Additional dampening in an Avatar B212?

[mikeddd]

I almost said "padding" but figured some would assume I was talking about the L-pad for the tweeter.

I really like my Avatar B212; I think for the money, you really can't do better. But I also think it sounds a little boomy. I.E. underdamped. I peeked thru the vent w/a flashlight. I saw two pieces of really thin carpet padding (looks like it) stapled to the rear wall of the cab. Don't know if there's anything on the sidewalls.

Whether I use my Spector or my SX, front/rear/both pups, the cab sounds boomy. I've tried tweaking the bass on my amp but that takes the booty out of the sound. I'm convinced (to my ear, obviously) that the cab is underdampened.

Has anyone experienced this and if so, have you done anything about it? Added more material to the cab?

Thanks.

[billfitzmaurice]

Insufficient damping in a vented enclosure will lead to rough response in the mids, so if it's not fully lined with an inch of damping adding more would be an improvement. But boomy response, caused by a cab that's too small, will only be minimally improved upon, if at all. The high Q of a too small sealed cab can be lowered by stuffing the cab, but you can't do so with a vented cab.

[mikeddd]

Thanks very much, Bill. I appreciate the response.

Maybe I need to play around with the parametric mid control on my amp to try to specificy approximately what frequency is giving me problems? Upper bass/lower mids do overlap quite a bit. To my ear, the "boominess" seems to be around the 200Hz-ish point. Maybe a little lower or higher...not really sure.

Does that info change your reply any? If those freqs' are indeed the problem, would more damping help? Thanks again.

Mike

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by mikeddd

Thanks very much, Bill. I appreciate the response.

Maybe I need to play around with the parametric mid control on my amp to try to specificy approximately what frequency is giving me problems? Upper bass/lower mids do overlap quite a bit. To my ear, the "boominess" seems to be around the 200Hz-ish point. Maybe a little lower or higher...not really sure.

Does that info change your reply any? If those freqs' are indeed the problem, would more damping help? Thanks again.

Mike

Boom tends to be between 80 and 160 Hz, so that's where you want to try cutting with the parametric, using a high Q/narrow width setting. Damping has little effect below roughly 400 Hz, unless it's over 6 inches thick, and that will upset the apple cart in a vented box.

[mikeddd]

Thanks again, Bill.