More Cheap Speaker Mods [BIG IMPROVEMENT!]
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- čas přidán 7. 12. 2023
- Will adding a new bass port tube and isolation pads to the Wharfedale Diamond 220's make a difference?
Do Cheap Speaker Modifications Work? • Do Cheap Speaker Modif...
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Nylon Spacer Washers amzn.to/3RxTqBX
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The length of the ports is important. That's why they're called "tuned ports" in order to give you a flat frequency response.
At my age, any poop i take that isn't in my trousers makes me happy.
🤣🤣⚡
Early 90s, B&W 600 series floor standing speaker come with short tube, mid tube and long tube and close cap for the tune port. Each sound a bit different. Closed port basically is air suspension speaker, bass is tight and fast, but not deep. On the other end with short tube, you got more bass, but muddy and slow.
Love this comparison. I really hear the difference ,Thanks.
Awesome fair play
I could defiantly hear the difference with the new bass ports, It seems to boost 70 - 85 Hz frequency's quite nicely, Sure CZcams does compress the audio a little bit, but after listening to the before and after a few times in the video, The difference's were very clear imo
Definitely an improvement with the tubes in. And I’ll definitely be getting a pair soon.
Yes I think it’s well worth spending a few quid to get improvements in sound from what are a great pair of speakers.
Ron
good job
Good video, I have 230 and can confirm that without grills they sound much better. I was always wondering if that bass reflex underneath had any plastic tunnel/pipe for it or not and now I finally know it lol good man thx
Good stuff! Those really are great looking speakers.If i still had my 230 floorstanders i would try all of these mods.But "Very" happy now with my Focal 706V bookshelves. P.S.enjoy your downstairs SSSSShights 🤣
Oh, I will!!!
@@UTILITARIANTVUK I'll look forward to that as I have 220 and 230s myself.
Blu-tac is the best for lossy coupling speakers to speaker stands or a desk/shelf...use 4 balls, 4 x 3cm diameter balls heated on a radiator rolled into round balls...the Blu-tac with heat
will flatten to around 4 - 5mm thick without to much force/pressure...put 2 balls of Blu-tac on front , 2 at rear on each speaker..... the speakers do not move about & give a sharper slightly cleaner sound with better clearer bass & more tweeter detail...& can save a fortune if you have kids or pets as your speakers will not fall over if bumped... seems to stick better with time..... better than anything invented & safer for your speakers & wallet....👍🎸
The isolation pads do have an influence. My Dali Spektor 2s come with pads which the user can fit. Obviously Dali wouldn’t bother including them if they thought they wouldn’t be an advantage. Definitely better with the tubes too!
I use my speakers with the grilles removed. Definitely an improvement in my opinion.
What your bass ports did was improve the control of the bass after the spacer mod. I felt the spacer mod gave more bass extension (more breathing room), but also made it less controlled. The bass port insert reigned that back in. Basically, you created your own character to the speakers, and ventured not very far from doing nothing (original sound). I have the speakers, and I'd like to do a bass port mod with a shorter tube into the speaker, and possibly only mod the spacers to 7.5 instead of 10.
Will the bass ports work on the 230's? The foam inside mine seem to almost cover the port hole on both speakers,i wonder if that's how they are designed.
You know I put headphones on, and wouldn't you know it (laptop) I could hear a difference before and after sound tubes. It had more boominess or less defined bass before than after. Keep in mind the bass for some might seem less, but it sounds more controlled which I think is more desirable. Also, keep in mind speaker placement makes a difference as well.
I wanted to try some speaker isolation but saw a guy use washing machine rubber feet 🤣👍
They would work but probably not as well as the hemisphere type.
You have tuneed the cabinets to a lower frequency by lenghing the ports.
With the grills off, the midrange opened up as well as the depth of the highs. There are better isolation footing choices, but with it being rear ported onto a plinth, as here, no advantages are a gained. The ports with the nippled wave guide surely made a huge difference which richened the mid and lower highs, but at the expense of deeper bass. If I’m not mistakes those Bass Ports can be trimmed, shortened, which I would have done. It would have kept more of the Basses’ weight but with a smoother delivery allowing those kids to still shine through. But even on YT, the differences were clearly heard and not with the case of the isolation feet.
Do these fix chuffing in the port. Ive noticed it with smaller speaker ports. Tbh, its only noticeable in isolated bass and drum tracks. Check out 'the intro and outro' to massive attacks 'Angel' and you might hear a slight chuff/rattle. 😮
Anyone done any measurements on these modifications to show the frequency response?
The speakers already sound good (for cheap speakers), so skeptical that we can improve on the factory setup personally. Maybe the washers would be an idea I guess.
its advisable to have 'default and free' running first, and listen, then upgrade, so that youll notice the improvements
Just ordered the bass ports through the link, so will up grade my pair too, QQ did you remove the cardboard glued in tubes inside, or did you just push these new plastic ones into the the existing card board ones. Great vid again thank you.
I left the cardboard in there.
Update please
The length of the tubes matters,does the tubes hit the bass,midrange unit ? Next upgrade qed xt25 internal wiring, as jumpers and from he amp to the speaker + bi wiring
The original port come up to about halfway between the mid/bass unit.
thought you would just cut it so theres no more than an inch or 2 in length, since the standard length might not be the perfect length
@@gasolin75 I was wondering about cutting the tube down slightly. The tubes do look quite long.
Think with the bass ports they lose some of their neutrality and become a bit boxy sounding. I just bought a pair of these and am debating on upping my budget and trying something else. On my dac amp I boost the bass to +6 otherwise they sound pretty thin. Overall I think they sound pretty good though. They sound better than a Samsung soundbar I spent 2.5x the price on several years ago...
I'm wondering if the tubes need to be so long. I feel sticking to spec with nothing but sponge, maybe a half inch so only a small portion goes into the box. That way there's no need to try all different lengths to "tune" the darn thing.
Hi bud, are the replacement ports the same length as the original cardboard port tubes ?....much appreciated if you could let me know ....cheers bud
It's shorter than the cardboard.
@@UTILITARIANTVUK .....after listening through my 11 channel Pioneer AV amp, SVS subwoofer & various high quality speakers....7.1.4...i prefer the sound after you fitted the 10mm port height spacers & the dimpled flow port...i'm gonna try it with my Atmos speakers...4 x Wharfedale 220's...cheers
What size washer were they again mate? is it the ones that you put in the link? also for £30 its well worth it i cant believe wharfedale just left a cut hole there unseen or not they should have been finished with a port they aint that cheap?
Yes, you should be ok with M6 or M8 inside diameter.
Strange that there were no port tubes fitted to your speakers. The Wharfedale brochure shows the 220 with a black plastic port in the cutaway photo and a quick google search shows some pictures with brown cardboard ports fitted. Maybe they stopped fitting them at some point during manufacture as cost cutting
I've seen the same pictures. It's also possible they thought most people wouldn't check?
It so strange after adding about a mm in extra spacing for a couple of weeks, speaker came with a tube inserted although not as nice as the plastic one, I ended up going back to original design. Of course the speakers in my case came with rubber feet, and I did put wire in for jumpers instead of the supplied plates. Mods change the timbre of the speaker which evidently was tested to sound like a good piano in their decay and tone. Even changing the distance a small amount from speaker bottom to plinth alters the character. It may sound a bit clearer, but the overall tone warmth is diminished imo. In other words, certain mods don't work. If you took that plastic tube and it was the same length as original that'd be a good mod to the supplied paper one I'd imagine, but I'm not even sure of that. I watched another video where I guy who mods the whole crossover, wiring, and connecting points, where he measures the response etc. didn't want to bother with this speaker because of low impedance measurement and lack of space inside box. On a speaker this inexpensive it's hardly worth getting into all of that.
MOUNT THE CROSSOVER ON THE OUTSIDE ON THE BACK OF THE CABINET, USE SORBOTHANE FOR VIBRATION ISOLATION, THAT WAY YOU STOP MICROVIBRATIONS FROM THE DRIVERS......
Was the new port tubes longer than the old design? If so, you probably got rid of a "bass hump". Say that the old port was tuned to 75 Hz and the new to 50 Hz. Should have done a freq. sweep before and after. When the woofer stops moving you have hit the port tune frequency. Well, it's the box and the port working together o.c. Bigger box, shorter port - smaller box longer port.
Try it with the new port and see where it is now. They sure sounded less boomy with the new port. But that might cause the woofer to distort at higher volumes due to the port not helping it behaving under it's resonance frequency.
Fun project! :)
Yes new tubes are longer, as there were no port tubes in the old design, it was just holes in the cabinets 😅 I knew right away it was going to remove port turbulence/chuffing and lower the bass freq response 👍
@@IvanITpro I remembered after I wrote the comment. I was atleast one of the guys who thought it would do something and probably good.
You need that $200 device that can give you the theile parameters from the woofer... Then we can start a cheap audio modding community :)
The length of the pipe does also matter. Major difference without grills and
feet. Very sloppy that they did'nt put feet on by the makers. The speakers are very,very close to the wall....
Tweaking is the ice on the cake. Keep up the good work.
Did the dented motor helmet make you go faster?
12 gauge jumpers are too thick use 20 gauge thermostat solid wire will sound better
Well you're definitely off you're nut but that's why I watch great tweeks that work also try cleaning your cable connections every few months that deffo works
Yes and make sure the connections are tight ( only hand tight of course) 👍
I check mine regularly.
By the way I prefer the sound without the Port Tube Bass, It sounds much better without !
Literally 0 difference with the isolation pads.
hey buddy. i did something much better. remove the base plate altogether, it's a flimsy thin piece of garbage cardboard plate. my speakers already have a base port, i have the 225's.
my speakers completely cleared up, no more muddy bass and boomy sound. i love it