Happy Holidays and Your Favorite Tips?
Yes, I'm being inclusive.
What's your favorite tip to audiophiles? Here is mine:
If you are using a subwoofer with ported main speakers, consider plugging the ports and raising the sub crossover. Even if you don't have a subwoofer, sometimes plugging one or the other can really reduce bloat. It's worth listening to it since it's cheap and non destructive (assuming you don't lose your sock in the port).
I meant, a speaker maker can make a sealed or ported speaker optimally flat (rare) or bump the bass. This is mostly a function of the cabinet though, not the crossover. |
That’s news to me, I thought the THX standard was 24? But generally, yes. Regardless of Q, having a main speaker that has a hump, and then having the sub take over below that hump can be challenging. It can also just be challenging for the room. So, this is, broadly speaking, a tone control. However, I do think that many speakers, sealed or ported, have a bass hump. The ability to raise or lower the Q isn’t limited to ported speakers. Raising the cut-off frequency AND sealing the box greatly reduces woofer distortion by controlling excursion, another benefit. Of course, at the end of the day what matters is whether the listener likes it or not. |
@roxy54 Being a speaker builder, I can say that while no speaker is 100% ideal as both ported and sealed, it does let you tune the bass in very important ways, especially if you are using a sub. You don't have 100% the control that a speaker builder does, who would know that an optimally flat ported speaker has more volume than an optimally flat sealed speaker, but given room boundary reinforcements, the ultimate judge of which is best can be you. |
