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Just opened up my 210MBE...

#327
So those who modified their amps and insist they sound better now need to do a 18 page thread on psycho-acoustics. I have a MB210 and the only thing I have done to mine was turn the tweeter off and put it on an Auralex isolation platform. I just love the "i know better than Bob" attitude, it's kinda funny...
 
#328
SpectorDetector said:
So those who modified their amps and insist they sound better now need to do a 18 page thread on psycho-acoustics. I have a MB210 and the only thing I have done to mine was turn the tweeter off and put it on an Auralex isolation platform. I just love the "i know better than Bob" attitude, it's kinda funny...
Click to expand...
The benefits of cabinet damping have nothing to do with psycho-acoustics. They've been known to the acoustical engineering community for fifty years. And if Bob insists that there's no benefit to damping then yes, I do know better than Bob. And so do Ampeg, G-B, JBL, EV, EAW, Martin, Nexo, PAS, Turbo-Sound, Danley Engineering, Community Sound, a few tens of thousands of members of the Audio Engineering Society, anyone who's passed Loudspeaker Engineering 101, etc., etc., ...:rollno:
 
#330
#331
A couple of quick questions. I'm planning on picking up a GK MB115 combo this weekend, and after having read all 17 pages in this thread (including all the near-flames!) there's a couple of things I'm wondering about.

1. Does everything everyone has said about sound dampening and bracing also applies to combos, or is it just a cab thing? I may be wrong, but I'm getting the impression that this thread applies more to cabs than combos.

2. I've noticed people using spray adhesive to glue in material. Has anybody by any chance tried double-face tape?

3. Will the warranty be voided if I do open the back and apply dampening material? And if so, is the improvement in sound quality worth it?

The thing that's sold me on the MB series of combos is their light weight. I'm just getting too old and weak to schlep heavy equipment all over God's green acres. Can't wait to try one this coming Saturday! :D
 
#332
A combo is just a cab with an amp screwed into it.

Warranty on the cab is probably voided, but I see zero reason why warranty on the electronics should be voided. Check with GK though if you're curious.
 
#333
Whoops. I forgot about this thread! :o Here's my honest after-action report. I did record my Avatar B212 before lining with mattress topper. The "after" sound was so bad I didn't bother recording it. Really.

I lined every interior surface, except the baffle, with 1.25" thick mattress topper, being careful not to obstruct the port in any way. It was installed correctly. I used a staple gun and had a staple in about every 6 inches of padding area. The end result was shocking to me. The low-end was one-note boomy, thick and completely congested at bedroom-levels. At higher levels the cab sounded like someone trying to muffle a huge sneeze...like it couldn't catch it's breath or something like that. While I should've recorded how crappy it sounded, I was so disgusted that I just wanted my sound back ASAP, so I quickly returned the cab to stock. Sorry about no clips...the sound really was "that bad."

I took all the extra padding out, except for maybe 1 sq ft worth on the back wall where there was no padding from the factory and around the piece of 2x4' (really) that is the front-to-rear wall brace. I did notice that as stock, the woofers weren't screwed down as tightly as I like them. I remedied that after I took all the added padding out.

I know how valuable padding is in most enclosures. But I can conclusively say that if you have an Avatar B212 that there is nothing to be gained from adding padding.

mikeddd said:
I hope to have the results of my Avatar B212 re-stuff posted this weekend. I made some basic recordings of "before" and will use the same amp/bass/distance to mic settings with the "after" recordings. Cab is apart right now but work is also "all apart" right which is why I'm working 14-hour days and can't get my project finished! :( FYI. See you this weekend!

Mike
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#334
I'd never recommend mattress topper as a cab lining. The risk of it eating up interior space is not something I'd go for. Half inch of quilt batting is plenty. Much lighter, much less dense, and oh yeah cheaper :)

If not quilt batting, then fiberglass insulation would be my second choice. Polyfill my third choice, since it's expensive for what you get.

Just my two pence.
 
#335
Bill Fitzmaurice told me that it would be OK to use the mattress topper (in this thread, a couple pages back). It was a learning experience for me, at least. At this point, I'll be building a fEarful in a few months so I'm not too worried that this experiment failed. I did get a shiny new staple gun out of it, at least.
 
#336
Horny Toad said:
I don't believe Bob ever stated there's no benefit (though I may have missed it if he did). I believe it was said he preferred the sound of the unlined cabinets.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10029735&postcount=298
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I'm guessing his accountants preferred it too.:hiding:

I remember engineers coming to the enclosure line (different place), and fully lining some NAMM pieces.

Three or four dollars saved on each unit running down the production line adds up fast. $200K + easily in a year, that sounds better than a lined cab to me too.
 
#337
Horny Toad said:
I don't believe Bob ever stated there's no benefit (though I may have missed it if he did). I believe it was said he preferred the sound of the unlined cabinets.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10029735&postcount=298
Click to expand...

Some people like Brussels Sprouts too. :spit:
I took all the extra padding out, except for maybe 1 sq ft worth on the back wall where there was no padding from the factory and around the piece of 2x4' (really) that is the front-to-rear wall brace. I did notice that as stock, the woofers weren't screwed down as tightly as I like them. I remedied that after I took all the added padding out.

I know how valuable padding is in most enclosures. But I can conclusively say that if you have an Avatar B212 that there is nothing to be gained from adding padding.
Click to expand...
Mattress pad is a perfectly good damping material. In some cases too good, and it is possible to over-damp a cab. That doesn't mean that you should go to the other extreme and not damp it at all. Damping the back only to prevent internal midrange reflections is OK if that's all the cab needs. The amount of damping required to tame boom varies from cab to cab and driver to driver, and from your result obviously your cab didn't need to be fully lined.
 

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