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JBL Speaker Project

Making progress. Below you'll see my secret speaker upgrade along with rear panels ready to go, front baffles awaiting one last coat, and the cabinets with a fresh coat of tung oil after a light sanding. Next up is to mount the window brace and put the speakers back together. This has been a lot of work and I sure hope I'll hear a difference.

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dnewma04 said:
I'm curious about the decision not to flush mount?
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Me too. Zilch and I were running measurements today and I'm starting to think that flush mount/no cabinet lip is the path to flat curve audio nirvana. Well duh, I'm preaching to the choir here. Of course none of this was obviously audible.. well immediately anyway... :D

Looking forward to hearing your amazing speakers again Duff
 
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wiredbecker said:
Me too. Zilch and I were running measurements today and I'm starting to think that flush mount/no cabinet lip is the path to flat curve audio nirvana. Well duh, I'm preaching to the choir here. Of course none of this was obviously audible.. well immediately anyway... :D

Looking forward to hearing your amazing speakers again Duff
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See post 136. If I was building new cabinets the way you suggest is exactly how I'd do it. But I'm trying to make the best with the Barzilay's. Stop by if you are in the neighborhood. :thmbsp:
 
Photos of port tube installation and bracing. All I need to do now is install the insulation and reassemble them. I should be listening to them later this afternoon. I just hope that with all the work and time spent doing this that I can hear a difference in the bass. :scratch2:

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wiredbecker said:
You're crazy Duff. The bass was already incredible.
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You heard them with the A's, there's a huge improvement with the H-3's. :yes: I just want to make sure I'm getting everything out of them with the Barzilay cabinets. No doubt building modern cabinets for my components would be a step up.
 
Zilch said:
Tried that.

[You were in Hong Kong.... :tongue: ]
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Next time you are in town you'll have to stop by for a serious listen to one of your creations.

We be jamming. :thmbsp: My initial impression is that there is a very noticeable improvement. I'll report back later when I get a chance to listen to them more.

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You certainly nailed the port flare/duct mounting thing.

I hope a lot of members see how to do that by your example.

[It's what happens when we think about stuff for a couple of years.... ;) ]
 
Looks great, Duff!

I wasn't sure if all the bracing I put into the bass cabinets in my speakers was worth the effort as I was doing it, but when finished, I was very happy with the results and probably had 8-10 people pull me aside at the fest and say that they had the best bass at the fest despite some of the issues we were having with the mids.
 
Zilch said:
You certainly nailed the port flare/duct mounting thing.

I hope a lot of members see how to do that by your example.

[It's what happens when we think about stuff for a couple of years.... ;) ]
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LOL, thanks. The mount idea was Bryan's. After freaking out about the flared ports not fitting I looked at a couple of ideas of how to mount the straight port tubes. My ports are 3" internal diameter. I used a 3" hole saw for the baffle and cutup my old baffles which had 3.5" holes for flush mounting the port tubes. I used a 1/2" round over bit for the outside of the port opening. I read your comments about using a 3/4" round over but was concerned about how much material would be leftover at the opening. In retrospect a 3/4" would have worked fine.

With the port tube now recessed 3/4" from their previous position should I cut the tubes shorter or just leave them? I wouldn't mind trying longer tubes to see if I can get the speakers to go a bit deeper.
 
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dnewma04 said:
Looks great, Duff!

I wasn't sure if all the bracing I put into the bass cabinets in my speakers was worth the effort as I was doing it, but when finished, I was very happy with the results and probably had 8-10 people pull me aside at the fest and say that they had the best bass at the fest despite some of the issues we were having with the mids.
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Thanks. Yeah now I'm thinking about how to add more bracing. :yikes:
 
Reasons for sound quality improvement?

There are three things that I did that should have improved the sound quality but I'm puzzled about what I'm hearing.

1. Added bracing for obvious reasons.
2. Added approximately 14-15 pounds of mass to each cabinet.
3. Moved the woofer up approximately 3/4" so the waveguide and woofer are closer together.

The bass improvement is very noticeable. It's more dynamic and cleaner sounding everywhere. Not any deeper though. I thought the bass was incredible before and bracing the cabinets has further brought out the capabilities of the LE14H-3's.

But what puzzles me is the imaging has also improved with vocals and instruments more focused and the sound stage sounds deeper. I understand how cleaning up the bass helps everywhere else but I'm curious if this is due to the bracing/mass or moving the woofer closer to the waveguide? Zilch or Dave any thoughts?
 
It wouldn't seem unreasonable that an unbraced enclosure's vibrations could be creating another source of sound that could smear the soundstage/imaging slightly. Just a hunch.
 
Rick,

I'm happy to see that everything has come together and is to your liking.

I can't wait to hear them.

I need to order the PT waveguides and crossover parts to finish mine. Looks like JBL increased their prices significantly on the WG's.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Bryan
 
I wouldn't mind trying longer tubes to see if I can get the speakers to go a bit deeper.
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You might want to model it. You are in a big box and you get to a point where you start trading extension for output where you want it. I have mine in 3.8 cubic ft tunned to 28/29 hz and with room gain they can rattle the rafters. You are in a bigger box at 30hz so depending on room gain you should be in the same ballpark. I love that woofer!

Rob:)
 
Robh3606 said:
You might want to model it. You are in a big box and you get to a point where you start trading extension for output where you want it. I have mine in 3.8 cubic ft tunned to 28/29 hz and with room gain they can rattle the rafters. You are in a bigger box at 30hz so depending on room gain you should be in the same ballpark. I love that woofer!

Rob:)
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Thanks. Do you have a separate build with the LE14H-3? You have 1400 Array's right?
 
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