Title says it all. So a little background I’m currently working on getting my setup complete last year I upgraded from bookshelf to floor standing speakers however since then I have built my own subwoofers using a um18-22 however these are sealed and the accuracy of them is phenomenal especially when compared to ported subs like the two monolith plus I had before, now I need some speakers to match in with them I’m currently using monitor audio silver 500 7g they are great speakers they just don’t sound right when I get down near the ports tune it goes all muddy and I am yet to hear a pair of ported speakers that don’t cuff when down near there tune, so I want to move over to sealed as they seem to be better for accurate reproduction of the sound being received. I’ve been hunting for months but yet all floor standing speakers seemed to be ported am I going to have to DIY it and make my own or does someone on here happen to know of where I can purchase some sealed floor standing or old school design(like lintons) that can be purchased in the UK?
ATC SCM40 without a doubt. Excellent speakers.
If you were to integrate your subs “properly” with a high pass filter on the mains matching the low pass filter on the subs (i.e. so that the mains and subs sum to a flat response rather than lumpy and the IM distortion in the mains is reduced) then the loading of the woofer wouldn’t matter.
Ow they are integrated properly you under estimate how long I been working on this. This ie over a decade in the making gone from yamaha to denon and back yo yamaha, I’ve purchased countless speakers and subs but never had want I am looking for. Until you have heard an all sealed system it is impossible to know the benefits they hold over ported. Ported, transmission line and passive radiators are all dirty due to group delay transmission has the lowest of three and passive radiators are the worst. I also have never heard a pair of ported speakers that a manufacturer makes that doesn’t cuff when you turn it up so unless I want to listen quite ports are not the answer they are a curse of the speaker industry.
The minidsp and avr both have the necessary high/low pass filters on the issue is they are still audible at the port even though they shouldn’t be. If I move the crossover higher, the subs are then playing too high in the bass so it shouts even with room correction and additional dsp which is not ideal as the bass will come out too loud. I have them eq’d and am looking at moving over to fir soon as learning eqing is not ideal so for phase alignment.
From my understanding it is possible to align them but it is very challenging as not only is the group delay for ports through the roof, it is the measurement mic cant tell what is the port and what is the speaker so you can’t accurately align the phase.
The minidsp and avr both have the necessary high/low pass filters on the issue is they are still audible at the port even though they shouldn’t be.
This would appear to be what might need getting on top of first. In normal circumstances the low frequency sound quality of speakers is all but irrelevant in the presence of booming room resonances. If these are addressed with distributed subs, careful signal processing and some passive room treatment then one might just about be able to discern a tiny effect due to group delay in ported speakers with a fairly high tuning frequency. With a normal port tuning of 10-12" subs the lower distortion and higher SPL will dominate perceived sound quality which is why effectively all professionals subs are ported with only a tiny number sealed.
BTW not knocking sealed subs given my subs are sealed. I would have preferred the performance advantages of ported but they would have been too large to distribute enough of them to adequately control the room response in my room which is both asymmetric and not large.
Yeah got a guy coming round on Saturday to help me look at room treatment as my room does love to gain on the low end and a lot aswell I think naturally I’m 10db up at 15hz when compared to 200hz. It mainly the highs I want him for though as they just seem to start dying off at 5khz and are like 10db at 20khz when compared to 5khz.
Yeah as the port does add around 3db on average to a note it tuned to thus helping you get a natural harman curve in your room. However when you got two 18s and two 21s in the making porting them just ain’t a option, the box would be humongous and the port would be way too long to make sure it plays low enough as from my understanding you don’t want to play a ported speaker below it ports tune. I have to agree with an old saying “there truly is no replacement for displacement” sealed is always the way to go.
Its why im thinking of switching to a full seperates systems usb interface/dac out via xlr to each speaker and subs power amp then on the pc I will have professional mixing software so I can set the db/octave myself as I don’t think any avr/amp company is using anywhere near enough aggression on the slopes it needs be like a 36db octave and they using an 8 or 12 so it isn’t low enough by the time it reaches the lower hz thus causing it to produce the noise all be quieter but it still there and it doesn’t sound nice thus sealed seems like the only logical choice now
you just picked that rarest of speaker type. i do not know why all this port, transmissions line and passive radiator are common when we all need subwoofer in the end.
KLH Model Five is one, still need a small stand.I know tell me about it, the thing is though it is the best sounding it is always very clean when sealed whereas the rest are dirty to my ears
i just remember, Manger p1 is sealed, may need to go to the preview version and find it used.
Ow never heard of them, thanks for the help I do some digging on them
Have you tried to offload the bass from the towers using a highpass filter?
A MiniDSP to split the signal and boom. Or rather, no more boom.
Yeah I’ve got a minidsp and got crossovers set high at 120hz on the avr but looking at moving over to a simpler (to me) setup one day so the crossovers will be managed by a usb interface of a multi channel dac. This is because I’ve spent the past year building and tweaking the perfect pc for digital audio and multimedia playback. Only bits left to add to it is a jcat or similar usb audio card then feed it out with a ifi 2-1 usb a to usb b cable into either the interface or dac. Preferably interface at the moment as that gives me full dsp, delay, fir, etc. control over each channel individually and then each channel can be fed an xlr cable.
Philharmonic Audio BMR HT (https://philharmonicaudio.com/HT-Tower.html)
You can choose the finish.
You will definitely save money and get more “bang for buck” by designing your own speakers.
Now that you have a sealed sub you’re happy with, maybe explore the world of full range drivers. No need for complicated crossovers.
Check our Mark Audio, he makes some incredible full range speakers. I got a pair of Pluvia 7.2 HD and built a Fenlon 70 enclosure and they are simply fantastic.
ATC? I think most of their speakers are sealed, and probably just inside your budget used (maybe even new since they’re based in the UK).
5k BP or USD
Fyne F502SP