Getting the best from your cones!

[ras2a]

I posted this in the main forum, but thinking about it, the Jukebox section is prolly better as more people are akin to getting the best (I would have thought) out of their sound system in their cabs/jukes.  Here goes:

I've just installed a car amp and some decent Sony XPlod (6"x9") speakers in my UAII cab.  However the sound coming from them is not as good as I imagined it would be.  The only thing I can think of is that due to the speakers simply being mounted in the speaker panel (no back  on etc), then there is no 'enclosure' to create resonance and hence the speakers sound rather dull.  The amp is deffinitely powerful enough to drive the speakers so don't think it's that.  Does anyone have any tips for getting the best 'sound' out of this sort of setup? maybe adding material at the back of the speaker panel?  Anyone else done this sort of thing?  Also, the speakers are firmly/closely (from what I can see) attached to the speaker panel.

thanks in advance guys

Craig

[D_Zoot]

For best performance and sound, speakers need to be mounted in an enclosure.   Arcade cabinets generally make poor speaker enclosures.

Speaker enclosure design isn't a simple thing, the internal dimensions (internal air volume) and design (ported, bandpass etc..)   of any given speaker cabinet has as much to do with the sound quality as the speaker itself.

Mounting any speaker in any old box (such as an arcade cab) usually leaves less than optimum results.  Generally, bass suffers.

You can try the hit or miss approach.  Enlclose the back of each speaker in some manner of sealed, solid box.   This should improve bass response, but will likely still be less than optimum.

For a proper design, you would need some specifications on the speakers and you'll need to do some calculations to determine proper internal cabinet air volume for the speaker you are using and the enclosure type you would like to use.   RadioShack used to sell a little book on speaker cab design and included good  information on how to figure this all out, I don't know if they still carry this book or not.   I'm sure you can google and come up with the same information as well.


D

[ras2a]

Ok Zoot, thanks a lot for that.  Most helpful.  I'm thinking of banging a sub in the cab so this will take care of the bass problem for now.  Just that the speakers sound thin/weedy on their own.

thanks again for the help

Craig

[spystyle]

I studied a little about speakers from a man who built giant sound systems, 7' tall subwoofers bigger than me (he was an Altec man) he told me all that audio stuff and I could'nt follow it so well, but here goes :

As stated above, you need to know the data for any speaker to build it's enclosure, this info is called "Thiele-Small parameters"

If you can find the Thiele-Small parameters for you speakers you can run them through a speaker building calculator, which will tell you the dimensions of the box you should build around your speaker.

Here is a calcualtor you can look at:
http://www.bcae1.com/spboxnew2.htm

Groovy?
Craig

[papaschtroumpf]

somewhat related: I use a set of 2.1 computer speakers. I mounted the 2 speakers in the cab (still in their original enclosure, just hacked the stand because it was getting in the way).
The dub is small cube (something like 8") with a speaker pointing downwards (there are little feet to raise it off the ground).

Currently the sub is inside the cab, basically resting on the bottom.

I was wondering if I should cut a round hole below the sub itself to allow the sound to "get out". My cab is on casters in carpeted room, so maybe this is not a good idea because the carpet (short pile berber)  might muffle it?