, a lot of effort for a low return.

 

[Verdinut]

Yup, do the nuckle rap test and it's not great. Aside from the fact I don't like their voicing, subjective, his reference to most manufacturers cabinets assumes he has insight to all manufacturers cabinets

I was never impressed with Totem speakers. Several years ago, at one of the AV shows in Montreal, Vince was promoting a little snake oil product to put on his cabinets. He was telling the visitors that it improved the sound of his speakers!