Dampening the bass on my floorstanders
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New member Username: NabwongPost Number: 8 Registered: Dec-05 | Hello, My rig is Sony 595->NAD 320bee->PSB 6T. Thing is, the 6T can get too boomy in my apartment. I remembered once that someone used plugged a foam into the bass ports to dampen the bass. What do you call them and where can i get them? Thanks! |
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Gold Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 1005 Registered: Oct-04 | Foam plugs can help, but they are usually included with the speaker. If they are not, you can (fairly) easily fabricate your own. I'm not sure what kind of foam is appropriate (it's grey & semi-squishy). You can try some of this Sonic Barrier stuff http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?webpage_id=3&SO=2&DID=7&CATID=29&ObjectG roup_ID=137 , but it's kind of pricey. I would check the recycle-bin first. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 543 Registered: Apr-06 | How are your speakers placed currently in relation to the rear and side walls? |
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Bronze Member Username: NoutPost Number: 95 Registered: Mar-06 | A pair of socks work fine as well. |
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New member Username: NabwongPost Number: 9 Registered: Dec-05 | My right speaker is very close to the corner of the wall. I don't have a choice really; not much room. From reading about speaker placement, i realise that placing it in the corner could amplify the bass. Thanks for the sock idea. |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1823 Registered: May-05 | Nab, Some of the bass boom may be caused by the 320BEE. It has a bump in the 125 Hz area to give it some warmth and give the listener a sense of strong bass response. I run a 320BEE and PSB Image T55s. In my system, fast paced bass guitars can get a little muddy, and if regular electric guitars are tuned low enough, they can start to sound like bass guitars. Some of it is my room, but part of it is my 320BEE. Also, your source may have more to do with it than you realize. I'm not a big fan of Sony CD players. I recently upgraded from an NAD 523 CD changer to a Rega Apollo, and a good amount of the bass problems I had went away. As a disclaimer, I'm not saying a Rega Apollo is a good long term solution in this system. I'm building a Rega system, which started with my recent Apollo purchase. My best advice is to try the following - Play around with speaker placement and your seating position. Plugging the ports with socks may be beneficial. Are you using the rubber feet or spikes? I'm pretty sure the T6 came with both. If using the rubber feet, try the spikes out. If you have hardwood floors, put pennies under the spikes to save your floors. Make sure the speakers aren't wobbly and are level. Using a bubble level, adjust the feet/spikes until the speaker is level. If you've done this right, the speakers should also be very difficult to push over. Any one particular thing may not be much of an improvement, but the cumulative effect may be enough. After you've done all the free tweaks, check out a better CD player. The NAD 525BEE is a very good player for the money. The 542 is even better, and the improvements will be audible on the 320BEE. The first link in the chain is the source. Garbage in = garbage out. Nothing down stream will correct a bad signal. |
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Silver Member Username: HifisoundguyPost Number: 127 Registered: Aug-06 | This is a real shocker...Take 2 inches of teflon plumbers tape and wrap it tightly around your fuses inside your gear...only put it on about 80% of the glass part of the fuse. I'm hearing across the board improvements, better bass too! I did this to all my fuses in my audio/video gear....... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7193 Registered: Dec-04 |  |
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Silver Member Username: GavdawgUpstate, New York Post Number: 656 Registered: Nov-06 | Randy, wrap your wang with the plumbers tape and you never have to worry about E.D EVER again! Imagine that! Admit it, your quest for finding a cheap cure for your erectile dysfunction is what started that quest. |
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Silver Member Username: HifisoundguyPost Number: 128 Registered: Aug-06 |  |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1824 Registered: May-05 | Nab, Ignore every word Randy Warren says. Randy, Please keep your bull$hit in your own threads. |
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Silver Member Username: StefanomVienna, VA United States Post Number: 551 Registered: Apr-06 | I don't think there is much that you can do to gain *quality* bass without dealing with room effects first. Socks can help, but ultimately you should reconsider the placement of the speakers. As for Randy, well...some people get dropped on their head as a child...others well...maybe a pile driver from Jerry "The King" Lawler. |
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New member Username: NabwongPost Number: 10 Registered: Dec-05 | Stu, Thanks for the tip. I'm trying the sock method. Are you familiar with the PSB 6t? There are 3 ports on each speaker and plugging different ports seem to have different effects. Right now, i'm plugging the lowest one. It's definitely better. As for source, i admit that i should get a better one but right now, i can't afford it. I might try to get a used 521bee or cambridge d500. Any opinions on that? The placement can't be helped; unless i move to a bigger place. The wobble thingie is news to me. I'll check it out for sure. Also thanks for the heads up on Randy.  |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7194 Registered: Dec-04 | Nab, I am not familiar with the 6t, but I am a little surprised that the speaks are running the same crossover points for the 3 bass drivers. Other multi-bass speaks from them crossover on a slope, like 50-80 apart, to create image. The stratus sivler, the T55, etc. Perhaps the port or ports inside are compartmentalized. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 10385 Registered: May-04 | . Do be aware that plugging a port alters the apparent enclosure volume into which the low frequency drivers work. As you reduce the vent area you raise the cut off frequency for the system. Plugging one port might raise the cut off frequency a few Hz but plugging all the ports will certainly raise the system resonance as much as an octave, say from 40Hz to almost 80Hz. You will also reduce the overall output of the speaker in terms of volume and the critical balance of the system will be lost. By restricting vent areas you have changed the design of the enclosure from a ported to a sealed system (if you are lucky and actually get the ports air tight, which is doubtful with socks; you will more than likely just screw up the low frequency response with this trick) and the "Q" of the system changes radically. In effect you have decided to become the speaker designer. I seriously doubt you are as good at speaker design as those in charge of PSB. The speakers you own were designed for a specific balance (which has a bit of a bump in the midbass designed into the speaker's sound character) and altering that balance is a bit of foolhardy play. While no damage will come from plugging the port(s) (unless a sock gets sucked inside the cabinet, woo-boy, then you can have problems), there are far better ways to solve boomy bass problems. Work with placement, it's free (not even the cost of a sock!) and it gets much better results in all areas that are important to realistic playback. http://www.psbspeakers.com/audioTopics.php?fpId=7&page_num=1&start=0 http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?fr=ybr_sbc&p=loudspeaker%20placement If you don't have the speakers properly supported and the enclosure rigidly fixed in place, you will never get the best bass response possible from your system. If the system sits on carpeted floors, you must do something to resolve the issue of the soft surface under the speaker. Invest in top notch stands, supports or spikes before you continue plugging ports. At this point you've done nothing that should be done before you began emptying your sock drawer. Young man, you do no get into HiFi Heaven with this sort of behavior! I agree with SP that your components in front of the speakers will contribute to a "plump" bass response and you must work around your decisions in a logical manner and productive before resorting to speaker aletrations. You have combined NAD with PSB and both have a very "warm" bottom end. The Sony player is not known for its taut bass response. You are swimming upstream at this point. Don't get lazy or you will not fare well. You haven't mentioned cables, but if you're running stock give away cables between components and lamp cord for the speaker cable, you need to step up in these areas. The component you have left to work with is the room and placement of the speakers in that space. Placement is at least 50% of good sound from any speaker. Work at this and do not take the easy route (socks) and you can get much better sound than you report. If the components or speakers are new to you, the dealer where you made the purchase should provide some after the sale assistance. Ask! It should be free unless you decide to purchase new cables which most dealers have for loan before you spend any money. They will not have $20 cables to loan but you probably should be spending more than $20 on cables. If you are pinched for cash and need better speaker cables, there are inexpensive alternatives. If you really can't deal with all the work involved in getting the best sound from your system, return everything and swap it out for a Bose Wave Radio. I hear it sounds like components costing as much as five times its highly inflated cost. Work! It has its rewards. . |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 10386 Registered: May-04 | . Oh, dear lord! Now that I've looked at the PSB speaker you own I have to ask, why on Earth did you buy such a speaker for what you say is a very small room? Did the salesperson ask what size room these would go in? If so and it is truly a small room and they didn't warn against ill effects, they did you a disservice. You have very likely overpowered the room with that speaker and will forever have boomy bass as long as it stays in a small room. You would do far better with a small standmount speaker and a small subwoofer if the room is as small as you indicate. Just how big is this room and why do you say there isn't much room for speaker placement? . |
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Silver Member Username: GavdawgUpstate, New York Post Number: 666 Registered: Nov-06 | um... I wouldn't stick that speaker in anything but a large room. I agree with Jan, you would be better off selling the speakers and starting over from scratch. |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1829 Registered: May-05 | nab, How big is the room? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7209 Registered: Dec-04 | On the bright side(yup), now the single sock, that lost it's mate in the wash, has a purpose in life. Big, ain't they fella's? Note the Nad 320bee, as well. |
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Bronze Member Username: NabwongPost Number: 11 Registered: Dec-05 | Hey guys, Whoa... i feel like i've just been given a lecture by my father...lol...and that was a long time ago. Anyway, my room size is about 10 by 18. The thing is the way it's set up, i can only put it along the wall of the 18. I probably overpowered the room. **************************** ****************X---------X*** ****dining****************** ****table******************* d***************************d o***************************o o***************************o r*************** couch ****r **************************** X = speakers - = tv and electronics I bought the psb used so no dealer is at fault. I was using a pair of insignia bookshelves but i wasn't happy with the low end. I already got my Nad amp and if i wanted to get a sub, i'd need to replace that right? So i thought i'd just pick the psb up from the classifieds. My place is temporary till i move into a bigger place so i'm thinking more long term i guess. I think i will try using the tone control to tone the bass down. Would that be better than stuffing socks in the ports? Thanks for the healthy discussion and links. I'm learning a lot. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7210 Registered: Dec-04 | Psb B25 standmounts would do quite well with the Nad BEE. No sub req'd. They are able to blend into a lot of other rooms too, if you move, nab. Ad for a trade? |
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Silver Member Username: HifisoundguyPost Number: 129 Registered: Aug-06 | |
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Bronze Member Username: NabwongPost Number: 12 Registered: Dec-05 | What would be a comparable trade? |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 10403 Registered: May-04 | . A numbers matched fuel injected 1963 Corvette convertible in original dual tone paint colors, with the original top and four speed transmission for a fairly good sized home. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7245 Registered: Dec-04 | nab, I doubt that you overpowered the room, but underpowered the speaks. If those speakers were powered properly, THEN the room would show itself, warts and all. All rooms have warts, just some in covered areas, others on their noses, ja? Trade for a nice pair of standmounts, with stands. Somebody somewhere bought theirs, and realizes now that floorstanders with 3 bass drivers would be better. Funny, eh? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7246 Registered: Dec-04 | As for trades, think this way. You cut my hair, I cut your lawn. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 10404 Registered: May-04 | . Nuck may doubt the situation but I'm sticking with too much for too little respectively when it comes to speakers and room. The floor plan would indicate the two speakers are about four feet apart, mostly due to the representation of a square room rather than a rectangular space. So, it's unclear what space the speakers have other than one being in the corner and one in the center of the room would not be conducive to good sound overall. Certainly stand mounts and a sub would offer much more flexibility in set up. Unless pounding bass is desired, I would even forgo the sub until a larger space is available. A good stand mount should provide sufficient frequency extension to cover most music in a 180 square foot room and be more acceptable to the neighbors. If nothing else, and assuming the speakers are on the short wall, move the table to the back end of the room and the sofa more to the center. Then center the speakers on the front wall, with the speakers a few feet out into the room. Ditch the socks. Rather than a sub, spend your money on a Behringer feedback eliminator. . |
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Gold Member Username: Stu_pittIrvington, New York USA Post Number: 1833 Registered: May-05 | Soooo much easier said than done, but... Can you switch around the couch and TV/speakers? ****dining****************** ****table******************* **********couch*************d o***************************o o***************************o r***************************r ***********X------X********** Just a thought. I have no formal training in interior design, believe it or not. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7251 Registered: Dec-04 | Also, believe it or not, my dyslexia is in overdrive trying to figgur out the John Madden x and o presentation. nab, a pair of B25's on good stands for your speaks would seem good on your end. Tylenol. No, beer. And Supertramp. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 10406 Registered: May-04 | . Canned Heat and John Lee Hooker, together or separately. And don't forget to Boogie! |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 7257 Registered: Dec-04 | Good Gawd, I think JV meant to post in the music selection thread! |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 10411 Registered: May-04 | . nab - Go through a good dealer when you want to change out speakers, they have lots of experience and knowledge that will assist you in getting the best sound for the dollar. |
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