Sealing the Port-Success!!
I took a couple of roughly 3 1/2" x 6" covulted foam-rolled them up, and stuck them in both ports in my first set. While I need to do some more extensive listening-this seems to have smoothed out a slight peak around 35-37 hz, clean up the midbass considerably (as Chef mentioned) and deepened the response as well.
I installed the stock woofers back in one pair-leaving the port open and did some comparison-and the original voicing is now virtually indentical to the OE speakers-however the bass is much cleaner and deeper, with some added detail. The increased smoothness is quite noticable over the ported 1040SF's
Male voices are now identical with the O.E. woofers (one thing I really appreciated about the stock woofers) no hint of coloration or deeper than reality in their tone (chesty-ness).
Plugging the port in the OE woofer speaker dropped the woofer output down too much.
The 1040Sf speaker loses some output (but mainly around the port tuning range-which was throwing off the balance), but the gains deeper and cleaner bass-and the 1040 SF woofer has enough output or "drive" to deal well with the port being plugged with the foam. You lose some efficiency as well-and have to move the volume control up slightly-but luckily I have plenty of power on tap.
The 1040SF still has enough output and efficiency with the blocked port not to get left behind by the Heil or tranisiton driver.
ESS made both models, ported and not-I'm not sure if there was a change in the woofers (porbably not). The 1040SF specs put it more or less in the middle of being able to work well in a ported or sealed enclousre-and the 9mm Xmax should be helpful as well. In this configuration-at least from limited listening-the 1040SF's work better with the AMT3 port blocked (if you have a ported enclosure).
I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. I tried this earlier last year with some old socks-but at the time I realized I had one woofer out of phase (it happens-after swaping the OE and 1040SF's in and out time after time-late nights and bleary eyes!:thmbsp:-and never got back to trying it.
I'm going to hold off on the Sonic Barrier for now-45 days to return it-but I think I finally got the right balance I was looking for- a slight increase in bass output over the OE woofers-cleaner and deeper bass-without loosing the ideal voicing of the OE configuration in the male voice region
I may add the baffle brace to this pair as well-as I have extra wood, screws and glue-and then leave well enough alone.
My second 'super set' (custom crossover)-I will probably block the port as well-this should be interesting with a slightly more efficienct crossover-and the Alpha 6A transitions drivers I plan to use. I also plan to install a Lpad on the Alpha just in case I need to adjust the balance. It's realitively cheap-and might as well do it up front.
Regardless if I don't need it-I will just put dial it on max-and it's out of the circuit anyway. I think I will install the l-pad either on the top rear, or on the back panel on the upper portion. I like the idea of putting it on the top-so you can't see it with the grills on.
In a nut shell-this first set has a recapped/rewired crossover, sealed and strengthened cabinet seams and woofer sealing sufaces-hurricane nuts, P.E. gasket tape, stock stuffing with one piece of 1 1/2" convulted foam covering the back panel, foam block blocking each side of the Heil, 1040SF woofers, and a foam blocked port.
It's always a crap shoot of sorts when you are replacing a O.E. woofer, even if the specs are close-they will behave differently in most instances, and require some fine tuning. Taking some time to listen is helpful, and changing one thing at a time as well.
This was more or less what I have been dealing with with the 1040Sf's vs the stock woofers-the increased bass output of the 1040Sf''s was a welcome addition, but the loss of the O.E. clarity in the male voice region was disapointing IMHO. The blocking of the port has solved this-with the added benefit of cleaning and extending the deep bass.
Of course, you results may vary, as the ported 1040Sf, and O.E. woofers ported configuration each sounds very good-this is more of a critical fine tuning, and perhaps one of taste. Of course none of this changes the value of speaker placement, room configuration and driving equipment, as these all play a equally important parts as well.
I took a couple of roughly 3 1/2" x 6" covulted foam-rolled them up, and stuck them in both ports in my first set. While I need to do some more extensive listening-this seems to have smoothed out a slight peak around 35-37 hz, clean up the midbass considerably (as Chef mentioned) and deepened the response as well.
I installed the stock woofers back in one pair-leaving the port open and did some comparison-and the original voicing is now virtually indentical to the OE speakers-however the bass is much cleaner and deeper, with some added detail. The increased smoothness is quite noticable over the ported 1040SF's
Male voices are now identical with the O.E. woofers (one thing I really appreciated about the stock woofers) no hint of coloration or deeper than reality in their tone (chesty-ness).
Plugging the port in the OE woofer speaker dropped the woofer output down too much.
The 1040Sf speaker loses some output (but mainly around the port tuning range-which was throwing off the balance), but the gains deeper and cleaner bass-and the 1040 SF woofer has enough output or "drive" to deal well with the port being plugged with the foam. You lose some efficiency as well-and have to move the volume control up slightly-but luckily I have plenty of power on tap.
The 1040SF still has enough output and efficiency with the blocked port not to get left behind by the Heil or tranisiton driver.
ESS made both models, ported and not-I'm not sure if there was a change in the woofers (porbably not). The 1040SF specs put it more or less in the middle of being able to work well in a ported or sealed enclousre-and the 9mm Xmax should be helpful as well. In this configuration-at least from limited listening-the 1040SF's work better with the AMT3 port blocked (if you have a ported enclosure).
I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. I tried this earlier last year with some old socks-but at the time I realized I had one woofer out of phase (it happens-after swaping the OE and 1040SF's in and out time after time-late nights and bleary eyes!:thmbsp:-and never got back to trying it.
I'm going to hold off on the Sonic Barrier for now-45 days to return it-but I think I finally got the right balance I was looking for- a slight increase in bass output over the OE woofers-cleaner and deeper bass-without loosing the ideal voicing of the OE configuration in the male voice region
I may add the baffle brace to this pair as well-as I have extra wood, screws and glue-and then leave well enough alone.
My second 'super set' (custom crossover)-I will probably block the port as well-this should be interesting with a slightly more efficienct crossover-and the Alpha 6A transitions drivers I plan to use. I also plan to install a Lpad on the Alpha just in case I need to adjust the balance. It's realitively cheap-and might as well do it up front.
Regardless if I don't need it-I will just put dial it on max-and it's out of the circuit anyway. I think I will install the l-pad either on the top rear, or on the back panel on the upper portion. I like the idea of putting it on the top-so you can't see it with the grills on.
In a nut shell-this first set has a recapped/rewired crossover, sealed and strengthened cabinet seams and woofer sealing sufaces-hurricane nuts, P.E. gasket tape, stock stuffing with one piece of 1 1/2" convulted foam covering the back panel, foam block blocking each side of the Heil, 1040SF woofers, and a foam blocked port.
It's always a crap shoot of sorts when you are replacing a O.E. woofer, even if the specs are close-they will behave differently in most instances, and require some fine tuning. Taking some time to listen is helpful, and changing one thing at a time as well.
This was more or less what I have been dealing with with the 1040Sf's vs the stock woofers-the increased bass output of the 1040Sf''s was a welcome addition, but the loss of the O.E. clarity in the male voice region was disapointing IMHO. The blocking of the port has solved this-with the added benefit of cleaning and extending the deep bass.
Of course, you results may vary, as the ported 1040Sf, and O.E. woofers ported configuration each sounds very good-this is more of a critical fine tuning, and perhaps one of taste. Of course none of this changes the value of speaker placement, room configuration and driving equipment, as these all play a equally important parts as well.
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