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Post by MartinT on Aug 3, 2014 21:18:39 GMT
Unfortunately, I have space limitations in my room (our houses are generally a lot smaller in the UK than the US) and I wanted to maximise the listening distance since my listening position is against the rear wall. The PicturePanels and general room treatment protect me from virtually all the flutter echo, leaving the bass mode to deal with. I do agree that it would be ideal to move the speakers further into the room, but honestly the stuffed ports are doing a great job and I always have the option of changing it when I move to a house with a larger room.
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Post by Dave on Aug 4, 2014 11:44:13 GMT
I tried stuffing a couple of pairs of rolled up socks into the bass ports on the Skibo's last night and wadya know, nice clean bass and the top end has made an appearance. Not an ideal solution granted but it'll do for now until I can try the drinking straw option, which I will do once the 500 black jumbo straws I am about to order from Amazon arrive.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 4, 2014 11:56:33 GMT
It's worth experimenting with ported speakers as they are often tuned for flat response in large rooms and can have a considerable hump in a small room.
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Post by Dave on Aug 4, 2014 12:10:42 GMT
It's worth experimenting with ported speakers as they are often tuned for flat response in large rooms and can have a considerable hump in a small room. Yes indeed and this is a small room. Drawing them out further into the room would help but that is impossible to do in here unless we want to clamber over them 
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Post by MartinT on Aug 23, 2016 5:43:38 GMT
I revisited this work last night. The change since the Belles amp took over from the Chord is that bass is even tighter and more controlled than before. I have also moved to Black Ravioli footers since then, another move towards tighter and less smeared sound. It began to dawn on me that I could release a little bass energy without everything getting boomy and one-note. Overloading the room is one of my bete-noires, but I do like the bass end to perform strongly. Maybe I had overdone the port stuffing for the current configuration?
I removed the port stuffing completely from the lower port on each speaker and played Rick Wakeman's White Rock. Ooh yes, the bass now sounds less constrained (everything is relative), tight but powerful and not boomy at all. Nice!
I'm hoping that in the new larger room I'll be able to start with all ports opened up and see how it performs.
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Post by zippy on Aug 23, 2016 7:12:27 GMT
Putting anything into a reflex port effectively makes it smaller, raising the port/system resonances with unpredictable results, but that's not to say it shouldn't be tried. That's exactly it - some people have reported major improvements with 'port stuffing' but I have tried everything from socks to drinking straws via acoustic wadding, and it all makes the sound dull and lifeless. |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 23, 2016 7:42:40 GMT
Jsut remember that 4 x Eton 11" bass drivers in very large ported cabinets makes for awesome bass potency, easily capable of overloading my current room. The port stuffing tamed it rather well and there is still plenty of bass. However, I do agree that, if possible, I'd like to be rid of all stuffing and use the speakers as designed. This needs a larger room and possibly a different floor coupling - maybe replace the cones, for instance. pinkie 's suggestion of SVS Soundpath subwoofer feet may be just the idea needed. Decoupling rather than coupling. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 23, 2016 9:33:10 GMT
Be good to try some Townshend speaker stands.
Really surprised me what they did to the sound
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Post by MartinT on Aug 23, 2016 10:45:29 GMT
I agree, but the Townshends are mega expensive whereas the SVS feet are inexpensive and can take the weight of the Ushers (I confirmed with them). So the experimentation will start once I've moved.
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Post by pinkie on Aug 23, 2016 11:28:31 GMT
I certainly think for the money the SVS are worth a punt while you try stuff out and get used to the room. They do a good job on the sub woofer they are designed for, so hopefully will give a result in your new room As you rightly note the concern is going to be the low ceiling and relatively long room, risking a tunnel acoustic. But if it sounds good just walking and talking, it may be fine. you can usually hear a bad room without having to play music in it. I recall a shocker recently at a dealer I won't name, when I went to audition the (then) new Kef LS50 which Mrs S fancied cos they looked prettier than my (then) big ugly Ventricals. Ironic that she now refuses to countenance changing the even bigger and uglier ESL 63's. The LS50's were very disappointing, and the dealer kept talking about sand filled stands and other gizmo's. I turned the speakers off, clapped hands until I found the "honk" about half way up the room, at which point, astonishingly, he acknowledged the room sounded bad and he knew it all along. You have to wonder... He did allow me a home trial, and they were better at home, so much so I then went on to try the bigger Kefs but neither ousted the Ventricals. It took proper big ugly speakers to do that. (A bit light in the bass for your tastes I dare say, but very much our cup of tea) |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 23, 2016 11:49:31 GMT
There is no rescuing a bad room, for sure. I think the new room is going to be ok even with the low ceiling. We shall see.
The LS50 are impressive speakers on the occasions I've heard them.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 23, 2016 20:42:47 GMT
I agree, but the Townshends are mega expensive whereas the SVS feet are inexpensive and can take the weight of the Ushers (I confirmed with them). So the experimentation will start once I've moved. Try without buy I meant |
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Post by MartinT on Aug 23, 2016 20:44:52 GMT
I may do that (much) later on. Plenty of basics to get right first.
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Post by MikeMusic on Aug 25, 2016 15:49:18 GMT
And put yourself down for a test drive on a Creaktiv rack in the medium to long term future.
I'd let you borrow mine except
Way too much work to get all the kit off and back on
Massively heavy and a 2 man lift
Probably needs a van to ship it too when assembled
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Post by MartinT on Aug 25, 2016 16:00:46 GMT
<boggle> I remember it feeling heavy
I think there are lots of things to do before I get to change major gear and it's going to be fun going back to basics with a blank room.
Back to the port stuffing situation, the speakers are sounding marvellous with top port stuffed and bottom port open. I shall leave them like that for the remainder of my time here.
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Coops
Rank: Soloist
Posts: 21 
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Post by Coops on Aug 27, 2016 8:18:47 GMT
On further listening, I am even more pleased with the effect of bringing the Usher's performance down to the limiting size of my room. Changes elsewhere (change of power cable, further use of RDC support cones) have tightened up the bass even further to give an overall effect of massively restrained potency. The great thing is, there is all that additional power to unleash should/when I move to a larger listening room. For now, I have a sound very close to ideal where the room is minimally loaded up even when generating some serious SPLs. Power cables will not make the slightest difference , if you want to really find what is going on with your room you should acoustically measure it and then act upon the results, room modes will be by far the worst culprit, once you have treated the room you can remove the stuffing from your speakers and return to their specified measurements. Keith |
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 27, 2016 10:07:14 GMT
Hi Keith, I think Martin already took some measurements........ If you have a pair of large speakers, as I have, it's very easy to overload your listening room. Take a few frequency plots and you'll see......
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Coops
Rank: Soloist
Posts: 21
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Post by Coops on Aug 27, 2016 10:59:11 GMT
Bass at 40Hz is omnidirectional stuffing the port will not make the slightest difference to its dispersion or amount produced , by stuffing the port you will be changing the port's resonant frequency ,I wouldn't expect it to make a huge difference to SQ though.
Nearly all gross room issues are related to standing waves, which are purely dependent upon the rooms dimensions .
Keith
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Post by MartinT on Aug 27, 2016 15:03:51 GMT
You speak as if from a theoretical stance, completely ignoring the fact that I did this a couple of years ago, that it most definitely did make a difference to the amount of bass produced and that there is a graph posted just above your post to prove it!
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Coops
Rank: Soloist
Posts: 21
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Post by Coops on Aug 27, 2016 17:37:14 GMT
Physics can be a drag can't it?
I would try again with a calibrated measurement microphone and measuring software, take care not to move anything between stuffing .
Keith
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