my first audibly noticable tweak! thanks to Owen and SPL

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I guess up front I have to thank Owen and SPL. Owen has encouraged me to get into the cabinets and upgrade the xovers. SPL posted a follow-up a few days ago with a list of more neutral speakers, one of which was Vandersteen. I visited their site, and saw that each driver is in it's own insulated chamber. The rest was history, read on:
I removed the drivers from my B&W CDM-7SE's to get the cap/res values off of the crossovers. The first thing I noticed was that the top of the cabinet where the tweeter is mounted had no insulation, just exposed cabinet. The mid/bass and tweeter are in their own "cavity", and the bass driver is separated from them by a 1" thick sheet of polyfil rolled up like a hot dog. It was stuffed into the cabinet at an angle vertically, front to back, looking at the cabinet from the side. Since the polyfil was round, and the cabinet square inside, there were gaps at the corners of the cabinet which allowed air/sound from each driver to interact with each other.
I removed the polyfil, unrolled it, and then folded it into a rectangular-shaped sheet about 2-3" thick, and used some insulated wire to hold it in this shape. I stuffed it back in, but not at an angle. It is now setting horizontal, front to back, and dividing the cabinet into 2 distinct cavities. The bass improved so much on Bob Marley, that I thought the subwoofer was on, but it wasn't. I don't know if they are now reaching lower freq's, or the extension improved, but it was much better. however, some recordings still need the sub.
Next, I bought some 80% cotton, 20% poly quilting material. It came in a sheet about 1/8" thick. I used 3 or 4 layers, cut it to shape, and secured it to the inside top of the cabinet (remember it was bare wood or MDF) with some insulated wire. I cut a hole about 1" in diameter as a wire feed-thru for the tweeter, and to expose the back of the tweeter to the cavity (since this was the way it was designed). The midrange is more defined, and the highs are smoother and not as harsh. The fatigue factor has been significantly reduced. Even Billy Squier was bearable! (lots of snare drum and cymbals, and his vocals!).
I am still going to upgrade the xovers, but this VERY inexpensive tweak made a big difference to my ears. Even the wife noticed! While the sibilant problem is still audible on certain recordings, it is not as fatiguing as before. The overall sound is balanced and relaxed. I had fun listening to brighter recordings yesterday for the first time since purchasing these speakers. Thanks, inmates!

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Topic - my first audibly noticable tweak! thanks to Owen and SPL - BS64 02:12:29 09/20/00 (2)

Re: my first audibly noticable tweak! thanks to Owen and SPL - Insanitysking 12:29:15 10/07/00 (1)

Re: my first audibly noticable tweak! thanks to Owen and SPL - BS64 17:17:40 10/10/00 (0)

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