Invidiosulus Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 I recently rearranged my apt and moved my jbl L46 speakers off of my desk(I have a huge desk)and onto the floor in preparation for my new heresies(on the way, but not here yet). Once on the floor the bass seemed to bloom a little. I figured this was because they were so close to the walls so I moved them about a foot out from the wall and it seemed to help flatten the response out a bit. I also noticed that the bass and lower mids seemed a little "loose" and not as well defined as they had been on my desk. I thought this might be due to the fact that my mammoth desk was a steady base and now that they were on the carpet they were not as stable. I figured carpet spikes would propably work, but first I piled a stack of books on top of my speakers to weight them down a little, this seemed to help a little but I wanted something more permanent. I went to the good ol home depot and picked up 4 12x12 paving stones. I placed one paving stone underneath and one on top of each speaker seperated by a thin strip of vinyl cutting mat to protect the finish. To my ears the paving stones seem to add mass to the cabinets resulting in tighter better defined bass. Am I crazy or does this make any sense. Please let me know what you think. Peace, Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted October 28, 2002 Share Posted October 28, 2002 If your speakers were suffering from excessive amounts of cabinet resonance your technique would be expected to alter the sound character. Years ago audiophiles would build speaker cabinets with hollow walls which they would fill with sand. Some of the wilder arguments I read in the old audio magazines centred around the relative merits of various types of sand. Some folks would get right wound up about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 Ohhh, we could have a big arguement about sand types in another post! How about filling the room with different gasses to make sound travel better! Ahhh, what a fun hobby we have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike82 Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 I'm not surprised at you observation. Cabinet resonance is a big problem with speakers, most notably the newer designs with the narrow front baffle and deep side panel. But it's difficult to explain. You really need to hear it to appreciate it. One way to tell if a cabinet is resonating too much is to play music and walk from side to side behind the speakers. You should be able to hear the music focused and pretty much isolated in front of and in between the speakers. However, if you find the sound traveling around with you behind the speakers, then those cabinets are probably resonating too much. The coloration will be typically be in the upper bass to midrange. I remeber my dad's old Wharfedale W60. The were about 15 x 15 x 24, but weighed a friggin ton. Sand loading!! While they didn't possess a lot fo hi freq extension the bass and midrange were very focused. Even at loud volumes the cabinet resonance was nearly non-discernable. BUT, then there's the "lossy" design where the cabinet is supposed to resonate, but that's another topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invidiosulus Posted October 29, 2002 Author Share Posted October 29, 2002 My overall impression was not that the cabinet was resonating so much as the cabinet itself was "floating" on the goofy plush carpet in my apt. The cabinets seem to be 3/4" mdf with that nice jbl walnut veneer They measure 12 1/2" x 10 1/2" x 20 3/4" (wdh) I didn't notice that much sound from behind them (even at that "making your neighbors call the sherrif volume")so I think that they are pretty solid. As to the different types of sand, thats silly why would that matter. But for My purposes the white paving stones definitely produced a better sound than the terra cotta colored stones Any way I'll be rearranging everthing today or tomorrow when my heresies get here. I'll propably refinish them in a dark walnut stain because everyone knows walnut stain sounds better Peace, Josh "gets a kick out of sarcasm" Brown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 As to the different types of sand, thats silly why would that matter. As I recall the argument frequently put forth was that the finer the sand the denser the resulting sidewall. I agree that the battles did not make a lot of sense to me at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 search the forum, BobG has recommneded dampening vibrations with weight on top of the cabinets ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbry39 Posted October 29, 2002 Share Posted October 29, 2002 I tried the same tweek as you, with the same results. My sub is the Hse VTF-2 and the bass became noticably less boomy. I wonder if we got the same tile. Well, looking back, I see you used a paving stone. I just picked up the biggest, heaviest piece of floor slab and it has had the same effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.