To Damp or To Brace that is Question

[Pepperamip]

You are quite right bracing might not make them sound better but my models were by no means Klipsch flagship speakers in fact you'd probably put them in the budget category back when they were available to buy new.

To keep production costs down the cabs are relatively thin with no internal bracing. I believe this is mainly due to cost rather than an ultimate design plan.

Some owners have expressed big improvements when bracing others not so much. Just wanted to know if anyone on AoS had actually tried it with fairly big cabs and what results they experienced.

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[Barry]

Good reply Andrew.

[karma67]

regarding the steel plates,i used 5mm plate to line the inside of my old pageant 2's,the result is a heavy cabinet that to my mind has improved them,i did away with the original stuffing . they now pass the knuckle test.

[Macca]

Years ago I designed and built a few pairs of speakers and had the opportunity to try out various stuffing options. No stuffing was best. I still had some 'fluff' lining the internal walls although that does very little if anything IMO.

I like the steel plate idea and think that would be worth a try.

[Lawrence001]

Just be careful, the flexing thing might have been taken into account when the speakers were voiced and you might suck the life out of them. Is that the same thing as "lossy" cabinets certain British makers espoused?

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[karma67]

yes that would be on my mind too,sometimes it better to leave things as they are,i doubt you'll hear a massive difference anyway.

[paulf-2007]

Here's a different approach that I took on open baffle woofers, I got this idea from a member on audio circle. The idea is to brace across the woofers magnet to stiffen the drivers frame. I was running the eminence alpha 15 up to 200 hz, with the bracing it ran to 350hz and very clean bass. Trying to run them above 200hz without the bracing didn't sound at all good. This may work on many drivers. Very simple to fix a timber across the cabinet or between the magnet and cabinet back. Just a thought for any diyer

[Barry]

Just be careful, the flexing thing might have been taken into account when the speakers were voiced and you might suck the life out of them. Is that the same thing as "lossy" cabinets certain British makers espouse

Good point - and one which can equally apply to the removal of speaker grills; their presence may be part of the acoustic design. My advice would be whatever modifications you make, make sure they are reversible.

[Pepperamip]

Thanks for all the comments and advice. Although I understand the principal behind both methods, theory doesn't always translate into better sound.

I would seriously consider the metal lining if I could open the cabs without a chance of damaging them but there is so I won't.

They're sounding better than ever at the moment with the bob crites upgrades so maybe I should just sit back and enjoy.

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[fatmarley]

Some years ago I built a pair of speakers without any bracing. A while later I braced them with shelf type braces and thought the bass tightened up quite a bit.