STRONGBADF1 said:
Do you know if the Ascends (340se and/or 170se) have these resonances? and if so how bad?
Unfortunately, I do not know, but most speakers(including entry level so-called high-end) have panel resonances that can be audible. So I would not fault the Ascends on this factor alone unless it was extreme(as in the case of some speakers).
Can you describe or give a link to the modification you spoke of? Is this something specific for the Ascend speakers or a generic mod. that could be used on most speakers.
The modification is simple. You take a mass loaded damping product like Dynamat(used in car audio) or a generic material that will have the same function(Peel'N'Seal used for roofing, found readily in Lowe's for example) and apply[the material has adhesive on one side] layers of this thin material on the inside of the cabinet walls. As a rule to be most effective, you should put in enough layers on top of one another until it reaches a thickness of
at least 25%(but I always use about 33% of the thickness) of the cabinet wall thickness. The actual effectiveness per amount of material varies with the damping product you use, but these are general percentages that have been found to work well. The modification is easy, but it is time consuming. You have to remove the largest driver(s) and hope that no internal cabinet braces are blocking your access to the internal walls. I would expect the brace on the Ascend 340 to be located in the center of the cabinet behind the tweeter, thereby allowing you access to the walls by removing both the top and bottom mid-woofer. You have to remove the acoustic batting material. Application of the mass-loaded damping material in thin layers, navigating around the braces, cutting out the material and building up to the desired thickness, could take several hours. So be aware of this factor. However, if the walls had audible resonances before this process, they certainly can not afterwards if you used a thick enough application of the material on all of the internal surfaces. While the product is apart, you could also try to determine if the acoustic batting used is sufficient to remove all internal acoustic resonances. To do a sort of rough test, you can make loud instance noises with your voice into the cabinet and see if you perceive any colorations in the midrange band. To be safe, you could replace what is used with a material such as 2" rigid 6# fiberglass (Owens Corning 705 is an example) or 2" 8# Mineral Board while you have the device disassembled. Note: the more effective material may also reduce the output of the the port, thereby reducing bass output by some degree, due to various reasons. This is a compromise that must be decided in cases of passive radiator/ported bass systems that are also producing midrange band.
I love EQ's thats my down fall...
It's amazing the difference just a minor adjustment can make. It took me a long time to learn to take away not add with an EQ but I still have to "forget it's there" and not change it because one song sounded flat or boomy or whatever.
There is no problem with boosting if it is not done so excessively as to cause possible problems(for example boosting bass by 10 dB is asking for clipping problems and overdrive of the speakers mechanically). A gentle boost of 2dB across the bass or treble should not be a problem, for example.
It's good that the first reflection point only needs minor absorption because the chances of my wife alowing any absorption is minimal.
(The room is our living room which is also the entrance room of the house.)
Strategically place a bookshelf with books or fabric covered couch/chair, etc. at the first side reflection points of this speaker if need be; that should be sufficient in this case. While not an ideal solution or sum of what is required for optimal acoustic behaviour; I would expect this to improve the response in your particular situation.
-Chris
